Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1868-06-05
THE TACTICs OF POLITICIANS.

into power. Their party and its leaders
adopt certain principles Of government and
advocate the adoption Of a certain line of
policy These are always considered essen
tial to the welfare of the public. If they
can only prevail, peace and harmony will be
restored and general prosperity viii be re-
vived Hence the politician, of all men,
appears to be the most unselhsh He la
bors not for his own individual advantage,
but for the good Of the whole community.
This unselfshness, this devotion to the good
Of others, has the peculiarity Of awakening
warm and generous feelings in the heart,
and of giving uuwonted fervor and energy
to his efforts His tongue and pen warm
with eloqucnoe and his body becomes eapa,
bic of enduring extraordinary exertions
But this enthusiasm has this disadvantage
it blinds those whom it seizes and carries
them Eeadlong into the widest acts. This
phenomenon occurs not only in politics. but
in every other pursuit and profession that
is capable of deeply engaging the sympathies
and desires of men. Is dwelling long upon
the object to be attained the Imagination
magnifes its importance and surrounds it
with colors of Its own The enthusiast is
like one who has long gazed upon the
brightness Of the sun, the clearness of his
vision is impaired and he cannot see other
objects in their natural relations
Everything is distorted and disfgured
Hence there is a arrangement of the nat
ural order of the moral principles Those
that viii aid in the advancement of the
favored object are raised to Fictitious i'm
portance, and those that will hinder it are
stripped of their natural dignity. 1t is
thus that men are led to think that the end
will justify the means. They are laboring
under delusion. Their ideas upon ques-
tions of morality are turned upside down.
1t is for this reason that the assertions and
denuuciations Of politicians need careful
watching on the part Of those who would
keep themselves impartial For instance,
there was a time when General Grant was
landed by the Democrats everywhere His
integrity, impartiality and magnanimity
We're the themes Of universal encomiums.
Every movement and every word were
carefully noted and proclaimed to the pub
lie. His sayings were landed as embodi-
ments of practical wisdom; his acts were
praised as evidences Of bigh craftsmanship.
Butte eneral Grant has become the candi-
date OF the Republican party, and it win
not do for him to be too popular, for he
might possibly be carried into the Presiden-
tial chair by an overwhelming majority
Hence the readiness to forget that his mag
nanimity gave generous terms to the con
quered, and his moral courage enforced the
terms at a time when the people had become
angry with the traitors on account of one
dastardly blow. Hence, the idle rumors
paraded in the most prominent part Of the
paper, that would have been scoffed at a
few months ago and rejected by every sensi-
Bile man without hesitation Hence the in-
uendoes that convey what there is no cour-
age to express, Hence the comments upon
bis fondness for horses, to make people for
get his battles. Hence the remarks upon
his retieence, to make men unmindful of
his acts, as though Americans could forget
that Washington never made a speech ten
minutes long. All these little articles are
resorted to in order to disparage the man
and lower l.;u in the estimation OF the pub
ic
Another favorite mode of trying to dam
age the reputation of the party in power is
to raise clamor against the so-called cor
ruption Of officials Daily and weekly dia-
tribes are published, red-hot with holy zeal,
against the dishonesty of some man who
happens to belong to the dominant party.
But the people are not told that the officials
now are the appointees of the immaculate
President, aud are kept in power by him;
that counterfeiters, swindlers, aud those
who have been convicted of embezzling the
funds Of the Nationsl banks, or of defraud-
ing the revenue, are pardoned by the hun
dred by the man who delights to use both
the veto and the pardon; that the whole
Whiskey influence, from one end of the
country to the other, was opposed to inn
peachment, and ready to raise money to de-
feat it. How close is the connection be-
tween the rascals and the Executive is
shown by the intimacy between w. w.
Worden, Edmund Cooper and the notorious
Charles W. Woolley, and by the fact that
this same Charles w. Woolley had influence
enough to receive the appointment Of an
Internal Revenue Assessor for the district
Of Cincinnati. In connection with this it
should be remembered that Charles W.
Woolley is one of the attorneys Of the whis-
key ring.
But the weakest Of all things is this at
tempt to turn this Charles W. Woolley into
a martyr, the man who has been proven to
be connected with a clique to secure the
acquittal of the President by bribery, and to
have received twenty five thousand dollars
for this purpose, Such notoriously cor
rupt man, caught in such disgraccful act,
Is not the proper stuff to make martyr of.
There is none of that high moral character
auA al ia dAuSiEA4CS " hAAuCtptc tiat calls
forth the admiration of mankind Yet be-
cause this man has been imprisoned for
refusing to testify as to what he did with
the twenty Eve thousand dollars he received
for corrupting, great cry has been raised
that the liberties of the people have been
infringed. We admit that it would be we'll
to add some Democrats to the committee
that is pursuing this investigation. There
would be an appearance of less partisanship
and more impartiality, and the public would
have more confidence in the result As a
mere matter of policy the change would be
desirable, and if the Democrats bad confined
their efforts to this they would have done
well, but IN trying TO make the imprison-
ment an act tyranny, they have oyershot
the mark. Every parliamentary body has