The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1869-08-05

| w. w. w ALl1ACf, County
HIRAM WING,
CHAs. ELLIOT
Belfast July 30 1863.
THE CLERGY AND THE POLITICAL PRESS.
We heard, not long since, a really good
man lamenting that the Democratic presses
of the country should so frequently seize up
on Scandalous reports in relation to clergy
men, and spread them before the world, ac-
companied by embellishments and ludicrous
comments. We replied that the clergy had
brought this upon themselves. 1t was not 50
in the days before the union between the
churches and = political party, when the
clergy were content to preach the gospel,
leaving politics to politicians. Then the
clergy were held in Just estimation, their
sacred office was respected, and their infrc-
qucnt lapscs from virtue covered with the
mantle> OF charity and silence.
There came a time when the ministers of
all the religious orders in this country, save
the Catholic and Episcopal, saw fiji to JON
their fortunes to those of Il political party.
They preached its platforms. they eNhorte ed
their hearers to vote for its nominees they
called themselves its leaders, and accepted
the offices it had to bestow. More than
this the most heated and acrimonious politi-
cal campaign was exceeded by the bitterness
of the pulpit, when it forsook the preaching
Of the gospel for the PRONUNCIATION Of po-
I,+ H., ,,p IL,
made respectable by the abuse from the pull
pit. The most pure, venerable and beloved
statesmen of the land were maligned and
vilitied from this source, while corrupt blood
thirsty villains and outcasts who had persisted
on the sca1old, We're held up as examples OF
public virtue!
The pulpit undoubtedly exercised a great
influence. Traditionary respect for the
ministerial office was strong in religious
communities, and men were led by ii against
their judgments. The c1c1yY arerc cnad1c7
10 do 50 hecaatse Of their supposed ho1Y lie,
naoraAty. purity, md superiority to the
on7inuY te1n1tations annl Jai1i119s Of the M-
nun ttnniY. Divested of that sentiment,
they would have no more influence than any
other class Of educated mpn--not SO much as
some.
When, therefore, it was found, and is still
found, that glazing instances of immortality
were becoming frequent among clergymcn--
when the public was almost daily shocked
by the discovery that gross sin, secretly in
dulged, was breaking out with alarming
frequency-what more natural and even
proper than that the press, which had been
assaulted by the pulpit, and whose party and
friends had been ass;iled, should call ;,ttcn-
ton to the fact that the political clergy is bat
human and talliblc after all. and strive to de-
stroy an influence founded upon a false as
sumption? 1t is not only natural, but ii is
fair and legitimate political warfare The
pulpit having thrown down the glove, the
press could not avoid picking it up.
We hold that the smaller sins founded up
on the relations of the sexes, are MOI ordinar-
" Legitimate subjects OF newspaper comment,
when disconnected from legal proceedings.
We are all human and subject to temptation
\ political opponent, because he is an oppo-
nent, should not be held up to public expos
ure or ridicule. But when he claims and
exercises an influence because of his supe-
rior morality and sanctity, and assumes the
right of pulpit reproach and denuncation up
on those who cannot see with his eyes, and
when the protessed morality and sanctitv is a
sham and a delusion-the case is altered
Exposure is not only right but a duty-it is
due to the party, TO the community. and to
morality.
Since the clergy neglected its proper call
ing for the arena of politics, the devil has
been pretty busy with hocks, and in many
instances with the shepherds. The tree of
evil has borne its fruits abundantly. And
the Democratic press, in pursuit of its lcgiti-
mate business of diminishing the influence
of its opponents, has made prompt exposure
of the eases that have come to the surface
We sec nothing but .iustiliablc retaliation in
kind in this fact
A recent case of this kind in the religious
and radical community of Lewiston has ex-
cited much comment. A clergyman oflic-
ating there exceeded probably all others in
the State in the malignant abuse which he
hcapcd upon Democratic leaders. When the
lamented Douglas died, he coarsely assailcd
his memory, charging that he died the death
Of drunkard. But retribution has come at
last
This clergyman, who sportod fine horse
and carriage, was this spring in the habit Of
taking out on drives widow lady, one Of the