The Russellville Democrat., 1876-02-10

commend these observations to the attention of those persons who are exercising themselves about the details of the amnesty bill or the school question. These mat ters will soon be out of the way, and the way, and the part that men have taken in regard to them will not be long remembered. The favor or criticism of to-day will have vanished to morrow. But the man who helps to give the country purer administra- tion,, sounder carrency, a less burdensome system of taxation, a more complete and enduring harmony of races and sections, will find his name engraved on the hearts of men long after the immediate cause of their regard has passed. ~
 There have been many of those ephemeral settlements which small politicians watch for so closely. Within a quarter of a century we have seen very small men leap into notoriety because of thelr opinions about the pope, 1 but, shortly after, nine-tenths of them were politically dead and forgotten. The Nebraska bill tossed many to the surface, who quietly slipped out of sight when the real issue between freedom and slavery was joined. The war itself created politicians by the acre, and killed of quite as many. Johnson's policy, and resistance to it, negro suffrage, and the i'm peachment, each brought men into rotice who soon showed that they were mere demagogues, and were presently forgotten.
 Amnesty is a dead issue. The people are not going to excite 1 themselves to any great extent about the political condition of Jefferson Davis. The school question seemed to many politi- clans one of vital importrnee, and they rushed at it with enthusiasm. But public opinion quickly per ceived that there was no real dan ger to the school system, and the democrats will easily demonstrate the fact, and bury that issue out of sight for years at least by pass ing single act. Then it will be seen that it was a blunder to as
 sail them where they were not assailable, and they may very likely gain more than Che repub- lican politicians who professcd to believe that the public school system was in grave danger It IS quite possible that our relations with Spain may presently cause some excitement, and then we shall see the whole army of Lilli- putian politicians arraying itself hurriedly for war. In a little while that gust will pass; this country is not going to fight with Spain about an Island which we could not afford to take as gift. Then thoughtful citizens will look with cool contempt upon the dem- agoghes who have been making an unnecessary fuss about the matter, and return to the consid- eration of permanent public in terests.
 So long as we have any form of paper currency issued or regulat- ed by government, the prosperity of the country and the national honor will depend upon the treat ment of that question. So long as we have to pay taxes, the pub lie prosperity will depend upon a wise adjustment of those burdens. So long as we have states whose citizens remember that they were once at war against the govern ment, it will be necessary to con sider with care the policy of the government with view to restore harmony and unity of feeling without surrender of the cause for which the soldiers of the union fought. So long as we have q a civil service 1t will be necessary to guard it from corruption, to fight against the demoralization which partisanship engenders, to expose frauds and prosecute plum derers. The man who devotes himself to the public service in connection with such questions as these will grow in strength year after year, and the very people who shout for demagogues in some hour of excitement will come back to the patient and faithful statesman with new re- spect, because he was neither un- scrupulous enough to lead nor weak enough to follow in such a chase after the will-o'-the- wisps. The people like a man who fol lows them in every vagary, just as one likes the dog that trots after him. But they learn to honor, to trust, and to obey the man who teaches them that he is more wise that themselves, and more true to their own interests. Helena Mail: The production of a Helena hen, an egg with q curiously shaped tail to it, is the latest cent( h )enial curiosity wC