New-York tribune., 1876-05-20
% .wo,,ow II. no matter how bitter it may
TOO GOOD FOR CONGRESS.

n tEero was anything encouraging about the
| Fifth Avenue Conference, 1t was Tue lhulcd-
tion that men with some respect for themselves
/ wore not entirely averso to participation III
pubic affairs. We are, on the Other htliu'
| ouite shocked to find Mr. Lewis ID. CanpDeii,
| of whom great while ago the country heaIo
more than it has recently publicly ANNOUNCING
thot ne will not be candidate for Congress
Emf il is not Mr.. Campbelrs resolution when
dsturbs us so much M the reason when lie
Gives for it. Considering be says, " the man
{" nor in which National affairs have been ad-
" ministercd during the last ten years. iia'c
" not the least ambition again To occupy u
Z" seat in Congress" 1t strikes us that tlis
lofty and VirtuOus position would Deuer pe-
come one who has never undergone the III gra-
dation of membership. In fact, Mr' Campoeh
is rather too old bird to put on these lhno-
cent airs. His exceeding purity and simplicity
are = little belatcd. They should have beeh
cxbibited when he was in full bloom, and not
now. when he is incining to the sele
and yellow. AS he is good enough
TO observe that he has other ana even
"mauifoldn reasons for declining, uey
may be better than that which he gives
Certainly they could hardly be worse. Even
if Mr.. Campbell's fastidiousncss Is honest ana
rcnuinc, we must he allowed to say That tlefe
is nothing Of novelty about it.
One reason why Congress is no better than
n slonld be is because extremely particular
gentlemen, clever and cultured, honest, and IN
all other ways fit for either House, are TOO
rropd or foo sensitive or too indolent or too
! fastidious to be candidates. They shrug their
., nd slnmlllnU
at every exposure of corruption they declare that
they have all along been expecting IL; u"y
had rather stay at home with their DOCKS oi
their business; they are OF those VINO resaru
newspapers like the deceased MI. hush' an
" the vehicles of diSjOinted thinklng;' ana
they honestly think that to go to Congress ~
To lose caste. AS the number OF these goou
men has grown larger, it must be cohiesseu
that our politics have not improved III iia-
grancc. In many districts, what with then
votes if they were only given and their influence
if # were only excItcd, they might turn
the scale of election in favor of de-
cency and honesty and intelligence. They
nrefer TO stav in their counting houses anu
make money, or in their libraries, reading IN
dustriously and thinking profoundly. We do
not say that Mr.. Campbell II Il man or thls
description, but he makes us think OF TINS SUI
perior but by no means publicly uSeful class
of these pursts who say: " AS national al
fairs have been administered for the last
"twcnty thirty, forty, fifty years, we have not
"the least ambition to occupy seats III Con
"grcss.n Thcirlcgend is: "No, thank you; none
" for mem Voters who are sick of party politics,
who arc hungering and thirsting for better men
~. L.. FRO, thn nlI N
TO these respectable characters and offer them
nominations for this important place or that.
Il is discouraging that of each the cry should
be "No, thank you; none for me }" The
worst of it is that they are not Ike Mr.. Camp
bell, whose "No7 may imply "ies." When
they say L" N0r they mean it. Sometimes they
will not even lend their names, fancyinS that
they will never get them back again in Il clean
state. Their nobility is nice, bat they are not
exactly what citizens should be.
II does not seem TO us paradoXical to say
that the very men who want Office least are
those WHO arc best fitted for it III some cases
the very fact That good man Is candidate
pnriGcs the whole canvass. though he may not
come within leagues of being elected; while
sometimes, contrary to oil chances and expcc-
tations, the name used only to animate for
lorn hope comes out ut the head OF the poll.
| Mr.. Birney never had the ghost of chance
of the Presidency indeed, so Tar "A
immediate results were concerned, his
nomination was mischicyOus but, on the
/ other hand, il is also true that his presence III
| the field kept up the theory of right which
was ultimately triumphant. IT is time to recall
the old idea of patriotism. We all owe yeo-
man service TO the country. Perhaps it would
| not be 80 great sacrifice rs he appears to
| anticipate for Mr.. Campbell to go once more
| to Washington; but if there be in any district
an honest man who is really wanted ~ rep
rcsentaliye by the voters, and who yet shrinhs
! from the duty, il it not time for him to look
into the morality of the matter, and to rcmem-
Der that citizenship may demand something
more than voting and paying taxcsf
In political reform, as i'll everything else,
| there is day of small things. Somebody
must take the initiative-sOmebody must con-
| sent 20 lead the band, however Httlc-S0mc-
| body must consent even to the ignominy of
| being Il member Of Congress before the posi-
ton can become an honor. All tho glory does
not by any means always wait upon major
/ ity, but with the right candidates a high
minded and intelligent minority, however
! small, is likely to prevail in the end; and this
| is specially true of the Congressional districts,
| in which personal worth is surcst at last to
carry weight.