The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-01-23
Political Consistency.

can be brought against poHIlcal reputation
and official conduct in public life: When
some politician draws himself proudly up,
and declares, amidst the prolonged cheer
ing of his audience, II never abandoned
my party--I never changed my opinions
never voted in favor of measures l have
spent the best years of my life in oppo-
sing"-it is gensrallyiimagined that he is
putting forth the most irrefragible claim
to public confidence and admiration.
When this same very consistent old wheel
horse" seeks the most fatal and irritating
weapon with which to wound or discredit
a political opponent he rakes up from the
files of musty old newspapers, or from
the public documents, expressions or opin-
ions widely. at variance with the senti-
ments and doctrines now protested, and
taunts hin with his inconsistency and
the arrow generally strikes home, the tergi-
versation is thought to be objectionable.
Hence, with the public men of both great
parties, it has been THEFT common prac-
tice-quite natural and scarcely aYoidable
to shut their eyes and fight blindly on,
endeavoring to believe themselves con-
scientious so long as they were consistent,
so long as they used the old weapons,
marched under the old banners, and stood
by the old friends.
1t is perhaps we'll to remember that not
only our beliefs but our tone and turn of
mind are sframed almost instinctively
after the model of those among whom we
live; and thus it becomes matter of the
greatest difficulty both Ito enter into and
do justice to the views of others when pre-
sented to US, or to dlvest ourselves even of
what may hereafter be proved erroneous
in our own. The political progress of
a country with free institutions and q
representative form of government is
brought about by a perpetual struggle be-
tween two great parties, each of whom is
the representative-often imperfect and
unworthy enough-of distinct principles
and modes of thought, The times change
and the people change with them; the
politician or the public man who remains
doggedly entrenched in the old and time
honored doctrines of the past will in
evitably find himself left behind, and
ultimately lost in obscurity, martyr to
his boasted consistency. No man can
start in life, whether in a political, a
religious, or literary career, with his mind
a carte blanche; few indeed at their first
entrance upon their career have in a
proper sense mastered and impartially
weighed all sides of the great questions
with which they have to deal. Much
change, may inconsistencies, some vasci-
lation even, must necessarily be observed
IL unavoidable in fact, among representa-
tive and public men especially if they have
entered upon the public service early in life,
orprlor to the period of full maturity of in
tellect and practical experience in dealing
with questions of public policy. The charg
oflinconsistency,or the pride of consistency
should therefore have little weight and b
OF comparatively small consequence in es
timating the value and relative mportanc
of the services of men in public life. 1t
much more important to the people t
know that their representatives are RICH
upon the great issues of the present, tina
to know that upon,other subjects and.undt
other circumstances their opinions ma
have been of another type.
There as a 1oiSe, and there Is an uaaCi,
species Of political conStancy. There is
narrow and mechanical, and there is
large and comprehensive, view of til
same great principle of rectitude. Thel
Is steadiness o! opinion and of purpos
which imbues itself with noble sentiment
and places great objects ever before i
which, having studied deliberately the be
interests Of the country and decided ii
direction in which it ought to steer, keel
those interests and that goal in vie
through all bewildering storms, and throug
every intervening cloud; which in evel
emergency selects that policy best suite
during that emergency, for nearing IL
appointed haven; which in every dang
chooses and follows the pilot who be
understands that peculiar portion of Il
chart of destiny over which the vessel
state is at that moment steering; al
which knows how to preserve an essenti
if not an apparent, consistency
varying its means and its course
secure the unity of its end, Al
these Is stubbornness of will, an unbe
ding direct line of march, like that of t
Norway rat, which cannot comprehend tn
periis which press from one quarter q
not TO be met withthe same weapons and t
same attitude which menace from the OBJ
site direction; which would apply the sal
panacea to every social malady, and
every condition of the patient-to the ST
OF excitement and the state of collapse,
which cannot conceive that altered natiol
circumstances may demand altered natl
al policy; and which deludes itself into
belief that it is nobly pursuing one con-
tent purpose, so long as it is surrounded
the same familiar faces and uttering
old ancestral party shibboleth - thou
the circumstances which made the old :
cry just aud noble reality have long ST
been reversed. There is a persevera
which Is instant in season." and there
pertinacity which is Instant "out of s
son, and there is a party purblindr
which confounds the two qualities-so d