Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1878-07-03
AIasSon for the Day.

There is much sound sense in the fol-
lowing remarks upon the adjournment Of
congress, made by the Newark IN. -
Advertiser; and we commend them to the
republicans of this district, as they are
about TO select representative in con-
gress:
1t is time to stop and think; to ponder,
weigh and sift. A representative IS rarely
better or worse than the people who send
him. and when thirty thousand people find
that they have sent nlockhead or black
gnard to speak for them, they are not to
be ashamed of him but of themselves he
is but the moral mirror in which they can
see their own weaknesses and follles.
There may b. isolated casee where consult
uencies make blunders and elect men be-
low the average of themselves, but this
cannot largely happen. Neither is it =
valid excuse that good men do not pull
the wires at political meetings and caucus
es. Those who do not strive to put out IL
fire are equally culpable with those who
kindle il, and men who are too sluggish
to get out of the way Of malaria, or to re-
move the causes. are as liable to the con
sequences rs the creators of nui+ances and
the propretors OF stagnant ponds.
| Parties, in this matter of representation,
are not under consideration. 1t is a ques-
ton of the character of the people. of the
tone of public sentiment, of our virtue, in
tellect and patriotism. Are we re rogti-
inc? Is it sufficient to abuse the men we
have sent to Washington? Not if we elect
as bad or worse men in their places. II
is easier to 90 down hill than to go up
SAYS wise moralist: Let go thy hold
when great wheel runs down the hill,
lest it break thy neck with following it
but the great one that goes up the hill, let
it draw thee after" We have been hold
ing on to the political wheel that is run.
ming down hill about long enough; we
have been satisfied to be represented by
men without character, consistency OF
any of those great ,aites which add
luslre to the forum and safety TO the com
mittee room. and it is well 10 stop before
we reach DO tom. Kossuth said that " his
tory is the revelation of providence, and
while the history of the past may not be
u pleasant one to contemplate, there viii
be providence in it if We lay its lesson;
TO heart.
1t shows that there is something radi
caly wrong when we read chorus o
wishes in all the papers that congress
would adjourn and go home, and an equa
chorus Of congratulations when it ha
lone so. There are freely pronounce'
opinions now that it would be a good thnI
for the country if congress did not NEE
,gain for three years, and this is eqnva
lent to saying that representative govern
ment is failure. 1t is sad commentar,
, ON our institutions when the most We Cal
commend in our national Legislature is il
adjournment.
But the failures Of congress are the fail
ures of the people, and when we com
. ,lOwn to the root of the matter it is a failur
, of those preliminary methods out of whic
representation springs. Weeds grow Il
in advance of the grain and the goo
: farmer hoes them out; political weed
r spring up in like manner, and we cultivat
Them instead of the grain; there is tn
. difference. and then we complain of tn
crop. 1t cannot be expected that men VIII
f;lsten on to politics rs barnaces fasten o
to ship will willingly let go their hold
it is folly to hope that the individuals VIII
know how to control the ignorant, tn
drunken and the vile for their own benef
will willingly abandon those sources {
power. If we cannot turn over new lea
a and govern ourselves better, it will be ;
! least wise to make no complaints. Th
colored man who woul not mend his roc
in dry weather had no sympathy in we
t and the application to the entire nation
s equally pertinent.