The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-06-02

1u6 Olpuiuk ny hAA "sS'
nBefore jehovah AWial Throne
Sc Nations bow With sacred JOY"
Subject" of American Poll
ties"
TExr-Aets Kill, %: az was free born"
So, seventeen hundred years before
Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration oil
Independence, Paul made his declaration
Of Independence. An official brag had
been telling that through the eminent
service or large compensation he bad OBJ
tanned his liberty, while Paul, remember
ing that Tsrsus-tne pace Of his nativity
had been msnumitted by Antonius' re-
spends: "My freedom dates further back
than YOURS. l am not liberated slave.
NV cradle had no shackle on It's rockers
Nv mother was not seri. was Tree
horn.n That is descriptive oil every per-
son horn in America within the last seven
team wears, and Is true OF all the white
neonle horn on this continents and yet
theIe Ia wide effort made in all parts oil
his land 10 manacle the people. The at
,smnt Ia TO make us all slaves. l speak to
Won Of The despotism Of American politics
We are on the eve OF the great Presl-
dential nominations. The troops are
Gathering for Chicago and Cincinnati. The
air il hot with political imprecation. We
are all being whipped into line, as far as
possible. Here are four or i've pairs Of
spectscIes, one OF which we are expected
10 nut on, He who looks with his own
ewes Is going to get hardly rubbed.
First let us not submit 10 the effort
made every four years 10 mako us believe
that every thing is at stake. II our in
E,itutions are so rackety that every four
wears we are In danger OF smash'up, the
sooner they go TO pieces the better, ana
some thing be substituted when mas IN IL
the elements OF durability. ! remember
the Presidential elections, and remember
that each time the Democratic and Wing
parties, and later the Democratic and Re-
publican parties, assured US with vehem-
ence hasty and terrific that we were on the
edge olruin. We were within quarter
Of an inch OF the eternal precipice. Men
walked tremulous= with omens to the bal.
lot-boxes. Carriages, at the expense OF
PARTY organizations, were sent to all the
tnyalids and aged voters, and they were by
loving patriots were by strange
coincidence, candidates for otice-ltited
out OF bed and into wagons with pillows
and cushions, and supported to the ballot
box while they deposited their precious
vote.
When was boy eight years Of age |
heard the first political speech oil my lie,
Standing barefoot in the broiling sun OF
Sommerville, New Jersey, ! listened TO an
orator from the West, who showed me
that il William Henry Harrison, instead Of
Martin Van Buren,, was elected TO the
Presidency, there would be but little use
in my living 10 grow up, as there would
be no country left to live in. A lew months
ago went to Boston to lecture in Music
Hall, when l heard that at Faneuil Hall
that same night the famous Western ora
tor that had heard at eight years OF age
was TO address political meeting. Hur-
rying through my work ! fastened down
to Faneuil Hall, the cradle OF liberty, aud
the cradle was rocked that night under
The same speech which had heard 10 my
boyhood, from which | found that the
country was in the same extreme peril as
forty years ago, the only variation in the
speech being that instead OF the words
civilian Henry Harrison" he put ben
Butler"
We were told that the existence Of the
country depended on the second election
OF Mr., Lincoln TO the Presidency, but
after Mr.. Lincoln's death, which took
place in month, Andrew johnson pur.
sued the opposite policy, and the country
still lives. We were told last autumn that
the safety OF this State depended on
whether Mr.. Robinson or MIR. Cornell
should ybe Governor. We had change OF
officers. do not see any particular diff
erence. The sun rises at the same hour as
1t did last year, and the tides set in from
the sea with the same strength. Fellow
citizens, while we feel the greater or less
importance OF this election, let US quit
this crisis business, and feel that God
built this country to have it stand. have
made up my mind that the Almighty s ca
paCity to keep this country on its upward
march does not depend either on the Gin
cinnsti or Chicago Convention.
There is a vast difference between men,
but the difference between the two par.
ties is the difference between fifty and
half hundred. Both parties need radical
reformation, and by the time they are
fully reformed one or the other will be re-
formed out oil existence. But is there no
test? Are we 10 have no preferenCes2 So
far from saying that, l declare that the
man who does not vote is not worthy OF
American citizenship. But do not let our
vote be blind submission 10 party wire
pullers. Let there be no kneeling 10 dem.
agogic behest. The question with US all
now is who then shall be our next Presi-
dent? First, he must be man OF good,
moral character. Let me say as matter
Of congratulation that the most Of the men
who are proposed are OF high moral char.
acter. You and can remember the time
when some prominent among Presidential
candidates were libertines and gamb.
ers and Incorporate. One OF our Vice.
Presidents was sworn in drunk. One oil
our United States Secretaries was carried
home from his office in beastly intoxica.
ton. The Congressional Hall has been
disgraced at times by men too intoxicated
TO walk, yet representing Delaware and
Illinois and New York. But the morali.
" or immortality Of candidates is rightly
becoming more and more q question. 1t
matters not how talented man is II he is
bad. Genius is more than stupidity, II 1t
move in the wrong direction. A nation
OF homes needs over it man who regards
the santicity OF the domestic circle. A
nation OF young men looking up for an
example needs in its highest place OF hon.
or one whose morality is undisputed. A
man who cannot govern himself can not
govern forty-iour Millions
Give as a panaCea for all present Nation.
al ills, for the preservation Of our country,
the christianization OF the American PEG.
pie. Get their hearts right and they will
vote right. Have you any idea that the
professional politicians as such will lift our
nation to its high destiny. They never
have done anything but get office and