The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-03-25
THE MISTAKES OF PUBLIC MEN.

crease atIlOHn "HltC SChool SAiiluASh Va /
over 80 per centum.
THE MISTAKES OF PUBLIC MEN.
\ prominent waiter has truthtnllN s:,ld
that with the great mass Of msnEina
the test of integrlt, iii pnbhc man L.
consistency And yet the records al
but few prominent public men are free
from acts. which, when closely scrut-
nized. are not more or les inconsistent
with their regulations for judgment and
wisdom. Indeed, the best men we know
give repeated evidences of lack of judg
ment even in the very ordinary affairs of
life, and although We generally associate
the possession of high moral qualities
with great intellectual endowments. yet
the evidence is daily aceumulative. that
men, the very brightest intellectually.
are too frequently the dullest i'll their
moral perceptions. Human nature, III its
best possible phases. is indeed but
strange medley OF wisdom and unwis-
dom. of discretion and indiscreton.
We err by use, go wrong by rules,
In gesture grave, in action fools.
There is something strange. at times
almost inexplicable, ir the unexpected
attitudes which prominent men. with
long and honored records Of public SER
vice, sometimes take upon important
questions that intimately concern society,
or upon some transcendently important
national issue or measure. Men, distin
guished all their lives for profound wis
dom, soundness of Judgment, clearness
of perception, and quick discrimination,
unexpectedly commit some error of judg-
| ment, or pursue course of action utterly
at variance with their whole previous
careers. and at times, too when they APP
parently have every incentive to an oppo-
/ site course.
Such is the strange inconsistency Of
human nature even under its best posi-
BILE conditions.
! OF prominent men now living, the case
| vi SA-.cSidtoi hei h'tAi'' VI 'iAAN1 49, NA->
of many cases in point.
He threw away, by a single act, the
accumulated honors of years, and sacri-
| feed to the folly of a moment the repu-
tation of lifetime. Through long
and honored period of public service. in
which. by his broad and comprehensive
grasp of questions Of finance and govern
mental policy. he had made az individual
reputation second to no man Of his time,
and by the pure force of his ability stood
| head and shoulders above all his Demo-
cratic contemporaries, he weakly sue
cumbed to the pressure of the initiation
mania, even after the epidemic had be-
gun to abate. His apostacy to the cause
of sound currency and a maintained
national credit was. indeed. a painful
exhibition of the pitiablc weakness of
human nature.
We have haG presented us recently in
Delaware scarcely less conspicuous in
| stance, in which good 1nau has gone
wrcn" To the surprise and di~app"int-
ment of :, large proportion OF The pe"p"
| Of his State, Senator Bavard has blpn,ncd
out into an open and avnw,:'i advocate III
the rum traffic. As one ii Iii, OWN Della
ware papers says of him:
MIR Bayar,l has been held IN higher
esteem and regard than most politicians
| harause he was considered TO be actrlattd
| INV hi rii,r thai, i,tn~ nipu at
| class and certainly in the matter of juh-
| h.ry" and finances, his course has Gem
| meu6s.li itself to publi,: favor It, is, there
| tore, with the sre:.ttr disappointment that
we SEE him working i'll the Interest "f that
Which degrades ur destroys our yonng m,.I,
reduces helpless women and children to
| want, brutaizeS the higher instincts ana
| hlights every thing il touches. Tie wrecks
! ~ individuals and families are living all
! ar.Ilna him, and So far As vi. have Srth not
one measure has ever been PROPOSED! even
hy The :iv..aatt< of the license system. to
rnunteracr and help 10 prevent these moral
| wrecks"
Now. there are two propositions which
no man with an inta Of common sens:-
will deny.
First: That all true women. and a large
percentage ofintel'isent men every where,
regard the indiscriminate sale of rum as
IN unmitigated curse to any community.
| and the prohibition of the liquor traffic
as public blessing.
Second That the sentiment is unver-
sal in this county. that the sure road to
political death. would be the attempt
] Of any man, representing Cecil county in
| the State Legislature. to attempt the re
peal of the prohihitory law.
Ii these propositions be true, what
| ground have we To assume that the PEG
| pie of Delaware are any less alive to the
| necessity of the passage Of :; similar law
| IN that State than We of Cecil county, or
| that the defeat of the law there, attribu
liable as it is to Mr.. Eayard, is any less
offensive to them than its repeal would
| De to uso
| Is it not apparent, that Mr.. Bayard
wrote his u"w famous or rather infamous
| etter in some interest other than that of
| hose whose sole object in desiring the
| passage at Dover of such Law IS We
-njoy in Cecil, vas the increase of mo
raity, soSriety, and general prosperity in
The State of Delaware
| In what interest, tie". and at whose
suggestion. did Senator Bayard Interfere
| against the law
| This gentleman, whom his personal
| friends have held mp as a finished exam,
.Ie of moral excellence just man
made perfect,-has written Il LETTER that
.ctually defeated the Local Option Bill
| Il the Legislature of Delaware, simply in
HE ns0ney iairt4sts Of hc HYuor dealers of
chat and other States. aad what agra
Yates the ot1ense, did it at tie suggestion
" their paid attorney.
This fact DR.. Babcock' evidence clear
y proves. upon the testimony of the man
1T whose suggestion Mr.. Bayard's letter
was written.
Are We to inter, then. by CHS act. that
The money interests OF this class have
paramount claim upon the Senator's allie
glance over the demands of morality. 80,
briefly, aut! the higher interests of the
.'eope at large:
We reluctantly conres. that the Sena
tors act will bear no other reasonable
construction