Middletown transcript., 1888-11-15
Defamation of character.

Defamation of character.
Thomas Paine writes Washington a
letter, and publishes it, saying !:
!" Treacherous in all private friendship
and hypocrite in public morals, the.
world will be puzzled tosknow whether
We had better call you an apostate or
an impostor, and whether you abandon
ed good morals or never had any.
That is Thomas Paine's opinion Of
George Washington.
Defamation! 1t is the
curse of the American ballot-box.
Just as soon as in the great
cities a man is put up for
office he is made the target. The
fact that he is up is prima facie evil
dence that be must be brought down.
His public life and his private life are
scrutinized and all the electric lights
are turned on. How often 1t is that
men have gone down under such
things. In everyaautumnal election
the air, is filled with carrion crows
scenting carcasses. Cav Caw ! Cav !
There are newspapers in the United
States that in the great autumnal
elections take wild license for liberty.
They are filled with calumny. The
editorial columns of such papers reek
with it their columns are stuffed
with it. There are newspapers in the
United States which in the great popu-
lar elections, breakfast and dine and
sup on indecency. They wallow in it.
Swine like the mire. They give
more for one quill full of it than a
whole hogshead of decent product.
There are in these great autumnal
elections men sitting in editorial chairs
who write with a quill, not plucked
from the stupid goose, or the sublime
but from turkey buzzard +! Ghouls !
Ghouls They tip the city sewers
into their editorial inkstands. Defam-
alton of character is one of the curses
of the American ballot-box, to-day.
In your great presidential elections
who can tell from what he reads who
IS the man he ought to vote for ? Bad
men sometimes applauded, good men
denounced.
n \ charge you, then, as
American citizens to remember your
responsibility on the first Tuesday of
November. It will begin early, the
snow storm of suffrages. It will snow
all day-snow on until noon, snow on un-
til night. The fakes will fall in every
town and village and neighborhood,
the white flakes. The octogenerian
will come up, his hand trembling, and
with spectacled eye he will scrutinize
the vote and drop it and pass on. The
young man who has been waiting for
his time will come up, and proudly and
blushingly deposit his first vote and
pass on. The capitalist will come up
with bediamond finger and the laborer
with hard fist, and the one vote will
be as good as the other. Snow storm
of suffrages, and then these white
fakes will be gathered together and
compacted into an avalanche that will
slide down in expression of the WIFI of
the people. Stand out of the way of
it. In the awful sweep of this ava
lanche let political fraud go down a
thousand feet under.
You have not only a vote, you have |
a prayer. The prayer may be mightier |
than the vote. Oh, as citizens of this |
city, and of this state, and
of this nation, let US do our whole
duty. We cannot live under any other |
form of government than that which
God has given US in this country. |
The stars on our flag are not the stars
Of a thickening night, but the stars
spriukled amid the bars of morning
cloud. We are going to have one
government on this entire continent.
Let the dispotisms of Asia keep their
FEET off the Pacific coast, and let the
;yrannies of Europe keep their feet of
;he Atlantic coast. We are going to
nave one government. Mexico will
,ollow Texas into the Union, and
Christianity and civilization will stand
,ide by side in the halls of the Monte
.umas. And if not in our day, then
n the day of our children. Yucatan
md Central America will come into
dominion, while on the north Canada
will be ours, not by conquest-oh, no,
American and English swords may
lever clash again-but we will woo
,ur fair neighbor of the north, and
hen England will say to Canada:
You are old enough for the mar
iage day." and then, turning, will
ay: "Giant of the west, 60 take
our BRIDE" And then from Bafin's
Bay to the Caribbean there will be one
government under one flag, with one
iestiny-a free, undisputed, Christian
zed American continent. God save
he city of Brooklyn ! God save the
of New York God
ave the union.
SINGULAR SUIT.-Lewis D. Green's
ade, husband of the only female bar
er in Brooklyn, has sued the trustees
f Rev. De Witt Talmage's Church
or $1,000. He says that he was for
IDLY elected from the church without
ause, to the detriment of his clothing
nd feelings. Greenslade appeared in
front seat of the church one Sunday
light in tenus blazer, knee-breeches {