The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1889-05-09
BISHOP POTTER'S TALK.
Plain Words to the President and Polite
ians-How we Have Rerograded from
the Old Days.
New York Worlds Report

and ex-Presidents were those whom
his sense Of duty called upon him to
rebuke. Without a moments hesita-
tion he jumped to thecharge. Here is
what he said: -
"a generation which vaunts it's
descent from the founders of the Re
public seems largely to be in danger Of
forgetting their preemiuent distincs
ton. They were few in numbers,
they were poor in worldly possessions
the sum of the fortune Of the richest
among them would afford fine theme
for the scorn of the plutocrat of to-day;
but they had an invincible confidence
in the truth of those principles in which
the foundations of the Republic had
been laid, and they had an unselfsh
purpose to maintain them. The con-
ception Of the national governments as
hugh machine, existing mainly for
the purpose of rewarding partisan SER
vice-this was a conception so alien to
the character and conduct of Washing
ton and his associates that it seems
grotesque even to speak of it. It would
be interesting to imagine the first
President of the United States con-
fronted with some one who had VEN
tured to approach him upon the basis
of what are now commonly known as
practical politics" But the concep-
ton is impossible. The loathing, the
outraged majesty with which he would
have bidden such creature to begone
is foreshadowed by the gentle dignity
with which, just before his inaugura-
ton, replying to one who had the
strongest claims upon his friendship,
and who had applied to him during the
progress of the" Presidential campaign"
as We should say, for the promise of
an appointment to office, he wrote:
"In toucthi1iig upon the more delicate
part of your letter, the Qm Wunication
of which fills me with real concern, l
will deal with you with all that frank
ness which is due to friendship, and
which I wish should be characteristic
feature OF my conduct through life.
Should it be my fate to ad-
minister the Government will go to
the Chair under no pre-engagement of
any kind or nature whatever. And
when in it, I will, to the best of my
judgement, discharge the duties of the
Office with that impartiality and zeal
for the public good which ought never
to suffer connections of blood or friend
ship to have the least sway on decis-
ions of public nature"
On this high level moved the first
President of the Republic. To it must
we who are the heirs Of her sacred in
terests be not unwilling to ascend, if
we are to guard our glorious heritage.
And this all the more because the
perits which confront US are so much
graver and more pretentious than
those which then impended. There is
Gfw are not afraid of the wholesome
medicine that there is in consenting to
see it) an element Of infinite sadness in
the effort which we are making to-day.
Ransacking the annals of our fathers
as We have -Iee2 doing for the last few
months, a busy and well-meahiug as
siduity would fain reproduce the scene,
the scenery, the situation, of hundred
years ago! Vain and importent en-
deavor! 1t is as though out of the
lineaments of living men we would fain
produce another Washington. We
may disinter the vanished draperies,
we may revive the stately minuet, We
may rehabilitate the old scenes, but
the march of century cannot be
halted or reversed, and the enormous
change in the situation can neither be
disguised nor ignored. Then we were,
though not all Of US sprung from one
nationality, practically one people.
Now, that steadily deteriorating pro
cess against whose dangers q great
thinker of our own generation warned
his countrymen just fifty years ago,
goes on every hand, apace. "The con-
slant Importation" wrote the author
of 1.-The Veal of Nations, "as now in
this country, of the lowest orders OF
people from abroad to dilute the quail
ty of our natural manhood, is "a sad and
beggarly prostitution of the noblest gift
ever conferred on people. Who shall
respect people who do not respect
their own blood! And now shall a M.
tional spirit, or any determinate and
proportionate character, arise out ofso
many low bred associations and coarse
grained temperaments, imported from
every cline? It was (indeed) in keep
ing, that Pan, who was the son oi
everybody, was the ugliest of the gods y
And, again, another enormous differ
ence between this day and that ot
which it is the anniversary is seen in
the enormous difference in the nature
and influence of the forces that de-
termine our national and political des-
tiny. Then, ideas ruled the hour, To
day, there are indeed ideas that rule
our hour, but they must be merchant,
able ideas. The growth OF wealth, the
prevalence of luxury, the massing Of
large material forces, which by their
very existence are a menace to the
freedom and integrity of the individu-
al, the infinite swagger four American
speech and manners, mistaken bigness
for greatness, and sadly confounding
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