The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1892-09-14
A PRESSING NEED.

There has possibly never been time
in the history of this country when
there was a more pressing need for trne
manhood, than at the present.
There is great unrest everywhere
and in everything.
There is great temptation to ambi-
tious young men to fall in with the
current and drift with the stream in
order to gain place and position and
temporary honor and applause. The
danger is they will do this regardless
as to whether it is right or not, and in
fact, in many cases, 70 doubt doing so
without considering at a.. the great
moral question of right or wrong. The
principal idea seems to be to gain place
and preferment.
There is crying need in this day for
manhood-for moral courage to do and
to say the right whether it be popular
or not.
A learned writer has given the fol-
lowing which is apropos here:
ss"The pages ofhistory are filed with the
records of contrasted moral courage and
cowardice. I think of no instance more
instructive than that of Charles Sum-
ner and Lord Bacon. During the excit-
ing contest that for weeks agitated tt 2
Legislature and community of Massa-
chusetts pending the election of a sue
cessor to Mr.. Webster, ballot after bal
lot seemed to offer no hope of a decision
or even progress. From time to time
committees waited upon Mr.. Sumner,
urging him verbally to modify his
views upon the tariff, or to relax little
the vigor of his statements about the
slavery question. Charles Sumner was
of the stuff that heroes are made of. He
told these committees, one and all, that
be should abate none Of bis convictions;
If he were elected to the Senate of the
United States he would be elected utter
~ unpledged. He said he would not
step across the room to change q single
vote in his favor.
HCon trast with this conduct, which
an honest life never taruished, the sad
confession Of England's illustrious Lord
Chancellor. Accused of bribery, the
scholar, philosopher and statesman at
first protested his innocence, but at last,
either. in the cowardice Of conscious
guilt, or Of fear of the court, said to the
House Of Lords: I do plainly and in.
genuously confess that I am guilty of
corruption and renounce ny defence.
I Jeseech your lordships, be merciful
to a broken reed.' The Lord Chancel-
lor had tr ned his massive intellect; be
had negle4.ed his conscience. When
the awful hour of test came he fell, hu-
! INFLATED and broken-hearted. Oh,
young friends! there are wrecks Of for
mer men of honor and renown scattered
all up and down our own country, SIM
ply because they lacked, in the hour of
trial, the courage of disciplined con-
science. Be not ye followers of their
! unworthy examples! BE thou strong,
therefore, and show thyself a man."
Our young men, and our older men,
too, for that matte, need to show
themselves men.
We sometimes feel that statesman
ship in this DAY is nothing but a traffic
for Office and the spoils of Office.
There has been too much demand for
measures and not men,"
But The Herald and News has great
confidence and an abiding faith in the
good common sense of the people OF
this country and We believe all things
will come out rightin the end.
We believe that Grover Cleveland is
one of the brightest examples in this
country to-day of true manhood-a
manhood that has the courage Of its
convictions. He has the backbone to
say and to do what he believes to be
right, without counting the conse-
quences. Rev. Sam Jones says his
backbone is as big as a post. And we
believe the people of this country are
going to elevate him to the highest
office within their gift.
Give US more true manhood and less
drifting with the current-more inde-
pendence of thought and action and
less servile following-more moral
courage to say and to do what is right,
according to on enlightened conscience,
whether it be popular or not.