Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1895-02-16
Political SCANDALS.
Valuable Lessons For Persons
Who Indulge in Campaign
SANDER.

&
do not prosper. Still, in spite OF the
proofs OF the futilitv Of this base sort
Of political warfare, average partisans
cannot forego the temptation to black
EN- candidate whose election menaceS
them with the loss Of offices and spoils.
The political SANDER upon the private
life Of candidate generally has lis
origin in some obscure corner, whence
it spreads. until. from Il single seed Il
whole harvest Of calumnies is produced.
Ii sensible men pass such things by,
the propagators Of partisan libel cal
culate that there are Il good proportion
Of fools with whom they will stick
But the fools who are most ready To
believe scandalous gossip of every man
who NAV raise himself above the COM
mon, are seldom Influenced bv it in
their political or social action. One
or two eases will serve to show how
little is gained by caluminous assaults
upon the private character of public
men.
When Julius Cesar returned Ia
Rome from one OF his campaigns in
Gaul he was proposed for Consul for
another term The aristocracy whom
he had offended, alarmed by his meas
ures for nationalizing the land. made
a fierce effort to defeat him. In their
desperation they produced against him,
for the first time, an odious story of his
relations with King Nicomedes, Of
Bithvmia. twenty-five years before
Not 10 put too fine point on it, he was
accused OF deiictUm cuni>, a species
of ofienSe which was said to be only
too common in the highest patlician
circles of that age. C;esars enemy,
Bibulus placarded the town with the
scandalous tale, and it was related
that the streets were impossible where
the papers were posted up from the
crowd OF loungers who gathered 10
read them. There were no respecta-
BILE editors, with tongue in check, TO
refuse 10 publish the slander and at
the same time to make it the subject
of moral reflections, as if they had not
the slightest doubt OF its truth, and To
Indignantly protest against the election
of such man for President OF the
Roman Republic But the story was
posted up, in all its naked and revolt
ing details, for the ediiication of the
Roman voters After everybody had
read them Pompey ordered the infam
ous placards to be torn down. Cicero.
who took some malicious pleasure in
Caesars annoyance, philosophically OBJ
served that every eminent man III
Rome might be stained with that sort
OF accemsion 1t is not necessary To
add that Julius Cesar, ON that occa-
sion, was triumphantly elected.
80 much for ancient history on
political calumny. In 1888 David L.
Porter was the candidate of the Dem
ocrats for Governor OF Pennsylvania.
and the Wings and anti -Masons were
united upon Governor Joseph Ritner.
Far more patronage belonged to the
Governors office then than it possesses
in these days Of reform Constitutions
At that period party spirit was much
more brutal in its manipulations, il
the methods Of political management
were less corrupt. In q last despairing
effort to defeat Porter his Wing and
Anti Masonic enemies brought ont
what were known as the StOnebreaker
atiidavits, covering Il slander not
unlike that which has been produced
against Grover Cleveland. Party
editors were then not 80 delicate nor
50 refined in their modes of political
warfare rs to refuse To print the
SANDER. while making ii the subject Of
comments more false aud injurious
than the libel itself. But they printed
it in their newspapers in the biggest
types they could find in their Job
offices. When the Stoncbrcaker atii-
davit> first made THEN appearance
Porter was cloSeted with the editor of
the Democratic paper in Huntingdon,
George Taylor, who atterwari 81 ably
presided Ter many years over the
Courts Of Common Pleas. Judge
Tavlor, who often related the incident.
said that Porter after reading the
slander, paced up and down in the
room in much excitement lie finally
turned 10 the table where the editor
was sitting, and, bringing down his
fist. exclaimed: We have got the
Scoundrcl> now The people Of Penn
>vlvauia who know me won't believe
that Aud they didn't. Porter was
elected Three years after, wilen he
was again candidate the calumnv
was % thoroughly discrelited that his
opponents were ashamed to revive it.
and for six years he made one of the
best Governors that PENNSYLVANIA
ever had.
The above examples from anci<nt
and modern history are sufficient To
show that partisan SANDERS upon the
private lives Of candidates are poor
investment. Their motive Is So had
that they have no weight even who,
~