SHORT SERMONS TO THE PEOPLE.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1776, 29 October 1879, Page 2

SHORT SERMONS TO THE PEOPLE.

I" San Francisco Newsletter."]

■ Every political,'press and pulpit demagogue in the land, seeking profitable popularity, acts in the same Jini of thought. First, praise the dear people's, honesty of purpose, and credit them with'"virtues akin to the angels. Second, select a scapegoat to bear the sins of ehe world, cast upon it the rocks of denunciation, and let it be accursed here and hereafter. The plan is very simple and works to a charm, but it begins to lack novelty, and, as a matter of common justice, it is well sometimes to reverse the operation, although the task is perhapß an unpopular one, because all good Christians prefer a vicarious atonement to answering in their own proper persons.

By what right do the people of this Republic denounce their chosen representatives upon a simple presumption of guilt, or merely upon the baseless assumption thereof ? Yet so it is that official life is made dishonorable, and popular sentiment considers every man in office a thief, "because," dear fellow citizens, as " you" tersely put it, " if a man has a chance to steal, and does not, he is a fool." That is your logic, and proves your own corruption—deny it |if you can. From the very circumstances surrounding official life you have made honesty therein stale, flat, and unprofitable. You demand short terms, low salaries, and a price for your voices out of proportion to their value. You surround officials with every temptation to dishonesty, and, with a strange inconsistency, blame them for yielding. On the other hand, how do yon reward the faithful ones ? Experience answers, with ingratitude, poverty, and neglect. He who panders to your prejudices or depravity is the god of the hour, whilst whoso speaks the truth you consider a superserviceable ass. Life, with you, is a fever speculation, and the almighty dollar is the deity to whom you sacrifice friendship, love, truth, and all the virtues. Your government, good people, is but your self-incarnation, and you cannot accuse it without self-condemna-tion. Thus, whenever you feel disposed to crucify some public functionary, examine your conscience, as the Catholics say, and ask yourselves what "you" have done—or omitted doing— atonement is necessary.