e of a large portion of the political press
on the eve or during the progress of an election--and in our country
but little time falls without this description--is unchristian,
immoral, barbarous. Strange as it may sound, I believe that the words
with which the birth of the Redeemer was celebrated by the heavenly
host, "Glory to God in the highest; on earth peace, goodwill among
men," express the aims which the press should adopt and the spirit in
which its labours should be pursued.

The same great principles of conduct which we have traced in their
application to the private offices of citizenship should be adopted by
public men, and by these principles should their course be judged.
They should act under a sense of their relations to God and their duty
to their fellow-men. The common remark is, that they are responsible
to their country. But there is a higher responsibleness than this,
which they must not forget. They act in the sight of God, and on each
one of them devolve the obligations of personal fidelity, which
requires that they never compromise their uprightness nor relinquish
their hold on a virtuous character. Let the conduct of statesmen in
all ages be brought to this standard, and how will it bear the test?
The very principles on which statesmanship has proceeded--the
principles of crooked policy and exclusive national advantage--are
fatal to purity of character. It is related of Lord Stanhope, one of
the ministers of George I. that one day, after musing some time in
company, he started up and said as to himself, "It is impossible!" and
being asked what it was that was impossible, he replied, "It is
impossible for a minister to be an honest man." Was there not sad
truth as well as keen satire in this remark of one whose experience
must add weight to his opinion? Still, not truth enough to justify
despair; for it is not "impossible," that men in the most conspicuous
and dangerous positions should hold fast their integrity. There have
been those who have passed through the ordeal unharmed. Washington
alone might prove that public station and personal excellence may be
maintained together. And besides other names that our own annals might
supply, he whom the providence of God removed from the highest office
in this nation when he had but just crossed its threshold was, if we
may believe various and positive testimony, an example of moral and
religious character worthy of universal imitation. By the consent o