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 of all parties, the late President Harrison was a _good_ man; and now that he has gone to the judgment where there is no respect of persons, who does not feel that this is a better title than he could have won by the most splendid administration of our government? Impressive is the lesson of his departure, and sincere was the mourning that followed him to his grave; but the remembrance of his inflexible though modest worth will abide in the firmament of public life, a bright star sending down its calm influence through the interval of years and ages. Let the people demand of their rulers that they copy this example. Let them say to the candidate for public office,--We require moral principle, we desire religious faith, in those to whom we commit the trusts that are at our disposal; we wish for something on which we can rely, and the only thing on which we can rely is character. Let them say to the representatives of the nation's dignity on the floors of Congress,--Conduct yourselves like men of principle;