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Show PLACE A LIMIT. its! this day of degenerate politics nd- partisan ,, newspapers, a man tWst be either a very saint, or a hardened villian, if he ever consents to place his name before the public as candidate for public office. Their past is unearthed, the most villaia-us villaia-us construction put upon events, which time and defective records make obscure, and the man who has not a perfect character comes out of the mellec without a shred of reputation. , The public certainly have some right to know the general character ef the man who aspires to public , trust and emoluments, but there : , should be a law of honor in effect like . the law of limitation, and when a , man's record bad been good for . years, what had besen done before that could very properly be regula-, regula-, ted to the dead past. Otherwise we place a man beyond the pale of repentance, we deny that one may xvtt profit by mistakes, or be an . honorable man and consciencious citizen and officer, after having ..once Hepped aside from virtue's . path, aad everybody knows that is not correct. In fact some of the best and most faithful men, of whom we have historical accounts, were mm who had lined and repented. |