The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-05 00:00:00

WHITHER ARE WE TENDING?

. (From the Anglo-American Times.)
The biggest placards everywhere announce the
biggest journal in the world, and those who would
like to see that elephant dancing should read the
Standard or Morning Herald, or whatever it calls
itself, of Thursday last. This elephantine jig is per-
formed to a tune of the New York Herald, which
on the 7th April published an article in reply to the
question—Whither are we tending ? " From one
end of the laud to the other," according to the New.
York Herald, " the people are the prey of political
harpies. Property, order, personal rights, are
mere names, and in all things in which a Govern-
ment
should secure the governed, the people are at .
the mercy of an unscrupulous class, who, in virtue
of universal suffrage, hold the offiees and make the
laws." Instead of the purity and economy the
States expected to secure after casting away the
tyrannical and corrupt yoke of the British Mo-
narchy, by making the rulers feel the direct in-
fluence of the people, the Herald finds that " after
eighty years our experience only results in show-
ng the world how to secure the worst G -
vornment the sun can shine on, how to orga-
nize the system most certain to defeat all the
good objects of government, and how to tie the
people hand and foot, and hand them over to
the rogues and wretches of the community."
Here are fine texts for the Tory journal ! ande
how it avails itself of them we may gather from its
remark—" It is the perpetual pressure of these ob-
ligations (promises of political support) which has
brought about the dreadful condition of the national
finances, the terrible state of corruption in the
Revenue Department, and that fearful necessity for
more oaices, which has driven the • Legislature to
the remov ml of the PRESIDENT and the encroach-
ment on the Presidential power. The final result of
universal suffrage is to set up the whole wealth of
the State and the property - of the citizens ' as the
reward of the winner in a race for office'— the
winner being, four times out of five, one who seeks
his position only that he may make money out of
it. As for universal suffrage, which was not urigi-
ginally contemplated by the framers of the Consti-
tution, it is the parent of all the vices in the politi-
cal system of the United States." No one denies
the gross political corruption prevailing in the
United States. The question is, To what i:; it due ?
And of course to this the Standard iast intly replies,
To universal suffrage. But, unfortunately for the
Standard, the most corrupt period of English his-
tory was the time when the franchise had bee❑
reduced to its narrowest limits, and the Govern-
ment was that of the aristocracy. Every Republic
has fallen by its tendency to create an oligarchy
and the gross corruption which ensues. This arises
from the unscrupulous educated, using the want of
knowledge in' the masses to further their own de-
signs—the alliance of knavery with ignorance. It
is not the fault of Democratic institutions that cor-
ruption has gained so firm a hold in the United
States; it is purely due to the dense ignorance►
shipped into the country from Europe. The marvel
is that the institutions of the United States should
so well have stood the strain, nor is there any in-
superable difficulty in working a thorough reform.
Take away the prizes in the lottery of villany and
there will be but few candidates. Make the civil
service of the United States a profession for which
lads are educated and rise through the different
grades as they do in the army, an I all the gang of
corrupt politicians are knocked oa the head. This is
the grand work for the incoming PRESIDENT, who,
we most fervently hope, may be General GRANT—
not that we care for one candidate more than
another, hut because we believe that he would lend
himself heartily and with single-minded patriotism
to this work. Democratic institutions have not yet
had fair play in the United States, nor can they
until the European tide of ignorance passes through
some preparatory straining before admission to
the exercise of the franchise. Indeed we much
doubt whether any process could qualify the
bulk of the immigrants, and the people should
not forget that in leaving prizes to be striven
for by the unscrupulous, and freely giving the bal-
lot to the immigrant, with one hand they offer the
inducement for, and with the other the means of demo-
ralizing the community. If England adopted for
a year the civil service system in force in the United
States she would be precipitated into ruin. No
country but one patient under taxation and in the
highest degree law-abiding would endure it. But
there is no necessity for enduring it in America, as
it can without much difficulty be remedied, and an
immense reform effected. What the American
people have to defeat is the chance of any mere po-
litcian, such as ANDREW JOHNSON, being elected to
the Presidency; GRANT, or CHASE, Or CHARLES
FRANCIS ADAMS, are of the stamp, whatever their
political proclivities, from whom, unless infatuated,
they will elect their next President. Except
the man elected be devoid of true patriotism,
he will turn the whole force of his energies to
the reformation of the civil service. Although
the people stand aghest before the political cor-
ruption developed since the war, the system is in
truth the mere expansion of that in existence be-
fore the war. The machinery of Government has
been vastly increase i, and in prop )rtioa to that in-
crease has been the corruption. Before iS was com-
paratively a minor evil, but the increase to which
we have alluded has made it a stupendous one.
It is bad enough for the people to have their means
of existence wrung from them wholesale as now ;
.but it is worse that adlitional burdens should be
added to fatten up such blood-suckers, and that the
plunder squeezed from the nation should be used as
a means of demoralizing the nation. Fortunately
for the United States the magnitule of the evil has
directed to it public attention, and the President

of next November, be he Democrat or Republican,
must stand upon the platform of Civil Service Be'
fofn. It is not, however, fair to charge against
Democratic institutions the vices arising from a
want of system. No man pretends that Republican
institutions will alter human nature, although they
may modify it. Men will be dishonest, whether
rolling in luxurious carriages in Rotten-row or
"stumping" the States, and the greatest thieves Of
Modern days- have been shown to be the Rotten-
row men. We freely confess that the next greatest
are professional politicians of the United States.
Bat Democracy had as little to do with educating
the one as the other. We do not suppose that even
the Standard will argue that the privilege of elect-
ing his rulers must necessarily make a man corrupt,
though it may increase his opportunities of be-p°
corrupt. Its influence instead of being to degrade'
is to elevate, and in the whole mass, if the Frolic"
tion of elevation be greater th in the ule3stise
of evil it has evoked from the naturally vieleuts;
then we maintain that Democracy is good.
all men were impracticably evil it would v.°
impossible for Democracy to stand. Its On°.
plais that men are not wh )11y vicious, and the more
enlightene I and educated they become, the better
qualified they are for self-rule, and the only tole,
Conservatism is resting power on the individatn
shoulders of every citizen. No one expects the
United States to develope a perfect form of Govern'
went, but what believers in Democracy assert is, that
in so far as it attains this the true end of Conser-
vatism, it is better than any other. The Standard
.points to the vast mass of rottenness shown by th,e
article of the New York Herald, and this we frankl
admit to be a huge blot marking the inroad of the
eneaty against the liberty of mankind, and proving
how the best institutions are defeated by the vice
of human nature. But to. understand the subject
we must take a more comprehensive glance. Sud-
denly the lightest taxed and least governed of 0°
Great Powers found itself overwhelmed with In.l'
posts and officials. The transition was, in truth, a:
instantaneous as the change a man makes wha
swims across a river, the bank on the one side alit
the bank on ta, other being his connecting poi3t.s;
though all around him may be altered. So it. w 3.1
With the States when they passed through the eivecil
war. The country they left and that they. enter
were widely different, and the difficulty is to aaCcllliii
modate themselves to the change. That they sho3
have succeeded so well ought really to be the matl.o.
for surprise, not that while the baggage is
e.
strewn on the bank that robbers should be active.
There is every reasonto expect that the refOratill' ,be
Civil Service will soon be inaugurated, and the abtlse;
over which the Standard danced its elephantine J()
on Thursday, will at one stroke be swept avla:
But is it fair, in reviewing Democratic institati°ns',,
to take one phase, and that arising from such
peculiar circumstances as the demoralization grit) ce
ing out of a defective Civil Service System, i°
of a total change of circumstances ? Whit 113
been the predictions and the earnest desire of 00
'oligarchical organs ? In the first instance, tlei
maintained that a Republic had not the-consistelic/
and determination successfully to fight through
desperate and long-continued struggle. They b.°i
0;
that a pure Democracy could not stand. the Olio
that the people were too fickle, too little iucli° to
for honour, patriotism, or for auy other motivrehi,4
endure privation and make great sacrifices, ""01
the United States dispelled by facts so patent
none could deny them. It was then asserted td
though kept up by the excitement of war, cbtil
bribed to acquiescence by the seeming conintroclo
prosperity which always in the first instance at"- or,
the substitution of a paper for a metallic currenaja
that Democracy could not bear the after strtea
when the liabilities had to be met. The 1/°.lO,
States have patiently borne a system of tax3+"llol
3
which, it is confessed, no other nation en ja
would endure, coupled with the very eorrupticwthe
the Government employes which furnishej
cad,
tune to which the Standard last ThursdlY dant ola
The third prediction was, and even now is, 6155 311
Constitution would break down ; that it I":t
very well for times of peace, and very Pre' 0Y,11,1
theory, but when tested by the fiery ordeal it ,3110
be fannd wanting. N.)w here again the RePti, ot,
presents a grand spectacle—that of Preside.
Commanding-in-Chief the Armies
of the United States, and exercising the whole
ceivil
cutive power of the nation, being tried bY 30,/,1
tribunal, and all his acts brought to the Pe',:bet
and iNa'o,
arbitrament of law.. Can the Standard tell us,a,eo
such a sight had ever been seen before ? ' c
lsne
have gone down in scores before armed vi°
and instances are not infrequent in which icvi
surfeited with the pomps and vanities of this b„‘,
world, have voluntarily surrendered nover'eati‘a
never was there an instance of a great ex ° vial
officer, the head of a powerful nation,
befo,e
quietly arraigned like any ordinary citizen 0, of
the tribunal appointed by law to test the lega:tvrb
his conduct. 'This is perhaps as grand a tag
as ever Democracy achieved. We put asidtl:ooo
constant prediction of the great financial conVh3t i 4
which was to collapse the States as an °Per, bay°
flattened beneath the arm of its owner. /' e
had the financial collapse, but it has been in is pot
land, not in the United States; and the effe° go
unlike that of a man enjoying the speetac:l tt , oer
fight between two others, who suddenly aa'' ifor
pectedly gets knocked down himself. It is no'-':,,41;
him to look for either of the pugilists to be ."'"°,3;)%1
but he gets up surprised, confused, and utterlY" it i 0
to account for the fact as regards hit:ll°l%oa pie
unfair, when reviewing Democracy, to C°l3 i 3 bC'
discussion to a single phase, while the wilol°.oo dc'
fore us; and although we deplore the currnPl.ljo:Pl
veloped among the political harpies of the vreit's
States as much as the New York Herald, we ofeC;
that the country is tending toward a moreP.o br3
goal, because in other respects Republican'' ,4
brought out in striking relief the virtu'

•
people.
Tennat AO 1.4
THE ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.—Major 7
going out to India to observe the total eclipse t.'‘) ,
18, with a special view to photography and 1:01$""„.-1 19
the cost of the expedition having been sanctione;di e-
Secretary of State for India. This eclipse is 3117, C0°44,5!
citing unusual interest among astronomers, ."-j,,,,r1,',;1
quence of the (comparatively) long period of ,f,,r of
which it will occasion. A line drawn on th°lll'.(s°ol
Aden across Hindustan, and away to the southern lino
Now Guinea, will represent pretty accuratelY o°4,
total obscurity. It co happens that on the util'e 001,
named the moon will be almost at its nearest te
and the sun at its furthest from the earth, ceos',„ Jt" g
the moon will hide the sun so completely teen
tion of the total darkness will be e' ia -cf.-)
This is so rare a phenomenon that allinterestti tild
cal science are earnestly desirous of getting 91`0,010, to-
out of it by observation. Foremost among., 0,0
Royal Society have taken such measures that, ef otoevi
ther be only favourable at the time and place °,l I is"
tion, most satisfactory results will be obtainctructe vre•
have sent out to India a number of giewly oustiaoto°,oo9,
struments—telescopes, spectroscopes, prisms 1. e of
and others, by which all the phenomena of tilt' eb, SO re
be well observed : and as the observers Will the
the most skilful of the officers employed og tli"'evoa
trigonometrical survey of India, we mayll°Pl,-0000,013'
highly important questions involved in the V; the 5,0011
will be cleared of their present uncertaintY• Wr,
west monsoon, which will then be blowille'so
leave the sky clear at the place of observation, ud its
Christmas next know more about the Sill' 3
and atmosphere than hitherto.
Births. IP 16001 P
X 3
the Ist inst., the wile of —r. codg,e'
312, Regent-street, W., of a son. S
MONTMORENCY—On the 3d inst., at Pounu'll. De
Taunton, the wife of Captain the HOU. IL or
morency, 32d Light -Infantry, of a son. „vas, of •
PORTER—On Oesnt
Dtllv3ideb,inthste.,waitf
e4o,
fThaonsc.e
pli°orrte'r,

8017.
tO°'
Marriages.
BALLARD - HALSE—Ou the 2d inst., at D. al-
I,
Elward Ballard, M.D., of Islington, t° don foll(,
youngest daughter of John liaise, Esq., cif of. il)' -t,
GOOCH—BLAKE —On the 2d inst., Bra rrl.
tneto 11i,tyet
Charles C. Gooch, Esq., of Niestbourne-t,!ror,
park, to Mary, eldest daughter of the I'l'

- .
rector of BranTierton. -
d C''''
Deaths. j,or
t 001)*
CALTHORPE—On the 2d inst., at Elvethan, this
thorpe, aged 77. the itigij ~,
FonnEs—On the Ist hist , at Richmond, li
4. Pi 0
Walter, Lord Forbes, .aged 70. tree.,,,Of
Alelvillei,,soos 1
STUART—On the 17th ult at 31,
burgh, Katherine, widow"of the late Sir "- re
C A
Bart., of Allan Bank, N.B. , squat"
WENLOCK—Ou the 2d inst., at 29, 13eikeh75. .
line, the Dowager Lady NVenlo'ck, age' --

".%
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Strand, in the Precinct of the WWI iII-
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