Washington telegraph., 1849-08-22
From The Washington Republic.
THE DYNASTY OF REGULATORS.


The outcry raised by the opposition
presses against removals from office, and
the indecent vituperation of Gn. Taylor
for his very moderate use of the emoving
power, mean more than meetsthe ear.
1t is the ouscry of the bully and theoulprit.
One motive is to shake the purposes of the
Administration--to arrest removals-to
postpone action. Another motive, spring
ing from the consciousness of guilt, is the
fear that every removal will lead TO
new detection and exposure of official
malversation.
The leading men of the party which
opposed Gen. Taylor as candidate be-
longed to the school of politicians which
fattened on the spoils from 1880 to l04O.
They were the detaulters, plunderers. and
peculators of that period when Levi w ood-
bury presided over the Treasury, and
Amos Kendall over the Post-office of the
United States. These men knew very
we'll that there would be no chance for
them if an honest old soldier" should be
seated in the Presidential chair. They
knew that Gen. Taylor had no sympathy
with corruption From Mr.. Van Buren,
they might hope for something. They
had tried him once, and had carried mat
tiers in their own way and with pretty
high hand. They had not only enormous
ty multiplied the public expenditures du-
ring his administration, but they had been
able to steal the public money by thou
sands and hundreds of thousands of dol
lars. From Lewis Cass they might hope
for something. A public officer who
managed to multiply himself by four
draw four salaries at the same time-with
lights to illuminate and fuel to keep warm
in four different capacities at the same
moment-they knew that they should
find him easy enough in overlooking their
money matters. All these old defaulters
and piunderers. therefore, opposed Gen.
Taylor and went into the ranks of Mr..
Van Buren, or Mr.. Cass.
The great effort of these men has al
ways been to prevent an 1nVeStagGtaom
into the departments, bureaus and public
Offices. They have labored always to ex-
clude light from the people. We all re-
member the difficulties experienced by
Mr. Wise in pushing his investigations in
the House of Representatives, and after
wards in getting the result of them pub
lished. In 1888, this party of peculators
opposed violently the printing of report
which had been prepared by the Secretary
of the Treasury himself on the subject of
the public defaulters. "Give us light,
said Mr.. Wise, in debate on motion
to print this report, "not the light of my
speeches, but the light which is to be
found in your own documents" "Let
the people have the facts" said MIR.
Thompson; "give them light--let them
see that their functionaries have done
thus and thus. and my life on the result"
But investigation, in spite OF Locoioco
opposition, produced results; and the re-
suits were given to the people, Hence
followed the overthrow of the dynasty OF
REGULATORS and defaulters in 1910, and the
election, by an overwhelming majority,
of Gen. Harrison to the Presidency,
But the defaulters and pecnlators re-
established themselves in power IN 1874
They went out with Mr.. Van Buren, in
disgrace--they returned with MIR. Polk IN
fraud. The men who had robbed the
Treasury would not hesitate about cheat
ing the people. They reestablished them
selves with the cry of "Polk, Dallas, and
the tariff of 1872 The country discov'
cred the fraud. Pennsylvania rebuked it
for she had been the due and the victim.
The old peculating dynasty was broken
down in the election of 1646. Mean
while, they had been four years in power.
New materials of public interest have
been accommodating during that period.
There is new crop Of defalcations to be