The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1850-01-07
7 H E R E P u B &c.
General Cas-. and wing Cupidity.

General Cass and Wing Cupidity.
There is familiar adage touching the
jewellers in glass houses. 1t is not pru.
dent for them to indulge in the amusement
of throwing stones at their neighbors.
Though he has lived TO a pretty mature
age, General CAss seems not to have
pro6ted by this scrap Of nursery wisdom.
One would have supposed, for instance,
that he would be the last man in the world
to indulge in taunt on the subject Of
ofiice-holding or ofhce-seeking and yet
he throws the first stone. 81 trust" he
said in the Senate on Friday last, "that
we shall take course, which, while it
asserts the rights Of the country, will re-
store to the Senate its eficacious control,
and will yield nothing-I will not say to
the cuptdity-but will say TO the earnest
desire Of Office, which was never more
powerful, nor more powerfully displayed,
than now"
Under the circumstances this was rather
bold remark for General CAss; and it is
one of the most pregnant and suggestive
observations in his whole speech. 1t re-
calls career of nearly fifty years, rich in
historical recollections. 1t carries us back
to the cradle of the nineteenth century,
when we find the youthful CAss dofing
the black cockade of Federalism, and en-
tering the services of his country, BRAN
dishing the staff of office as the marshal
of Ohio. Whether he was induced to &C
cept this trust from the " cupidity," or
merely the " earnest desire" of office, we
cannot undertake to affirm. The distinc-
ton is somewhat thin. From 1907 to 1912,
however, he continued to reap the harvest
of fees which at that time made this mar
shalship sufficient to crafty not merely an
"earnest desire" but an absolute &c GU
pidity."
During portion of 1912 he was
'warrior" with his marshal's "cloak around
him"-soldier and civilian-happy in sort
of official plurality and polygamy. In 1913,
on the doctrine Of e'rotation in Office" as
he understood it, Colonel CAss became
Brigadier General CAss, and Marshal
CAss became territorial governor of Mich
igan, and superintendent of Indian affairs.
Eighteen years-from 1913 to 1831-he
occupied this gubernatorial chair and three
or four other Offices. During this period,
he SO prospered and waxed fat, that no
one can wonder that his single case should
breed much earnest desire, not to say GU
pidity, for official employments. AS Lord
Give said in the House of Commons of
similar opportunites-his successes were
"such as flesh and blood could not with
stand" The dish was not so attractive to
be sure-but then the trimmings Thirty
six thousand dollars in salaries, and sixty
thousand dollars in extras How can
General CAss render Office so attractive,
and then rebuke the s'earnest desire" for il!
But the doctrine of ''rotation" was
again to be applied in its Democratic inter-
probation, and General CAss was rotated
out of good Office into better. He was
made Secretary of War in August, 1881.
In 1886 he was made minister to France,
with the express understanding with Gen.
eral JACKSON that he should be permitted
to visit the East; in pursuance Of which,
instructions to the naoal officers in the Ne
difaranean Were placed in has hands, 10
give him srery facility in the execution Of
has purpose. This was as pretty privi-
lege as a man could desire. Nine thou
sand outfit, and nine thousand year as
minister-resident at the court of Versailles,
and cruising about for months in the go
vernment vessels, and at the public ex-
pense playing the sentimental traveller
among the ruins Of Tbebes and Balbec!
Is not such prospect sufficient to gene
rate in breast merely human-not an
earnest desire alone for Office, but an abb
solute cupidity'
For six years this Democratic censor Of
WIG sppetites cracked bis almonds and
quaffed his burgundy at the table of Louis
PHILIPPE, and then returned to his native
country to the honest enjoyment of the
magnificent wealth he had accumulated in
the public service. But he could not live
out Of Office. He took the stump for Mr..
Polk, and in March, 1915, took his seat
as Senator of the United States. In
1S4s he laid down this office, in the ex.
pectation Of rotating into the Presidency
Of the United States. Failing in this,
he drops down again into the Senate,
and is hardly warm in his seat before
he commences curious Investigations on
this subject Of ofhce-holding. Him
self plump with the acknowledged" corn
Of public cribs, and stocked with the
profuse unctions of ofice-with not an
ounce Of flesh nor drop Of blood that is
n