Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1856-05-21
FIR the SDectntoT.

a Sheriff. desire to callpublic attention to some
matters of importance, in connection with that
Office. (
The Sheriff of Augusta county collects and
pays out every year not less than $4,000. lie
has business transactions with every man in the
county, and much of his business is of a kind re-
curing prompt attention from all concerned.
That such an officer should have no fixed
place of business-no Office to which persons
can. 60 with the certainty of FINDING the Sheriff
or some one of his Deputies, is one OF the most
remarkable absurdities / ever knew.
( Hundreds of the people of the county know it
to be true, that if a man from the country comes
to town upon business with the Sheriff, it is at
least, AN even chance that he will find no Sheriff
in the town, and that he can obtain no certain
information as to where one can be found.
This is q thing which happens constantly, and
which amounts to q serious public grievance.
If the Sheriff would open an office at the
Court House, and either stay there himself, or
require the constant attendance of a competent
clerk or Deputy, authorized and prepared to pay
and receive money, and to transact any other
business connected with the Sheriffalty, he would
not only greatly facilitate the discharge OF his
duties, but would contribute to the convenience
of the public, who have a right to expect order,
system, and business regularity, in so important
a department of the public service.
1t must, of course, be necessary 10 send ont
deputies into the various parts OF the county up
on the business of the Sheriffalty, but the
Sheriff's office, if properly kept, oughtto furnish
the information necessary for the settlement OF
any matter connected with any part OF the
Sherif's duties. s M ~
To this, it would, of course, be necessary to
keep proper books and accounts, a thing which
has never been done, but which would be OF
great convenience to the public, to say nothing
of its intrinsic and manifest importance.
Remember, the Sheriffalty is a good Office, and
one which will justify all the expense necessary
to have it kept in the very best manner. 1t sure
" ought no longer to be tolerated, that business
of such vast importance to the whole cemmuni-
ty shall be travelled around in some halt-dozen
saddle-bags, and transacted at street corners and
cross roads. -aa ~.
The Postmaster who carried his office in his
hat, was entitled to no patent for his invention
1t was only q feeble imitation of the Augusta
Sheriffalty. -ia %
The propriety and convenience of having one
fixed place of business, one place of account and
settlement is so obvious to every man OF busl-
ness, the want of such an arrangement IS SO gen.
orally felt as a public inconvenience, that L have
10 doubt we should have had it long ago, but
for a fact which, though not know to the Con-
~stitution and Law, is known to the whole COM
munity. ltt" el1tf -
We have never yet had a Sheriff of the whole
county of Augusta. The county has for years
been divided into separate Sheritfalties or BALL
wicks, having, in fact, no more connection with
each other, for practical purposes, than with the
county of Pendleton. ai
1t is true,the Law recognizes no such division,
that the Constitution provides for but one Sheriff
of Augusta county, but the matter is arranged
by private contract, and the office Is held IN
partnership. The Sheriff takes charge of one
district and the Deputy another, and thus 1T is
rendered impossible to have any one fixed place
of business, any one set of books, any one system
of accounts, and the result is that we have none
of either. -a
The practical injury thus done to the unity,
efficiency and responsibility of the Sherltfalty,
must strike every man at all acquainted with
the business. The Sheriff himself must feel it,
and would in self-defence apply the remedy, if it
were not for one convenience that attends the
present plan. The Constitution prohibits O
Sheriff from holding Office longer than four
years. Whatever his merits or dement's, he
must 20 out of office at the end of that time
The Constitution must be obeyed, at least in its
letter. But if there are two or more partners,
one can he Sheriff and the Others Deputies, and
then, with all due respect to the Constitution,
the Deputy becomes Sheriff and the Sheriff De-
putty. without even a dissolution of partnership
or change of districts. 1t is the old game of go
down Jack, come up Jill !" and may be played
equally we'll backward or forward.
Again, since popularity is important to the
Sheriff, with q view to reelection, he can help
out his strength by a judicious selection OF popu-
lar Deputies and q race upon the general ticket
system. If his own strength requires the help
Of but one Deputy, well and good, if a dozen are
required, it only diminishes the profits to that
extent, and gives us a dozen little independent
bailiwicks instead of one county and one Sheriff.
Thus we have the public convenience and the
public interests sacrificed, and the real value and
efficiency of the Sheritfalty seriously impaired.
The effect of such arrangements, must, OF
course, be to destroy everything like subordina-
ton on the part of Deputies, for they are IN fact
not Deputies but partners. The unity OF the
office is impossible, and of course no one feels
the proper sense of responsibility for the public
| service.
| have made these suggestions at this time
because, if | understand the positions of the
candidates, the merits of the two systems are
now distinctly presented. regard it as a pub
lie question, and have endeavored to present II
without intending to be understood as making
personal objections to men, when l assall the
system they represent.
| have confined myself to the consideration o
the present plan, as it affects the material bust
ness of the Office, though there are grave oblec
tons to it upon the ground ofhigh public policy
as affecting the whole theoryof popular elections
The combination of numbers in the competl
ton for an office which the Constitution requires
to be filed by one man, must tend to mischief
and ought to be discountenanced, even if it die
not affect the practical working of the Office.
Where such combinations are to end, ant
what offices they are to control, no man cal
foresee. The safe and prudent course then is
to take at once a bold and determined stand a
gainst them ; to take now a firm position upoI
this platform
"No division ofpublic offices; no combination
to obtain them" AUGUSTA.
Mr.. CRAMpAoN AND Mr.. CLATToN.-The ex
PLANTATION made in the Senate on Wednesday b.
Senator Clayton raises q direct question of We
racity between himself and the British Minister
Amongst the letters on the Central American
question recently published by the British gov
eminent, is one dated March 81, 1856, from Nj
Champion to the Earl of Clarendon, from which
the following is an extract
"WAsHINGToN, March 81, 1856.
at will be within your lordship's recollection
that Mr.. Clayton was informed, by sir Henry
Bulwer, before the treaty Of 1850 was signed
that Ruatan was de jure and de tactoa Britisl
possession and Nh. Clayton has on cdrious oc
casions since, in conversation wih me, statet
that lie considered Ruatan as much a Britisl
possession as Jamaica or any other Vest Indi1
island"
This statement Mr.. Clayton has pronouncet
untrue in every particular, and, while disposed
to put the most charitable construction upon TIN
matter. said he was compelled to consider it tn