San Andreas independent., 1858-09-18

The condition of the Custom House, Mint
and other Federal soup-houses is deplora-
BILE; they are filled with fat and greasy
retainers, the condition of whose official
existence is servile obedience to Admin
istration direction in and out of Office
They are paid enormous salaries from
which tribute is exacted to control con-
ventions and perpetuate the power which
creates them; decapitation, arbitrary and
unexplained, following any act of citizen
like independence as certain as death
overtakes malefactor on the scaffold.-
More than hundred of these Federal
creatures were present at late conven-
ton in Sacramento, from the Collector
and Mint Superintendent down to the
sweeper and factotum of the several de-
partments. They have newspapers which,
under the name and direction of party
draw their sustenance from these monster
houses of corruption, and whose business
it is to make straight the crooked paths
OF official delinquents, and hush up tie
complaining of the people. Agents are
appointed to superintcnd agents; secret
watchmen are commissioned to detect the
peculations of other custodians, and so on,
almost to infnity, and at an expenditure
unparalleled in the economy of other
States. Such is the power behind the
throne aiming at perpetuity of rule, by
forging instruments of defence from in
gots in the treasury, against popular revo-
luton of opinion. In such smitheries
pillow shares have been wrought to CRATE
among the broken fragments of civil struc-
lures glorious as our own TRINITY Jour
The truth of the above paragraph is
alike disgraceful to our country, and sug-
gestive of serious thought to all who are
free from the contamlnating and corrupt
ing influences of official power The
growing corruption of our government has
become by-word and reproach, so
much SO, indeed, that the warmest friends
of free institutions begin to doubt the
capacity of man for self-government. The
fruitful source of all this lies in the pat
ronage held by the Executive. Through
this powerful lever the President is enabled
to gather around him host of sycophants,
ready to do his bidding, no matter how
despotic it may be- In none of the limi-
ted monarchics of Europe does the crown
ed head possess half the power exercised
by the present President of the United
States. When the Lecompton Constitu
ton was before Congress, it was openly
avowcd by the friends of the Administra
tion, that appointments and the distribu
tion of contracts would be withheld unit
after the decision of that question, in or
der to reward friends and punish enemies
There was no DISBURSEMENT about this; i
was part of the programme lately institu
ted at the seat of government, and it wa
faithfully carried out The man holding
position under the government, and dar
ing to differ with it's policy, was instantly
decapitated. Could we have a govern
ment of more unlimited and despotic pow
ers, short of the rule of Louis Napoleon
Short as has been the existence of the
government of the United States, it has
grown in corruption to greater degree
than any system that ever existed. The
purity of the days of the founders of this
Republic is gone, and has been superce-
ded by mixture of all the damning cor
ruptions of old political systems. 1t is
not to the people, but to the politicians,
that this corruption is due. We main
tain that there still exists among all
classes of this great country healthy pa
triotism, which would willingly, if it knew
how, shake off the incubus of corruption
which is sapping the foundation of our
liberties. But politicians hold the immense
patronage of the government in their
hands, and by the use of this they perpet-
uate their power, and laugh to scorn the
citizen and the patriot who raises his
voice against the degeneracy which they
are causing. This greatand growing evil
cannot last long without check. We
are fast approaching crises. The pat
ronage of the Executive must be curtailed
We believe that the patriotic and great
minds of the country can and will sug-
eest remedy for these growing evils
Whether it be by adopting the election of
postmasters by the people, as proposed by
some, together with the abolition of the
Custom House and the substitution of
free trade, as suggested by Martin Van
Buren. we are not prepared to say; but
that gigantic errors have become inter
woven with our government, we are GER
tain, and that these errors must be RENE
died on the principle that desperate ca
scs require desperate remedies" is as
self-evident to our mind.-,Sonoro Herald.
"UNDER THE RosE"-WHAT 1T
MEANs-This provcrbial expression, like
most others that have been long in use,
cannot be traced with absolute certainty
to its origin, but can only be made the
subject of conjectures more or less proba-
Bile. Some of these conjectures are as
follows:
/. 1t was once customary for the Popes
to consecrate roses. and use them as pres