Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-08-20
Our washington Correspondence
puR,Io oREpIr-PUBLIC PLUMBER.
WASHINGTON, D. c., Aug.

nevery country, and at all penods' "ne.
Democracy in its reckless and frantic pursuit
after power and plumber, usurps the liberties
and destroys the rights of the majority
Selling the public Offices by fraud and holding
them by violence, none but the most desper-
ate, who outstrip their competitors in the race
of crime reach the odious distinction of part.
zan chief.
Rome, when her Republic had degenerated
into a mobocracy, bestowed supreme power
on demagogues distinguished above all others
only by excess Of natural depravity, licen-
ciousness, and wickedness; and this conspic-
uous example may serve as type Of the his
tory of all degenerate democracies 1t is the
office of demagogues first to corrupt and then
to ruin. 1t has been their history for the last
800 years, and will continue their history for
ages to come.
To them republic digni6ed with the vir-
tues of a Washington, his noble compeers,
and such like successors, is extremely hateful.
When the standard Of public sentiment de-
qualifications ornamentea with the virtues of
honesty, sobriety, and integrity, there is no
room in the front ranks for such men as now,
in great measure, monopolize public Office.
Public Office, of late, has become but little
else than legal agency for the extortion Of
plumber. The robber is usually enabled to
protect himself from punishment, through the
laxity of law, the indifference of the people,
and judicious use of the spoils pillaged.-
We have become so famlliarized with public
corruption, that attempts to expose or con-
denim it, excite but little attention, or meet
with but little support.
We bear the oppression which robs US of
our property, and makes us the slaves of pow
erty, with silent resignation. The tyranny,
which deprives us of our political rights, is
submitted to with scarce a murmur; while
God knows a volcano of smothered wrongs
which prudence holds in check is struggling
for expression. There is not heart in the
State, except of those who like jackals follow
in the rear of destruction to feed on death;
and "fatten on the moor" of public calami-
ties, but is convused with its own and the
public misfortune.
We see the supreme offices of the State
filled in great measure by men who cannot
even gloss the nefarious conduct which has
produced these direful consequences, with the
poor compliment of talent or ability. Men
L. I,o
in the loose schools of Indian traffic, where
fraud is constant element of commerce, and
brings bountiful rewards to the most refined
adept. These men have learned but little of
civil polity beyond the influence of bribery
which seduces to betray, and corrupts to ruin.
In their public conduct toward Minnesota they
have honored their education. Under other
names they have employed the red blanket,
fire-water, and wampum, as skillfully in Sc
ducing and defrauding the whites as they had
done the red men.
Indeed it has proved more easy and lucra-
tive to speculate with the credulity of civili-
zed than savage life. The Indian demands,
and will have something if only string
beads, or bottle of fire-water, before he will
part with his valuable peltries; but the
thoughtlesS white man, so Indifferent of future
consequences, enslaves himself to an annual
tax, and mortgages his yearly products, upon
the emptiness of plausible promises
When these men came with power, the
State of Minnesota was in the highest degree
prosperous. Taxes, which were in proportion
to the actual value of property, were paid
cheerfully and formed no barrier to the set
Element and prosperity of the country. All
was activity, cheerfulness and hopefulness.
Already how changed! Now the sun may
shine, the showers may water the fields;
herds increase, and the earth yield her abun-
dance; but they bring no JOY. The damna-
BILE incubus of public debt; of revenues de-
voured before produced; of private pensions
by stratagem of law fastened upon the toll
and products of labor, has transformed ma
lures choicest blessings into corroding cur
ses.
The redoubtable champions of Democracy,
not content with extorting an annual revenue
from property greater than the highest war
tax of Europe, and thus exhausting the State
OF all its current means, achieved the highest
altitude of political jugglery by "doing" the
people out of mortgage; five million mort
gage, by which they secured not only the
present but also the FIXTURE wealth of the State
The property Of every individual in the State
was converted into Bonds, Charming magic
and handed over to these precious specimens
Of integrity, to be transmitted into cash.
The poor mans COW, and the rich mans
herds; the waving fields, and the scanty
patch, contribute in like proportion. Not an
acre brought under tillage, not fence plant
ed, nor cabin erected but comes under the
ban and curse of this Internal mortgage
Not drop of sweat, distilled by toll and
drudgery but pays its tribute to the pockets
of these doughty fnanciers Their hellish
schemes have kept tens of thousands from
entering the State, and driven thousands from
it. We toll now as slaves toll, and pay our
masters to save our property from confiscation.
Even the innocent tax collector can scarce
perform his duty through sympathy for the
oppressed. They have branded the State
with the mark of Cain, and our "burdcns
are greater than we can bear"
For five years We have borne these evils,
connived too much at crirne, and foolshly
strove to reform the wicked, and elevate the
venal and debased by acts of public conf
dence and trust, rather than publish our rot
tenness to the world. But now the intensity
Of actual suffering is upon US, which the fu-
ture threatens even to magnify, and there is
no more room to sport or trife with our ca
lamities. The day of reckoning is at hand