Worcester daily spy., 1860-05-16
u,La Ireirn of Frnud.

No decree of God is so firmly liked, and so
easily forgotten, as that there can be no hiding
nlace for dislloaog, Cover it with as many
disguises as can be found, social respectability,
official sanction, genial disposition, attractive
manners, still retribution is as swift and GER
tain as the flight of time. No Notifications
against exposure are secure. No safeguards
against discovery are reliable. The secret finds
= thousand malicious voices, Willie the owner
of it is aslcep in his infamy,
aa,, The revelation of the pest office defalcation
si's SeW N York, and the flight and reported sui
eide of the defaalter illustrate again the inev'
elable law. There are fGtffffara--e OF corruption
in high quarters net yet ready TO be exposed
but only waiting to be confirmed in the proper
order of events, But there is no ultimate es-
cane from the shame Of exposure, nor from
tbe nenaIties which are laid up for those who
traffic in corruption,
The fearful multiplication of these instances
of crime and dishoner during the last few
wears are Justly source of alarm to the pub
lie Either because unsafe and untried men are
thrown into places Of pccuniary responsibility
and temptation, or because the standard ot
m,,rsl obligation has fallen down, or for both
reasons together, the atmosphere has become
heavy with crime. Fraud threatens to be-
come the rule, honesty the exception.
The Individual guilt cannot of course, be
transferred from the person who betrays his
trust, takes bribe, robs the state, or does any
other shameful or criminal thing. But the re-
spensibity for the prevailing decentralization
belongs to some one who has not yet been ex-
posed and punished. The promotion of some
man, or the success of some party, re-
quires that votes should be curruptly obtained.
Money is contributed, agents are sent into pur-
chaseable communities, mems preferences are
bought and sold, and the concentration Of vast
patronage in the hands of a man not indisposed
to take it at such price, is the result.
The time comes when the brokers in this
corrupt undertaking must be paid. Some of
them are rewarded with foreign missions,
some of them with post offices, some with col
lectorships, many with clerkships more or less
lucrative. Encouraged by the countenance of
the highest authority in the land, there is moth
ing surprising in the fact that so many un-
scrupulous pensioners upon patronage turn
their opportunities to personal advantage, and
only discover their mistake when they are in
volved in irretrievabe disaster.
There is no more guilty cause of prevailing
decentralization than a corrupt appointing pow
er. When thieves are appointed to office,
special privilege is accorded to theft and it
thrives accordingly. Ifassassins receive espe-
cal marks of federal favor, assassination takes
courage, and invades the streets by daylight
And those who are rewarded for successful
traffic in the dishonor of other men, receive a
a premium for their own dishonor, and are un.
worthy Of trust
The appointing system rests upon false
basis. In the hands of a pure and upright
statesman, it is an instrument of marvellous
power for the integrity, the welfare, and the
good fame of the country. But in the hands
of a mean, selfish, and revengeful man, trou-
bled with no scruples, restrained by no high
sense of honor it is an engine of fraud, de-
moralization, and crime, as many an appointee
has too late found to his cost.