The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-03-13


The sPoils OF Omce-The Policy or the
Government NJ Montgomery, and or the
Government mt Warrington.
Every intelligent and patriotic statesman has
long since seen that If our government was
ever to be destroyed it was to be by the cor
ruption arising from the spoils of office; but
none has hitherto been found able to cope with
the difficulty so as to effect its removal. The
prophecy has become a fact-the government
is destroyed-the Union is dissolved, and one
of the causes is the spoils of Office. We learned
by telegraph yesterday that the Congress OF
the Confederate States, made wise by expe-
rience, have inserted In their new constitution
a provision to the effect that all the executive
appointees under the grade of Cabinet officers
are to hold Office during good behavior, and to
signed in writing. This is highly important in
telligence, and if Mr. Lincoln is wise he will
take leaf out of the Southern book, and imi-
tate the example set him by the government at
Montgomery. Fds est ab hoste doceri. 1t is
legitimate to take less on even from the
enemy.
That able statesman, John G. Calhoun, de-
clared in his day that the party organizations
were utterly corrupt, and were only held toge-
Their by "the cohesive power Of the public
plumber" But since his time the thirst for
spoils has become SO great that it is now
constant cause of the disintegraton of party
organizations-the means of their inevitable
destruction. The principle enunciated by Mr..
Marcy, under the regime of Martin Van Buren,,
that "to the victors belong the spoils," has
been acted upon by every succeeding admins
tration, and has proved the destruction Of
nearly all of them. Folks administration
was saved from ruin by the Mexican war,
which supplied so many spoils that the pres
sure upon the civil Offices was not very great,
and the fclat of victorious arms covered
multitude of sins. Honest Zachary Taylor was
absolutely killed, worried to death, by embar-
easements arising out of the public plumber and
the proceedings of his corrupt Cabinet. Under
Fillmore's administration the wing party was
finished by the operation Of the spoils. The
democratic party succeeded under poor Pierce
by an overwhelming majority over the wings
and General Scott. The corruption and demo-
ralization arising from the spells distributed
by Pierce's administration brought the de-
mocracy so low that the Know Nothing or
American party sprang up like magic in anita
gonism to the foreign influence Qrish and Ger
MANI generated by the distribution of the pub
lie plumber among the most degraded and un-
educated of the emigrant population. Thou
sands of Disconnected natives bolted from the
democratic party to the dark lantern lodges,
and in consequence of this detection the new
republican party, consisting of the whig rump
and the abolitionists, were nearly successful in
electing Mr.. Fremont in 1856, and Mr.. Buchanan
was only victor by narrow escape.
The effect of the distribution Of the spoils
under the administration of Mr.. Buchanan was
to drive more of the hungry and disappointed
democrats out Of the ranks into the new orga-
nization, which had gained 80 much confidence
by the good race which it made in 1856 that
it girt up its loins for the contest of 1860; and
the utter corruption and depravity of the de-
mocratic leaders, produced by the public plum
der, gave an easy victory to the republicans,
without reference to the merits of the anti
slavery issue which they presented to the peo-
pie. The inordinate rage for the spoils, instead
of uniting the conservative elements, actually
divided them, and the secessionists, seeing
their opportunity, seized it, and played into
the hands Of the republican party, for whose
success they prayed.
But the success of the republicans will prove
their destruction. They were victorious before
their time. By fortuitous combination of cir
cumstances they won the game without ma
jority, and now they have not sufficient num-
bers to sustain them in their desperate po-
Icy. To reach the spoils Of Office the
political leaders appealed to the fanatical pas
sions Of the abolitionists, and now the latter in
sist upon the fulflment Of the bond, whose con-
ditions il was never meant to observe. The
result is the breaking up of the confederacy,
and the imminent danger of civil war. The
republican party is q house divided against
itself, and cannot stand. One half is for war,
and the other half is for peace. If the war fac
ton prevail, the party and the country are
destroyed together; If the peace faction tri-
umph, the war element revolts, and the repub-
lican party is demoralized.
But, Independent of the political difficulties
brought on by the party struggle for the
epoils, the patronage Of the government, If dis
tributed after "the good old plan" must prove
disastrous to the successful party itself-like
the bee, which inficts wound, but whose
sting, left behind, drags out its own entrails in
the moment of victory. The swarms of
Office seekers from the East, from the
West and from the North, which darken
the air OF Washington, and are settling
down upon the seat Of government like locusts,
to devour every green thing, will eat the Presi-
dent up when there is nothing else left for
them. They are perfectly wild and ravenous
Old Abe, we are told, cannot take any outdoor
exercise for them; his meals, consequently,
cannot do him any good, and sleep forsakes
his eyelida III he does not "put his foot down