Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1865-07-20
RUTLAND HERALD,
TUESDAY, JULY Is, 1855.
Corruption i'm office.

The anti-liberal papers OF England
are accustomed to expatiate with great
gusto upon the corruption, disorder and
depravity necessarily resulting from
democratic institutions. Tumult and
riot in elections, and malteasance and
corruption in office, are especially held
up TO the Mortified gaze of the befogged
Britons as inseparable from such re-
publican form Of government as we
have in the United States, In regard
to the first, it is sufficient to say that
the English elections have become noto-
rious as rivalling, h not exceeding, in
displays Of wholesale bribery, british
violence and general corruption, the
worst ones of any other civilized coun-
try on the globe. In regard to corrup-
tion in Office, case has just come to
light in England which further illus
trates the fact that such corruption is
the result of no particular form of gov
eminent, while it can undoubtedly be
carried to the greatest extent, with i'm
punity, under that government which is
least directly and Immediately influenced
by the voice of the people.
No less a functionary than the pres
ent Lord Chancellor o. England is
for the second time exposed in a scan
dalously corrupt transaction. In the
present case, it appears that charges of
malfeasance in Office were brought and
proved against Mr.. Wilde, one of the
registrars Of the Leeds Court of Bank
ruptcy. Instead of directly taking
measures for the dismissal OF Mr..
Wilde, the Lord Chancellor notifies him
to ask leave to resign, and at the same
time intimates to him that he might
procure medical certificate as an inva-
lid, which would entitle him to q pen
sion. The medical certificate seems to
have been a matter of considerable diff
Guilty, for when the papers were over
hauled it was found so defective as to
form no foundation for q resignation.
Thus Mr. Wilde retires rom office on a
pension iraudulently obtained at the in
stance Of the Lord Chancellor, and upon
his retirement one Mr.. W A-ch is irme-
diately appointed by the Chancellor to
the vacant office. Why is ne appointed
Because he paid to the Lord Chancellors
son &l,050 for the appointment. In
other w0lds, Mr.. Wilde, q corrupt Off
Ger, yetires OH bargain that the charges
against him are to be hushed up and he
to be made comfortable for life on q pen |
sion at the public expense, and Mr.. |
WEIGH buys the appointment to the Of |
flee thus vacated, pays the money to the
Lord Ohancellors son, and is duly in
stalled in the Office.
This is the second case Of the kind |
that mas come TO light in the admins |
tration Of the present Chancellor, and in |
both cases parliamentary committees
were appointed to whitewash the Lord
High functionary, who is so exalted as
almost to be included in the maxim
" the king can do no wrong and he is
white washed accordingly. The House |
Of Commons, however, has finally cen
sured the Lord Chancellor, for a "want |
Of caution" q laxity of practice" etc,
and the Lord Chancellor has resigned.
There is undoubtedly plentiful sup
ply OF official corruption in this coun-
try but the English papers evidently
have no occasion to devote their lee
lures on that subject exclusively to us.
Let them endeavor to purify their own
government, and we will strive to the
same end here, when necessary; and we
will have The easier task Of the two.