Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1867-04-26
From the Raleigh SentinnI


It is not probable that, for some time r.
come, our people will trouble themselves
greatly about Federal offices. A clarnor Co.,
the "loaves and fishes was never a cha
acteristic of North Carolina, even in tho
days of hot political excitements, and when
the avenues to Office were accessible To oil
her citizens. In these times of party greed
when the thirst for power is as insatiate rs
the grave itself, when men 1--WE mean in tbn
States, =" Districts" not being counted
descend to all expedients for, and scrnnia,
at no means OF, obtaining and RETAINING E
ice, and when even the Senate of the I'm;
ted States is engaged in the hourly worl, &c
rejecting merit, honesty and capabiIitv
II their possessors do not go the full length
OF hadical progression, at such time we
say, IL IS refreshing to read such sentiments
as the following uttered by the great ana
good CASTOR, in the Convention of IS35 --'
"The change of manners" which Jndco
CASTOR deplored, did not probable enc.
brace dozen applications for Federal of
flee IN the entire State and his ;nd;ono-
ton is therefore the more illustrative of the
modesty and integrity of Our people in the
days gone by. Said Judge CASTOR
Inc Immense patronage of the Federal Gov
eminent, and the wicked practice of appyipr il
10 inc ro"ardln6 OF partlzans and the buying NJ
OF recruits, cause its influence to be felt in eyer
department Uf the State Government and in ovcr;y
nook and corner of the State. When he locked
around HIM, and noticed the zeal and meanness
with which Federal officers of every kind were
courted and solicited, and recollected the stern
Integrity which used to prevail in this respect he
was humbled and alarmed humbled at the chance
of manners of his noble State, and alarmed tTr
| subserviency to Power which it must generate
Ia old times, an application for Office from North
Carolina was an extraordinary occurrence. Dvr.
ing the four years which he spent in Congress
ana liru finn uoS 10 % a.
ject, and that came from perhaps the most desp-
cable of his constituents. The letter ran some
what III this fashion - I and my friends have
constantly supported you The times are hard
and want a Post and don't much care what
Post it is, so it has good salary attached to il
1t IS needless (said NJ. g. to state my answer
but was strongly tempted to inform him that
| there was but one Post foT which l could recon.
| mend him-and that was the Whipping Post"
The following from the Hon. Charles
Fisher was, IN measure, prophetic of the
encroachments of the present day. Nav we
not hope that the people are beginning. ms
foreshadowed in recent indications in the
North and West, to set about that move
ment which may make decided " change
for tn d better?"
{" In his opinion, Mr.. Fisher said, nothing WAS
less stationary than Governments. They were
constantly undergoing changes. Changes in Gov
eminent, however, are of two kinds. First, the
secret, silent, and almost imperceptble encroach.
ing on the people-that perpetual, never-ending
and never-tiring propensity in the Government to
enlarge its powers Government has been CON-
pared to the Screw in Mechanics-a screw that
turns only one way it gains all the power it can
and never loses any. These secret changes, which
are constantly going on in Government, he ad-
mitted, were always " from better to worse"
There is likewise, another description of change
which is always for the worse-that is open 1tSu5-
pdtionS. The efforts, however, which the people
occasionally make to change back, to regain what
was lost or stolen from them, either by secret en-
crOachment, or open usurpation, that Is, the ef-
forts which they make to reform the Government
are generally for the better. If history proves
been preserved by a succession of these changes
or reform, adapting themselves to the changes of
the country. The first great reform, in England,
was the Magma Charta- the next was the Bill of
Mghts--the third was the Revolution of 1868, and
the last was the great reform of the Grey Minis
try. All these were changes for the better, and
not for the worse and without these reforms but
little of liberty could now be found in England or
even in this country, for our forefathers received
their ideas of liberty from England. Mr.. f. said,
the history of all other Governments, where the
spirit of liberty breathed would prove the
Same thing. From the foundation of Rome to the
usurpatiOn by Augustus, period of 72i
years, during which time there were eleUen impor-
one in about siXty-five years. Now, he would not
say all these changes for the better, because
some of them were open usurpations; but lie
would say, that when ever change was made by
movement among the people, it was for the bet
ter. The expulsion of the Tarquins was certainly
for the better, and most essentially so the
creation Of the Tribunitian power"