New-York tribune., 1867-04-01
OUEST or PLACE.

Some of our readers VIII undoubtedly ro-
member the menagerie-mans description OF an
,mphibious animal-"He can't live in the
wafer and he dies on land :" and this is pre-
cisely the purgatorial position of great many
seekers COR office in Washington. Ii the Presi-
dent smile upon them, the Senate frowns; If
they are disasteful to the White House, there
can be no nt'uinatiOn; if they please his
Excellency, there can be no cOnfirmatiOn-and
thus their money is expended and their
patience exhausted, While the rays of hope
vouchsafed TO them aae cold and scanty.
Under such distracting circumstances, sensible
men would pack their vases, pay their
tavern bills if possible, and return TO
their sweet homes without delay Half
the time. and money, and Ingenuity
often expended in fishing and fighting Cor
place of small perquisites. and less honor would
set these deluded gentlemen up in business,
and keep them profitably going afterward Bus
there is a distemper which men catch In lob
bies and caucus-r0Oms, which, without Dehg
kind enough speedily to kill, makes fools OF
them and sends them upon feVerlsh chase
after wild-geese for the rest of their days. III
anything could cure them it would be the
present deadlock in Washington; but they
are long past all chance of recovery. The les
son which they afford, we hope, will not be
lost upon our youthful and more unSophlstl-
Gated readers stern resolution at twenty
one, never to seek for place but to wait for
place to seek him, will be money in the pocket
of any young man wise enough to make and
firm enough to keep the wholesome vow.
The Government, we admit, must have ser
wants, and servants must be paid. We have
no fault to find with Office-hOlding, provided
the incumbent be capable and honest. Our
quarrel is with office-seeking adopted as
trade or profession followed often after la
mentable failure, fascinating It's victim to beg
gary or to worse, filling his whole nature with
the poison of sycOphancy, and gradually re-
ducing his manliness to a minimum. All this
wreck of character and ruin of fortune would
be avoided il the wretched business of solicit
ing place could be brought into the disrepute
which it deserves. We believe that we could
find in this city at least one hundred gentlemen
of first-rate talents and the best COM
merca education, of agreeable manners,
and of unspotted character, from whom Col
lector of Customs might safely be selected, who
would accept the trust, but who would wait
very long while indeed before asking for 1t.
Such person would go into office honest,
keep so while in, and surrender his place un-
blamed and immaculate. This would be one
of the blessed results of forcing the Govern
ment to look up a man when it wanted him,
and to put him in charge of affairs unembar-
rassed by pledges and promises, his personal
dignity preserved, his noble soul unmortgagcd,
his integrity left free to assert itself. We beg
pardon, in these times for drawing an ideal
picture, and for dreaming of disinterestedness
and purity. We suppose that we must
take the political world as we find
it, and that the petitioning and palavering, the
brbing and the button-holing, the sheer
beggary, the knee -crooking and the lobby
haunting must go on-an incuTable disease and
national disgrace. Wherefore we beseech
those who are worth saving to keep out of this
slough Let them 90 to Washington, if they
must, to see the President, the Secretary OF
State the marble Washington, and the other
curiosties but let them smite, as the enemy
of their soul, the first serpent i'll the shape OF
friend who whispers to them word OF the
delights and emOluments of the national service.
Good men should not cheaper themselves by
suing for recognition, and with the very first
genuflexion, the good that is in man is either
sensibly dmnishes or altogether disappears.
-------