The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-12-28

as he should have been left from the first, TO
write lugubrious epistles in broken English
to the brave, energetic, and selt-sacriicing
men who were led, by an unfortunate error in
constitutional construction, into an attempt at
disruptiDg the Union.
Political Manners and Political Morals.
WITH General Grants entrance into the Presi-
dental mansion commences, we most earnestly
hope, new era in the history of the politics
of our country-an era in which there will be
found wanting some of the most Objectionable
features of the old regime. The past eight
years have witnessed the overthrow of the
olden-time customs and manners Of Washing
ington society and the demolition OF the
former means of gaining political Office. The
law of necessity caused new order of things.
While 1t lasted, and Mr.. Lincoln was Chief
Magistrate, there could be no such thing as
the formation of any system to succeed the
one which fell with Mr.. Buchanan. The &C
cession of Mr.. Johnson found everything dis
organized, and his career has only continued
the confusion. The mongrel administration
which dies on the fourth of March has ac-
its imprint even in the details of official
duties. General Grant will, therefore, find
everything ripe for reform. The old system
of the ante-war days has been forgotten, and
there is no later plan of conduct which has
succeeded it. He will, therefore, necessarily
have the responsibility of giving enduring
shape to the manners-so to speak-of Ameri-
naI1 off Ind into 5o.
expect to see radical improvement. The
first is, the dignity due to official position; the
second, the qualities which secure for any ap-
plicant an official post.
The administration of Mr.. Johnson has pro-
ceeded on the theory that liberty meant
license. The example set by the President, in
which he threw aside all show of dignity and
shouting sycophants, has been initiated by his
subordinates. So far has this been carried that
even the feeble courtesy dictated by decency,
which was preserved under Mr.. Buchanan, has
been abandoned. An air of odious familiarity
characterzes all the dealings of the President
with the people. Men lounge into the White
House as into tavern, and in the ante-room
"
sidered an unnecessary courtesy. The recep-
tioDs of the Chief Magistrate have been de-
serted by all the better class of Washington
life; and droves of men, such as stood on the
satin chairs in the days of Jackson, wander
around the East Room as though attending
cattle show. This rudeness is mistaken for
republican simplicity, this coarse exhibition
nf un10 rif for ho nf
popular magistrate. Under General Grant we
hope things will be changed, speedily and
completely. No more mud-covered gapers
should be allowed to flock to the White House.
The President should be treated like the Pre-
sident, and the people should be taught that
it is the Office they themselves created, and
which they ought to honor. There is no con-
nection between liberty and such absence Of
decent respect, and if the President surrounds
himself with some of the formality of state he
does not encroach one inch on the rights of
the people. So long as we do not give any
more substance of power to the Executive, we
favor an increase of the formal authority with
which he should be surrounded. With his
knowledge and long habit of military disci-
PnhAo anu osi4uosso, "0 0APoSb eho ho" 1851
dent to shortly amend the abuses to which the
system of receptions is at present exposed.
The second point in which we hope to see a
favorable change is in the mode of selecting
officers. 1t is time that rings and cliques had
given way to merit, and the supposed political
influence of a small politician made a secon-
dairy claim to a post in which hundreds of
thousands of dollars are annually handled
In fact, for offices of great responsibility We
want responsible men. The positions of
deputy collector or assistant assessor may be
given to unknown but industrious workers,
but when it comes to the higher offices, in
which great opportunities for peculation con-
stantly occur, they should be placed in the
hands of men who do not base their claims
solely on their work on the stump. We have
not, we regret, civil service law, yet one can
be extempsrized by the President, which will
cause certainly great improvement, if not
entire reform. This change can be effected by
considering the claims of merit and not of
political endorsements. In that is the whole
key to the needed reform, and if General
Grant will but adopt it, the country will have
good cause to be proud of the policy of
his administration. The fact that so far
he has treated the ofioe-seekers with i'll
concealed contempt leads us to hope that,
with him at the head OF the Government, the
system of appointments will be changed. By