The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-03-24
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The Offices.
Now that the swcep has swept over the
State. and the vacancies created have nearly
all been filed, we imagine that there is
some relief Felt by the community-even
hv those who have been removed, who have
been kept On the tenter-hooks OF anxiety
for months, compared with which state
even election. from Office is fate quite en-
durable. 'so
AS long, as the intention Of the Govern
ment was not definitely expressed, the hum
r-y expectants-the iron-clad cormorants-
waited about like sharks for the throwing
overheard Of the dead bodies Of theplague-
smitten ship. As long as they were Kept
out of possession Of the plumber soteagerly
coveted they we're we'll combined in their
war upon the "rebel Office holders" The
"truly loil" were entitled to their reward,
and they besieged Congress With pertina-
city that could not be evaded, and made
their demands with an efffontery that
was overwhelming. They have triumphed.
The objects Of their venomous assaults,
their shameless ISLANDERS, have been ex-
PEELED from the offices. What do We nov
see A change Of scene. Those put under
the ban are no longer assailed; but the
fire Of the raercerary horde is directed at
those who are appointed to the vacant
places. Not that they are not "loyal p
not that they cannot pass the ordeal Of the
"test-oath"; but that they are not some
thing or other. ! One complaint is as good
as another-they arc not for WELLS, for IN
stance. This is sll, but sham. Z. The real
complaint is. that the offices have not been
given to the dissatisfied. They have been
waiting, like ALLAN and SAMUEL on Mon
day night, cut in the rain and cold they
have labored long and earnestly; they have
criticised closely all applicants for removal
of disabilities-haye rejected all who held
Office or who stood good chance for eleva-
ton to office and where they had not the
boldness to reject openly the applica-
ton Of appointment man, and favored
it, did thay not go on to Washington and
hamstring him, and disable him in this way
through that body Did they not, in short,
by one trick and another, contrive to throw
up high and dry on the shore several hun
dred applicants who had passed either one
or the other of the Houses of Congress,
until the.resolution emptying all the offices
took effect ? Certainly, they must be fairly
credited with all this, and great deal more
in the line of tortuous management and
trickery; and now to be deprived Of what
they thus unscrupulously labored for is the
hardest fate in the world
Greatly more severe is the disappoint-
ment Of shese men-much harder to en-
dure-than the failure Of the efforts and
plans of straightforward, honest men, who
are not engaged in slandering their neigh
bors, and coveting what is not, and ought
not to be, theirs, and who are not prsc-
ticing deception and fraud to supplant
other people in positions in which they
have been competent and faithful. All
this these dissatisfied people have done.
And what consolation have they in defeat ?
If they had not the consciences of croco-
diles they would call upon the mountains
to fall upon them and cover up their enor-
mites along with them. But, affecting
sense Of Injury, they imprecate the sue
cessful,g and cry out to them, "Another
"PHABAoa will soon rule over Egypt who
twill not remember JOSEPH 70
Thus have these men ever taken conso-
lation in predicted help for themselves and
expressions of those they oppose, from Con-
gress or the military.
1t is some advantage to equity that the
course Of these people is not all smooth and
summary. They have their bitter jars
bitter in proportion to their imbruted lust
for the plumber they seek. Hyenas and
jackals could not growl and fight over their
prey with more ferocity. And these quar-
rels are but premonitions of the fate
which must come to those who devote the
sacredest, things in human polity to dis
honest schemes and Unsuitable rapacity.
But We move. We go forward little.
Still the State is wesk-still she must be
annoyed by the pests that hang upon her
way. They will gradually diminish, how
ever, until she will finally emerge from hui
initiation and poverty, and enter upon a
new career Of prosperity and grandeur.
The intermediate state Of misery to which
wa have heen reduced connot Last long