The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-03-18
9pIditI.
POLITICAL CORRUPTION.
LUDLOW.

"Mack' wrltes1rom Washington
as follows:
If there are those who doubt the
decay of political morals IT ills
country, as one of the results Of the
late war, all | have 20 say is that
they r very poor observers of
current history. / haze counted
IN the news columns of one paper
within a week past at least 3 dozen
illustrations involving. 50 far as
u Individual action can affect party
morality, both political parties, and
showing that opportunity and not
politics is the measure OF ~rasculiiy.
Hero n Democratic County Treas
urer makes illegal use Of public
funds; there Il Republican State Au-,
d,tor is impoached for pecJlation;
IN another place Il pet of the Admin
iStrationIs cnugbtin n big swIndle.
The Democratic Legislature OF
New York jumps at II chance for
spoils with azeal quite equal 10 that
displayed by Republican bodies of a
similar character In other States.
And so rhc work of swindlIng the
people goes on. One fftieth part of
the corruption in high places that
is now regularly served up as the
news OF the day, and that excites
scarce a passing comment, would,
ten years ago. hrve called forth q
storm of public Indignation which no
man or set ofmen C uld have survived.
And it is just so with the crimes OF
social life. A cold-hlooded murder
used to be a big feature in a newspa-
per; it is now a ten line paragraph "A
sort of thrice told tale, which, unless
attended by some very extraordinary
circumstances, is scarce worth record.
Nobody can doubt the responsibility of
the war for this state Of 'hings. 1t is
one of the items in the bill of costs for
Saving the UuioD,' and an item which
the American PEOPLE will find it diff
cult to liquidate. They may pay the
debt, they may obliterate the desola-
ting tramp of armies, rebuild the rail
roads and restore the material pros
perity OF the South.
Ali this will be hut the work Of time and
the natural result nf The iEdOmitable energy
of The great AuglO-SaXOn race. But the
corruption of public and private morals.
and the decay of political honor can not
even be arrested, still less cured. any more
than the dead heroes on either side eau he
restored to life. There is no Magdalen
Asylum for the reform Of National morals.
no mode OF treatment for the restoration OF
the lost virtue of a Republic. The pro"
gIesS oEce downward, is ever downward.
with fastening speed and increasing lorce.
Party platforms will not avert it. The
chances are niDety-Uine out of q HUNDRED
that i: will run the course which history un-
eIringly points oGt--first a democratic re-
2ublic, then a military republic. then a cor
rupt republic, then anarchy, and then an
empire. 1t is easy TO trace tie progress o.
this Government through the first two Of
these stages, until it has entered the third.
and hastens toward the fourth, which in its
turn makes the fifth and last seem almost
like a blessing, and be welcomed as a re-
lief. There is no permanent halfway house
between the first and last a ib,se condi-
tions. 1t is the "Rake's Progress aps
Piled to a Republic, which has once left its
original lardmarks. and cas-, loose It's AZ
cient moorings. The only tenure upon
which the American Republic ever conld
exist was that Of tie rights Of the States
founded upon mutual respect and mutual
confidence. with no more danger o! coils
ion, while ehch r~evOIved in its proper
sphere, than there is of a collision among
the heavenly bodies while they retain the
places assigned them by the creative pow
er. When that became treason" the Re-
public became impossible ; then the Pam
dora's box Of political evils was opened
ambition led to corruption and averic. /;
these are driving US toward anarchy, social
as well IS political, and there 10 10 LAND,