Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-03-05

I'm sure wad ma care;
For if my Jeanne loes me weel
And If she constant be-
The Spring-time and the Summertime
VIII never go frae me.
LETTERS FROM MACK"
To the Cincinnati Enquirer
CORRUPTION.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 23.-An estimate of
the costs and consequences of the late war,
which contents itself with statement of
the numbers of killed and wounded on
each side, the value of the property des-
troyed and the amount expended in doi-
lars and cents, omits the most important
array of facts in the lamentable exhibit,
and the one which win, almost to the ex-
clusiOn of all Others, challenge the atten-
ton of the future historian of the Decline
and Fall of the American Republic. 1t
IS the one, too, for which, when all
/. Others fail, he viii find an unerring
! parallel in the pages of the great
historian of Rome's Decline and Fall.
allude to the decay of political morals
and the spread Of corruption from
the center to the circumference of the
political system. 1t is the most important
item in the bill of costs, because it repre-
sents q loss which no nation has ever yet
been able TO make good. Ii is a national
heart disease which, having once taken
root, can not be eradicated until it shall
have accomplished its fatal purpose. You
may quack it and doctor il, and under the
influence of stimulants you may rally the
Vatient into hope and courage-but the
malady is there still, slowly but surely
doing its work of death.
1t isnO eXaggeratiOn to say that nonation
of the world ever made such rapid strides
along the highway of corruption which
leads to dissolution and revolution as the
United States has made in the last ten
years. We have gone on through the
stages laid down by the poet-frst en-
dure, then pity, then embrace-until we
have familiariZCd ourselves with every
form of roguery in high and low places
from the sale Of a Cabinet Office for S25,
600 to the sale of a cadetship for 81, 900
Nor docs it stop with national politics,
or cOnfne itself to any political party
have never been partisan enough TO
believe that all the virtue in the
land was arTaycd under the name of De
'mocracy, and all the vice under the name
of Republicanism. The doctrine of aver
ages viii apply as well to the political as
to the physical and moral woodland,
given an equal opportunity, there will be
an equal amount of corruption in all par
ties. The Republican party is the most
corrupt organization that ever existed on
this continent, because it has had Oppor-
tunities for corruption which no other
party ever enjoyed. For the good of the
country it should have died Immediately
after the close of the war Instead of that,
however, it got a new lease of power,
and the people, still under the in
tiuence of the laughing-g gas of 'HOy-
atty" the nitrous oxide of spread
eagleism-have permitted fraud to 90 I'M
challenged, bribery TO be unnoticed or ap-
plauded, and the most fragrant crimes
against public morality TO be unwhipped
of justice. The politicians of the Re
publican party, taking advantage of this
condition of the popular mind, have
rushed in like piclpockets at fire and
gOrgcd themselves with plumber. This
spirit of corruption has spread through
the entire land, and does not seem to con-
fine itself to where it originated, but in
fects all parties, and permeates all legisla-
tive bodies. Thus, we find the Democrats
in the New York Legislature engaged in
as foul a conspiracy to rob and plumber
the people as the Republicans in Congress
have INDUCED in for the last ten years. 1t
is a fight for the spoils - nothing
more, nothing less. Aud 50 it
goes, from highest to lowest-from
the President in his chair Of bribery at
the White House to the poorest and
humblest member of the ring that controls
the City Council of Cincinnati and robs
the people Of Ihat politician pestered me-
tropOlis. If you want a Cabinet office
from the President, you must pay 49,,
600 for il; and a few hundred dollars
iudciiously distributed would no doubt
secure the passage of such an ordinance
in the City Council of Cincinnati as
would bankrupt the property owners of
an entire street These are two extreme
cases, but the facts hold good also to all
intermediate places and positions. 1t
is useless to deny that they are facts; they
are patent TO every body; they are seen
everywhere And if there be any cure
for them at all, it is the fearless exposure
by the press, which, relying upon the
people for honest support, can afford to
he sincere and Independent. If the peo-
pie, having received the information, and
being urged TO act upon it, will still re-
main lethargic and passive, they deserve
the worst evils that can befall them.
There never was such necessity for ''eter
nal vigilance as there is now. 1t IS the
price Of national existence. What is
needed is a political purgatiOn-thOrOugh,
effective and searching overthrow OF
al the little dynasties that have ruled
both in the Democratic and in the Re
publican party; a remission TO private
life OF the perennial candidate every
where and the infusion of the new blood
Of honest men into political parties.
have said there was no palliative for
the cancer Of political corruption. Ger
tainly, il there be one. il is only in the
means have suggested-in the popular
awakening which the times so strongly
demand. Ii is useless to rely upon either
politicians or platforms, whether they be
Democratic or Republican.
''oUE RELATIONS
WAsHINGTON, Feb. Is, 1S70.-Onc of
Grants private sccTctarics-his military"
secretary l bclicyc-land he has all sorts
and sizes of the article Of Secretary"
about him, from Porter down to Dcnt)
appears in print in March monthly on
the subject of ''Our Relations with Great
Britain lie would have done more
service 10 his afflicted countrymcn, if
writing from the White House stand
point, hc had treated us TO an article on
ssDur Relations in the United States" 1t
is one of the misf0rtuncs of the period
that the present Administration has SO
few relations in Great Britain and 50
many in This country. Among the rest
of the relations is one in New Orleans
who is just now the subject Of hitter com
plant from all parties in that city. Ills
name is Casey, his relation is brother
in-law, his office is Collector of the
Port and bis oifenso is general
incompetence His removal is the
prqycT of a dozen petitioners, TO all
o. which the President turns g deaf ear
and sn insulting answer. They say that
he told Mr.. Syphcr, one of the New Or
leans Congressman, the other day, that he
guessed Casey was about as good q Col
lector as he (Sypher) was a Congressman.