New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-03-08
THE SALE OF OApErsHIPs.

THE SALE OF OADErsHIPs.
With hearts beating and faces anxiously
turned toward the shrine Of wealth.
myriads of human beings are now throng-
iog on the journey of life. Its glitterlng
domes shining afar, in their Imagination
mark the only beautiful city they care to
enter. The fierce thirst for gold, which
snimates the majority Of men at the
present time, reminds one Of the express
sive lines of Pop:
"Satsn nows grown wiser than OF gore. .,
And tempts Dv making rich. not making Door.
The haste to get rich absorbs the
mind, crushing all holy and ennobling as
pirations. 1t is evinced in the little
villages and towns as we'll as in large and
populous cities. Even in the church
it yields a powerful sway,
and effectually obstructs the progress Of
true piety. = The avenues Of speculation
are crow led with eager votaries to the
money god, and plentiful sprinkling may
be found in the chambers of State Legisla-
lures, and in the halls of Congress. Mad
10 gain his favors, men sacrifice integrity
honor, and all that is worthy and noble.
Political tricksters are constantly on the
alert to see how, by twisting and turning,
they may manipulate the laws to increase
their bank accounts. Utterly absorbed in
self, men, by shrewd chicanery, unscrupu.
lousy overreach their fellow men, impover-
ish the community, rob the government, and
corrupt the laws ordained for the admin
isiration of justice. Nothing in all the
various schemes of financial plotters
evinces this fact more plainly than the
sales of West Point and Annapolis cadet
ships, perpetrated by maneuvering dema-
gogues. The late examinations by the
Congressional Committee establish this
truth beyond doubt The revelations
thus made are too disgraceful to be pub
lished. When We consider that the
appointment of cadets, as it was originally
instituted, was arranged to benefit the
p5or young men of our country equally
with the rich, we see the fragrant in
justice of making cadetships an article of
merchandise.
If cadetships may be bought. what
honor is there in the privilege Of being
student at West Point, or Annapolis, in
order to become defender of the nation
II the privilege be thus obtained, what
chance will there be for the poor but
patriotic youth to enjoy it? None. But
the empty-headed tops of shoddy aristoc-
racy will lounge lazily into these places Of
honor, and our army and navy will degen-
etate into mass of effeminate idlers. We
are glad 10 SIC, by the indignation demon.
strated by Congress in these examina-
tons now progressing. that there is
still honor and integrity among
the large majority of its members. We
hope that the efforts made to
eentilate this shameful proceeding may not
result in mere spasm Of remonstrance,
but may strike deep at the very root, and
expel the Congressman found guilty of
his atrocious fraud upon the government.
We shrink to write it, but it is neverthe-
ess true, that upright public men are
now not the rule, but the exception. This
Effort against one manifestation of the
errible Generalization prevalent through
out the country among men in Office, we
rust, will not be the only one made. We
nope that the honest men in Congress
will extend their hostility to corruption
md rascality to the proper
rial Of every dishonest official Of the gov
1t was extravaganza and corruption tina
struck dagger at the existence of the
Roman republic, and if these vices which
low stalk throughout our country, I'M
FLUSHING and defiant, be not soon crushed
'ut, then may this republic meet the de-
'truction, which foreign arms and domes-
lie bayonets failed to accomplish.