Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1871-10-26
Corruption the Destroyer of Re-
publicS.

History shows that all the repub-
lies that have perished, fell through
the corruption of their citizens; and
it establishes another fact; this cor
ruption was the result of prosperity.
As long as the republic was poor the
people were free and honest. So
soon as wealth poured in by conquest
or by trade, greed, avarice and pecu-
lation became the ruling passion.
There is, it seems to US, a striking
similitude between our day and the
last period of the Roman republic, In
Rome, as in our country, in the early
times when the State was poor, men
were willing to serve their country
from patriotism or for the honor of
Office. But when the conquest Of
Asia, Africa and Gaul had made the
State rich, public Office became so
valuable a prize that those who once
held it were willing to plunge the
republic into civil war rather than
to.give it up. Marius, Scylla, Caesar.
Octavius, Crassus and Anthony did
this rather than yield up their COM
lnand or their pro-consulship, which
were worth millions to each of them
Now consider the parallel in our
own history, remembering that
while Rome took FIVE hundred years
to reach the period Of corruption, we
have taken less than fifty. 1t may
BE- said that until the time of the
Mexican war, and the accessions of
territory which followed it, the pri
zes of office. though honorable, were
not very glitterlng. Public officers
lived generally upon their salaries,
which were scant enough. But since
that time what change has taken
place. The country has extended its
urea in every direction, Its weallA
has increased al l.rodigious rate,
and nuiEitucies OF public Offices, TO
which are at ached contingent per
1uis!tc$, have become exceedingly lu-
crative, even where the incambents
are honest. For example, collector
ships, Indian agencies and the like
In addition to this came the late war
with lis int contracts, and We know
t VII tremendous frauds it gave
rise. Thus was awakened the " t0ta1
sucsa iomcs. the cursed hungering
alter gold, whch has produced all
these rings, jobs, fraudulent claims,
swintl!ing contracts, briberies. lobby
ings aMd all that variety Of frauds for
which the English language conld
furnish 10 naf1eS, an,l new words ha'l
- be invented to design te them
The. same consequence follows with
Is that did in Rome. To the victors
b~long the Spcils-.an'l these spoiIs
htve become so Immensely valuable
that lose who hoI'i them viii, il
they can, plunge TIE country into
anarchy, ruin and civil war rather
than yield them up.
We had occasion some days ago 10
;tllude 10 the enormous and univer-
sal deli;lcations that disgrace the
Government in all its branches. But
although these frauds are every day
assuming more and more gigantic
proportions, they are in fact but the
Smallest part of the evil inflicted
upon the whole nation. The country
is rich and can bear the loss of hun
dreds of millions; but what it can
not bear is the loss Of public virtue,
honesty and honor, followed as it
must be by the loosening of all NOR
al obligations in private life. Can
the spectacle of political prohigacy
and Of rapid and scandalous for
tunes, realized with impunity by
peculation in Office, be without a
deleterious effect upon the young men
of the land (? But the evil does not
stop there. 1t is surely and not
slowly destroying all the foundations
Of republican government. 1t is max
ing universal suffrage a mockery-
expressing the sense of the people
less faithfully than a French ple6as-
cite. If Convention is called it is
managed by ring which employs
every corrupt means to carry their
point. At the polls bribery, patron
age and the party lash at one point; ;
bayonets at another; the terror pro-
duced by an iniquitous perversion of
the forms of justice at a third; dis
gust the honest, frighten off the tim
id, silence all opposition and the
trick is done. The intrigue of3'a
ring is foisted upon the country as
the will of the people.
This suggests another thought.
When decentralization and corruption