New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1871-06-20
4 FLOCK or BUZZARDS.

Mr. Paul Pry never formed a resolution more
filled with practical good sense and knowledge
of the world than that by which he bound him
self never to do another go0dnatured action
az long as he lived. The baleful effects of an
act of kindness will follow man further than
the curse of injured innocence. A person you
have once befriended thinks ke has in that
way established claim like that of the old
Roman client upon his patron with no resultant
obligations. How often we saw men In the
army who had been raised by dint of persist
ent worrying from private to Brigadier turn
against the Administration with deep resent
ment because the double stars were with
held. Every public man Is surrounded by
cohort of shameless beggars whose demands
continually increase with their qualification,
whose greed grows by every ext0rted conces-
sion. The most precious hours of public men
are paonopolized and wasted by these pests,
and so exasperating is the infection that con-
scientious members arc driven into such fran
tic attempts at escape as we saw In MI. Irum-
bulls bill, which proposed to make it penal
Oifense for Congressman to ask an Office Tor
any one. Washington long since became q
nIlce where, as TennysOn said of the world
..elch man walks with his head in a cloud of
poisonous flies"
IL these nuisances restricted themselves to
the Capital it would be bad enough Life is
not so long that one would wish to have half
the year turned into purgatory even for two or
three Congresses. But still it might be en-
dured, just as fashionable people, with no ear,
go to the opera, and Col. Fisk, jr., goes to his
prayers-nOt because they enjoy it, but be-
cause it il due to Miss McFlimsey's position
IT. N.oI,t Co IN
might make up his mind to accept the office
seekers as a set-off to the glories of law-mak-
ing. But these cormorants, when they dare,
follow their victims over valley and mountain
to the innermost retirement of their homes.
There is no defense against them, except bru-
tality, and that is not within the resources OF
your average politician. If the unfortunate
patron fails under his annoyances, they watch
him with the eye OF bird of prey. His health
is canvassed with tho anxiety of love or hate.
They study his symptoms with the eagernoss
of an undertaken, and if his condition becomes
serious they redouble their opportunities.
| They would feel themselves bitterly deCrauded
| if he slipped away to heaven and left them
| unpIOvided for.
With all that we know of the habits OF this
species of creature, it did not seem credible
that they should already have been besieging
the bedside of the Vice President. His frank
and touching letter, published in THE TRIBUNE,
left no doubt as to tire real cause Of his re-
cent severe attack. He was used up, utterly
worn out by the ObscssOn of this horde of
rayenous cormorants. He was struck down as
a rude but kindly warning of nature that he
could not longer abuse his powers with i'm
punity. AS soon as he could travel, he went
home to seek an opportunity for convalescence
in the society of his family. The merest ruH-
ments, not of good breeding but of common
humanity, demanded that his retreat should
| be respected His weakness should have rem
| dered him sacred, if his former Kindness had
| kindled no spark of gratitude in his tor
mentors. But The South Bend Register is COM
| PEELED to say: Although the fact rs to his
illness has been SO widely published, it has
"not materially diminished the applications
that pour in on him constantly, as In the
"6ast-made personally, too, as well as in
"writing-application for offices, for dona-
tons, for letters of Endorsement, recon-
"mendation, or introduction, to attend to De-
"partment business, to answer INQUIRIES , OF all
Tkinds. Persons have come hither from
Chicago and other points during the past
"week with such unreasonable solicitations"
What can be done with men so utterly lost
| 10 all sense Of decencyf We think MIR. Colfax
owes it to the public service to furnish TO the
respective Departments list of the persons VINO
attack him for Offices in South Bend. man
capable of the meanness of flching from the
Vice President even one moment OF his hours
OF conyalescencc. one particle OF his slowly