Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1871-11-17
Corruption tho Destroyer Of Re-.
pubiics. Masll


have perished, fell through the corruption of
their citizens and it establishes another
fact; this corruption was the result of pros.
perty. AS long as the republic was poor tho
people were free and honest. So soon as
wealth poured in by conquest or by trade,
greed, avarice and peculation became the rul-
ing passion.
lherc is, 1t seems to US, striking simili-
tudc between our day and the last period of
the Roman republic. In Rome, us 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, Af-
rica and Gaul had made the State rich, pub
lie office became SO valuablea prize that those
who once held it were willing to plunge the
republic into civil war rather than to give it
up. Marius, Scyna Caesar, Octavius, Cras-
sus and Anthony did this rather than Weld
up their command or their pro.consulship,
which were worth millions to each of them.
Now consider the parallel of our own history,
remembering that while Rome took FIVE hun.
drcd 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 acccssions of territory which followed
it. the prizes of office, though honorable, were
not very glittering. Public officers lived gen
orally upon their salaries, which were scant
enough. But since that time what a change
has taken place The country has extended
its arca in every direction, it's wealth has in
creased at a prodigous rate, and multltudes
of public Offices, to which ore attached con
tlngcnt pcrqusites, have become exceedingly
lucrative, even where the incumbcnts are
honest. For example, collectorships, Indian
agencies and the like In addition to this
came the late War with its fat contracts, and
we know to what tremendous frauds it gave
rise Thus was awakened the 'auri sacra
Tumcs,' the cursed hungering after gold,
which has produced all these rings, jobs,
fraudulent claims, swindling contracts, bri-
berries, lobbyngs and all that variety of frauds
for which the English language could furnish
no names, and new words had to be invented
to designate them. The same consequence
follows with us that did in Rome. 10 the
vlctors belong tho spoils-and those spoils
have become SO immensely valuable that those
who hold thcm will, if they can, plunge the
country into anarchy, ruin and civil war rath-
er than yield them up.
we had occasion some days ago to allude
to the enormous and universal dcfafcations
that disgrace the Government in all its branch
cs But although these frauds are every day
assuming moro and more gigantic proportions,
they are ip fact but the smallest part of the
evil inflicted upon the whole nation The
country is rich and can bear the loss of hun
drcds Of millions; but what it cannot bear is
she loss of public virtue, honesty and honor.
followed as it must be by the looscning Of
all moral obligations in private life. Can the
spectacle of political profigacy and of rapid
and scandalous fortunes, realized with fmpu.
nifty ny pcculation in Office, be without dele.
terious effect upon the young men of the
lana But the evil docs not stop there. Is
is surely and not slowly destroying ali the
foundations of republican. governments IA
is making universal suffrage a mockery-ex.
pressing the sense of the people less faithful
ly than French plcbiscHc If Convention
rs called it is managed by ring which en-.
ploys every corrupt means to carry their point.
at the polls bribery, patronage and the party
lash at one point bayoncts at the other the
terror produced by an inquitous perversion
of the forms Of Justice at a third: disoust
the honest frightcn off the timid, silence an
opposition and the trick is done. The in.
trlguc of ring is foisted upon the eosntry as
the will of the people.
This suggests another thought When
decentralization and corruption once become
fixed in the public life of people there is
no more hope Of return of former purity.
Ihc dagger of Brutus could destroy Caesar,
but 1t was powcrlcss to remove the dencnera.
cy which craved for another master. At a
later day, when victorious general was
made consul for term of years, how long
was il before the universal suffrage of sub.
servicnt people made him consul for ten
years, then consul for life, and finally Empe-
ror! There are enough points of rcsem-
blance between those times and ours to cx.
cite apprehensions of similar consequences.
- Wilmington Journal.
-
HALL County SILVER MrNE.--Wc have
in our Office, says the Atlanta Constitution.
specimen of silver from the Hall county
silver mine The vein is six miles northeast
OF Gainesville, ten feet thick, and had only
been opened twenty feet. The essays in the
United States Mint, and by Professors Shep-
herd and Hayes, and Drs. Babcock and jack
son show it to be worth from $40 to $50 per
tonefor silver, and from SIS to $40 for gold.
The highest essay S2176 per ton, and the
general average $2 per ton greater than tho
Comstock lode in Nevada which lass year
yielded twelve million dollars. The mines
belong to Mr.. A. NJ Cochran.
Ey- The Rutherford IN. C.) Yiadicato,.
says: "Our Jail is fast being filled with Uni.
ted States prisoners, who are alleged to he Kn