The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-03-21
,,. CO., If the Country.

Il The Evil of the So -, ,,..e,m,-
,r,o ,nnrer for Office, the greedy ae's,
Inc hua s,s :, when once gotten, e"'s.''te
natien 70 ho'" ~ This country. Every Outrage
the grea' . c.,,st;tution and upon pubic ..'-
u up, ncrrctrated by the Government, = so u
81 ;,;s predominant vice. We snou'e W. of
70 IN, s % the southern people by force o.
NV" ,.aced under the dominion OF s'f.snss
s.,,,ed carpet-baggers) and barbar'ans s S,oa
,ha.. we should not have seen those ahne ."
p,ople hunted and prosecuted, an" "sa, ' Of
as suspects, had not the party IN poss e,,nU ,,e
,,a ofsces considered that crue' l". .,o;r
Sss. ,rssns TO fortify themselves j" INV"
p ~ = o,,-;ous to see the GRANT papers No"
"" ,,,,-cp.sr men with falling OUT
With tine Administration because "'e' r" "
VA. tbc posscssion or the controi o. d, '
na,.as &C they want. One RepubI'ea' se.A''
has evenly declared that he has no 'nh'''
w. nth General GRANT, and no man whom
,,o recommends for an Office gets anything.
w, shou,d envy him were we SENATOR since
that ought to shield him from arpiiesa'sohs i'i
$50 and there are few things more disa-
sroe.hle than that of recommending men for
En-. Rut the charge from the othee-hoiders
Marty evidently comes from those who fnhy
annreciate the comforts they enjoy and VINO
derive IN added pleasure in )eer1hs ''ose "i''
are "on the outside" -,
This great evil not only Is the source OF all
our misgoyerment, but II demoraiizes ti'e
nation. Officc-holders, othce-hunters, ana
their friends. compose the great bulk of so
ciety. The holders and the seekers emofoii
tbeir friends in the general warrior office, and
the entire country is drawn periodically into
a bitter strife the main issue OF which Is
office. Men are raised to look for sup
port out Of the public treasury. They
become party hacks and hangers-on and
lose all energy and independence. They
become drones, and il they have families
they are left to fate; and thus are the walks
of dissipation and vice in great part stea-
Oily replenished.
In reference to this question Of office
hunting the monarchy has one advantage
over the Republican a republic such as
o,lrs--and it is important to make that
qualification, because ours Is in many re-
spects peculiar. Our ancestors created
fair being and left her to their descendants.
But they did not make her perfect. She was
symmetrical, and was lovely in every feature
but her creators did not free her from a
perilous faint from which has grown ina
81 hoy n
From loveliness she is fast sinking down into
loathsomenesS. Yes, they gave us grand
Constitution, with all the rights we hold
dear we'll protected: but they left the power
of patronage in the hands of the Chief
Executive Of the nation. and thus left in the
Constitution the seeds of its own destruc-
ton. The Constitution has fallen, the rights
Of the people have been trodden under foot,
and all on account of the corrupting infll-
ences of the public Offices.
A republic with this cancer upon it cannot
long be republic. 4 tolerable monarchy
would be far preferable to such an intolera-
BILE republic. We have lived long enough to
care very little about forms Of Government
What all people want is good administers
ton. Every Government known to civiiza-
ton Is good enough if properly administered.
It il sad thing to see men fighting and cut
ting one anot!er's Threats about forms Of 60
vernment, only to find that the new system
for which they shed their blood so freely is |
no better than the old. They have fought
for liberty and they get it not-they have
fought for an honest administration Of the
laws and an economical Use of the peoples
money, and they are disappointed. They
fought to build up free, honest, and yirtu-
GUS Government, and it is turned into tyran-
ny and corruption. They built fair temple
and it is turned into den of thieves.
An this is painful but true; and when the
non-office-hoders inveigh against the Gov
eminent and demand reform i'm the manner
Of appointments to Office and the tenure of
office, they do not exaggerate the evils they |
would abate. But the trouble is that the |
ofice-holders and their friends will never
unite with them in their effort at reform, and
1t will require great unanimity to make any
real change in the Government ON this point.
appointments to the Executive and does not
prescribe the tenure Of Office to be during
good behavior and competency. 1t will take
vote of three-fourths of the States to make
an amendment In the Constitution, and the
oflce-holders and their friends are strong
enough to prevent that. So we do not see
any probability Of an amendment that will
take away the vast patronage now possessed
and abused by the Chief Magistrate, as thas
been, we may say, by every Administration
for a half century.
What then? Why, as has been said often
y.some of our greatest statesmen, the office
holders will become stronger than the coun-
try, and subvert the Government. This has
been already done indeed; but the subver-
sion has been partial geographically, and the
Government wears the exterior forms of a
republic, while its Sinner life," as transcen-
dentalists would say, is as little like true
and pure republic. Us that of a fallen woman
IS like the pure and spotless being that she
might have been.
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Not Satisfied.
Ia