Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-07-10
CIvIL sERvrCE AND THE SUE.
FRAGE.

Wehave heretofore mentioned that Mr..
James Haggerty, Deputy Naval Officer in
New York, had resigned bis Office in order
to take an active part in favor of Greeley
and Brown. And now we notice that Mr..
w. w. Rockwell, Collector of Internal Re-
venue Of the sixteenth district Of New York
and member of the Republican State Com
mittee, having resolved to support Greeley
and Brown, has resigned both the above
named positions. 1t thus appears that both
these gentlemen have felt constrained, as
preliminary to the exercise of the highest
right of citizenship in this Stree govern
ment, " to resign the offices they held under
the administration. The New York Tri-
bune pointedly comments as follows on this
degradation of the rights of the citizen to
the personal aggrandisement of the occu-
pant of the executive Office:
'In the Washington code, no man is
judged capable of holding any place under
Government who will not wear the Admin
istration livery; no man, be he ever SO faith
I'LL anu CAnNlCLb, dElu W IuC PUBLIC
service, can discharge any official function
who willnot pledge himself to speak, work !,
and vote for Grant and Wilson. We do
not suppose that Messrs. Rockwell and
Haggerty bad any undue eagerness to he
slieved of the tolls of public station. They
saw no improperly in holding office and
voting against Grant, and would doubtless
have been ready to keep their places while
fbo1r 10 80 III
citizens to freely express their preferences
in the coming election. But they had seen
enough of the tactics of the denominations
lists to know that this would never be al
| lowed, never had been allowed since Grant
began to make arrangements for his second
term. They knew something of the histo-
! ry of the New York Custom House. They
had read the Spencer letter. They under
stood the compacts by which the President
had bargained to barter away his patronage
for the "contror' of various states; and they
knew they might as well initiate the exam
pie of Capt. Scott's coon. -r..
at is admitted, then, that the offices are
only for the Presidents personal followers.
Those that have not been given to the
family must be used for campaign pur-
poses; and incumbents with minds of their
OHu Will NC I6uuON6u IL 'ucy uU uOL I0slSu'
Patronage is too valuable to be wasted on
those who will not pay for it. Meanwhile
Mr.. George William Curtis, who has kept
bis eyes so closely fixed since December
upon the new rules and regulations of the
Civil Service that he cannot see what takes
place all around him, is perpetually con-
graduating everybody on the abolition of
patronage, and assuring US that offices
are never given any more except to
the most competent, and never taken
away except from the undeserying. 'See,'
he exclaims, what a beautiful system!
Anybody may come and be examined. We
ask no mans politics. We care for no
mans influence in the party. We demand
10 partisan service. We punish every
chief who makes a political assessment.
We always recommend the best competi-
tor; the President always appoint him; and
while he is honest and does his duty he is
never removed. Dear friends, this is the
political millennium At the same time
the renominationists 90 on with their pro-
scriptions and sales of offices just as before
the beautiful new rules were made. Like
the fishes which were edited by st. An
thongs sermon.