The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1872-06-14

know it is impossible to appoint m,
own relations to anything withou
drawing forth a torrent of obloauy.
Letter to Benjamin Adams, April :
l190; John Adams Works, vol. viii, r
854.l The judgment of the countr,
found voice in Thomas Jefferson, who
In q letter written shortly after he be
came President, Used these stfon,
words "Mf. Adams degraded hihtsel
infinitely by his conduct on this sub
Ject." But John Adams, besides trans
ferring his son, John Quincy Adams
from one diplomatic post to another, ap
pointed only two relatives. Pray, sir
what words would Jefferson use if b,
were here to speak on the open ant
multifariOus nepotism of our Presi
dent?
GIFT-TAKING OFFICIALLY COMPEN
SATED.
From one typical abuse I pass t,
another. From a dropsical tiepotistf
swollen to elepha1tiasis, which nobody
can defend, 1 pass to gift=taking, which
with OUR President has assumed an un
precedented form. Sometimes public
men even in our country have takeI
gifts, but it is not known that any
President before has repaid the patron
with office. For public man to take
gifts Is reprehensible; for a President
to select Cabinet cOunselOrs and Other
officers among those from whom he
has taken gifts Is an anomaly in Re.
publican annals. Observe, sir, that ]
speak of 1t gently, unwilling to exhibit
the indignation which such a Presi-
Dental pretensiOn is calculated to
arouse. The country will judge it,
and blot it out as an example.
There have been throughout history
corrupt characters in official station,
but, whether In ancient or modern
times, the testimony Is constant against
the taking of gifts, and nowhere with
more force than in our Scriptures
where it is said: "ThOu shalt not wrest
Judgment, thou shalt not respect per-
sons, neither take a gift; for a gift
doth blind the eyes of the wise"
deuteronomy xvi, 49, Here is the
and also the reason, which
slight observation shows to be true.
Does not q gift blind the eyes of the
wise? The influence of gifts is repre-
sented by Plutarch, IN the life of a
Spartan King:
"For he thought those ways Of entrapping men
by gifts and presents which other Kings use, dis
the most noble method and most suitable for
King to win the affections Of those that cam near
him by personal intercourse and agreeable cOnyer-
satipn, since between . friend and q mercenary
is that we gain the one by our charac er and con-
and the other by our money."-Pm-
tarch'e Lives; Clough' Edition; vol. iv, p 4'9.
What is done under the influence of
gift is mercenary; but whether from
ruler to subject or from subject to ruler,
the gift is equally perniciOus. An an
cient patriot feared "the Greeks bear
ing gifts" and these words have be-
come proverb, but there are Greeks
bearing gifts elsewhere than at Troy.
A public man can traffic with such
only at his peril. At their appearance
the prayer should be said, "Lead us
not into temptation"
The best examples testify. Thus, in
the autobiography of Lord Brougham,
posthumously published, it appears
that at a great meeting in Glasgow
s5O0 were subscribed as gift to him
for his public service, to be put in such
form as he might think best. He
hesitated. at required" he records,
"much consideration, as such gifts
were liable to abuse" Not content
with his own judgment, he assembled
his friends to discuss it, "Lord Holland,
Lord Erskine, Romilly and Barring"
and he wrote Earl Grey, afterward
Prime Minister, who replied: "BOth
Granville and l accepted a piece of
plate from the Catholics in..Glasgow,
of no great value, indeed, after De iOere
turned out. If you still feel scruples, l
can only add that it is impossible to
err ON the side of delicacy witt respect
to matters of this nature" 1t ended in
his accepting a small gold inkstand.
In our country Washington keeps
his lofty heights, setting himself against
gift taking as against nepOtism. In
l7S5, while in private life, two years
after he ceased to be Commander-in-
Chief of our armies and four years be-
fore he became President, he could not
be induced to accept certain amount
of capital stock offered him by the State
of Virginia, as appears in an official
ut gives me great pleasure to inform you that
The Assembly, without dissenting voice, COM
pimented you with fifty ehsOes in the Potom &C
Company aud one hundred shares in the James
River Company I W ashiEgton's Writings. vol
w., p. g. Letter OF benjamin. Harr. son, January
Fully to appreciate the reply of
it must be borne in mind
that, according to Washington Irving,
his biOgrapher, "Some degree of econ
omy was necessary, for bis financial
affairs had suffered during the War,
and the products of his estate had fall
EN- off," But he was not tempted.
thus he wrote:
,f the world, and what would be Its opin on when
It comes to be related that George ashington
.ccepted $7O0 o! Under whatever pretense, and
,ountries. il accepted this .hould not hence
forward De considered as q dependent! l never
the idea Of accepting it."-LIbid, p. s.
Letter to Benjamin Harrison, nuary u, 11s5.
How admirably he touches the point
when he asks, If accepted this,
should I not henceforward be con-
,iderd as dependent? ?" According to
our Scripture the gift blinds the eyes;
to Washington it makes the
receiver a dependent. In harmony
with this sentiment was his subsequent
refusal when President, as is recorded
BY an ingenious writer:
Inns would receive no favofs Of any kind, and
crurulousIy paid for everything. large Eouse
Vas set apart for him on Ninth . rect, on the
rounds now covered by the Pennsylvania Uni
.ersity, which he refused TO accept"-coione'
BY such instances brought to light
and shining in contrast
with our times, we learn to admire
anew the virtue of Washington.
1t would be easy to show how, in all
ages, the refusal of gifts has been re-
cOgnized as the sign of virtue, if not
the requirement of duty. The story
Of st. Louis of France is beautiful and
Leaving on a crusade he
the Queen Regent, who re-
NAMED behind, mot to except presents
for herself or children" Such was one of
the injunctiOns by which this monarch,
when far away on q piOus expedition,
impressed himself upon his country.
NV own strong convictions on this
pretention were aroused in
a conversation which it was my privi-
lege to enjoy with John Quincy Adams
as he sat in his sick chamber at his sons
house in Boston, a short time before he
fell at his post Of duty in the House of
Representatives. In voice trembling
with age and with emotion, he said that
no public man could take gifts without
peril. and he confessed that his own
Judgment had been quickened by the
of Count RomanzOff, the emil
nent Chancellor of the Russian Empire,
who, after receiving costly gifts from
foreign sovereigns with whom he had
negotiated treaties, felt difficulty OF
ooDac;once in keeuin0 them and at last