Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1872-08-15

i WISH 10 speak OF MT. Greeley as man,
with all possible respect. He has many
generous qualities, benevolent impuls-
es, large idea, and noble aims. But he
has from the beginning, been politi-
cian- not merely partisan, but par
/ ty manipulation. He was bred in the
school of NewiYork politics. His as
sociations have been with party man.
| ayers, whose reliance for success has
been upon the influence of patronage,
and he sees nothing ignoble or injurious
1 in paying the devotion of frieni with
/ the emoluments of an Office. He has
| teen accustomed to discriminate be-
tween men, as to character, by the sole
circumstance of their personal relation
/ to himself. The first article of his be-
4 lief is, all Greeley men are good-all
Others, the opposite The result, can
not illustrate better than by relating an
unreported interview. NJ ~ a- ..l-f-
/ About week after the Cincinnati
/ convention, I was called upon in my
4 Office by gentleman of pleasing adj
/ dress, who gave his name as Cook, and
/ his office, / know not how truly, as cor
respondent of the New. York Tribune.
/ He said he had been. travelling thr0ughi
Z Indiana, Illinois, and into Missouri, and
4 bore evidence that the water had not
entirely agreed with him!u He was, in
/ fact, slightly stimulated tOf fithe point of
4 communicativeness, but not of inebri-
/ lation.} He had tcalled to inquire, he
said. what the boys here were going to
do about the nomination of old HOraee.i
/ / told him answered for but Onei and
could not support him. He then, de-
livered quite eulogy upon his favOritn,
whom he affectionately designated as
old Horace, and characterized him as
an honest, squaretoed man. admitted
his integrity but thought his assOcia-
tions were bai.si ayes, "osaid,imy ifi-
terviewer, she is an honest, square4tOed
man, but there is mystery about him,
and that is Just this: every aii1timate
| friend he has is "a id rascal" Fr ii led
/ Certainly Horace Greeley, while in
/ the Republican ranks, among the num-
/ erous reforms which he has advocated, !,
| has never signaliZed himself as a re-
/ former of the civil service.i What can
| we expect of him as the head and leads
erof the Democratic party? viii he
receive inspiration in that direction
i from this element in the coalition? Has
/ the Democratic party resolved on a re-
| form which must necessarily deprive it
| of the promised benefits and rewards of
| its political suecess?.. Has it resolved to
die for the benefit of the country, or is
| it only" "playing possuni ?shiThe true
| answer is found in the application of
] the famous distich of old Rabelais: iis
'The Devil was sick, the Devtial monk would
The Devil Ss; was well the ddsyii monk was he"
GRANT AND ,GIyIL. SERVICE REL REFORM. q M.
Under Gen. Grant we have reason for
better hope. He has been the first of
all Presidents to call attention to the
subject, and by formal recommendation
has committed himself to a reform of
of the civil service. He has actually
4 initiated it by the formation OF a aom-
4mission to recommend fixed rules to
lguide in appointments. The compete
tive examination, however Tidiculed,
Eand although superficial, is, ] neyerthe3
less, a beginning, and in the right diree-
tion. lament that the efforts of Gov.
! Cox, while Secretary of the Interior,
to put the system into complete effect,
were not supported Dy the President
with more zeal and firmness. He was
compelled, it seems, to .succumb to the
politicians, showing the strength of the
phalanx which defends the evil But,
notwithstanding this, am not without
hope that good work has been well
begun; and that the little that has been
done is the earnest of what we may ex-
pect hereafter to accomplish under the
same auspices. No change is desirable,
unless it is one for the better. The Dents
may. be numerous and disagreeable;
but there is no occasion for displacing
them merely to give places to the
brothers-in-law of some one else:l 1t
may be only making room for fresh
swarms, more ravenous and ldestrue uetive.
We may brush awayIdies to be perse-
| cuted by mosquitoes, locusts, and other
vermin. The thing to be done is to stop
blood sucking; not to exchange blood
suckers. sJn .7"aE1-sil.i d f.i. .iillJiiua z
/ THE CARPETBAG GOVERNMENTS. ~
But the charges under this head
against the Republican administration
! is widened so as TO include an allegation.
responsibility for the corruption and
imisg0yernment of the so7calledi scar
pet-bagn governments of the Southern
States. u .gn uis.5 h.;5l . i!,ss iii.Jilutl
The facts of atheir corruption and
misgovernment; of excessive taxation;
of squandering landai embezzlingi the
public treasure; ofplunder, bankruptcy,
financial distress, and burden; of waste
fulness and extrayagance; of. disregard
| of the public interest for private .advan-
tage, and the unseemly disorders conse-
.uuent upon such misrule, / Onat deny.
they are unfortunately too public and
patent. Theyimust be admitted. n1gis !
+ But the question of responsibility is
not so easily decided. Il That they are
ehargeable, either in whole Oras to the
greater part, to the direct or indirect in
fiuence, or any, derelietion Of duty on
the part Of We %Sepublicap national ad-'
ministsation, do not believe. That
thew have been, committed in great pro7
portion by those nominaHy connected
with the Republican party, and who
support its organization, is not neces7'
sarily proof to the point; Some at
least. of those heretofore most conspieu7i
Gus in their work'ef plumber, are now
clamoring zealoIsly in the ranks of the
loppesition, for reform, as is notably the
case eiuiLoaisiapa a.it.aap -i.li % si0Hsia
find other causes than the one, as-
signed, powerful and naetive in opera
itiOn. necessarily tending to produce
these results, 4 and sufficient to aecounti
hfor them, and the effect Of whiehJit was
not in the power of any national ad-l
ministratiOn to have prevented. ~ lu
They are to be found in the war it
self, the fact of the actual condition of
the rebel States, at its termination,.
prostrate i'm the military possession of
the government, and the policypursued
by the rebels themselves. Theiripolit-i
ical and civil institutions were either
actually blotted out or hopelessly disor-
gaaized. Society itself was almost dis.
solved. Civil government of some
kind was an Immediate necessity.
Any kind was better than martial law;
either better than anarchy. The rebels
Lol l. rlou,y, THAR orr,,c hrtf hod not