Litchfield enquirer., 1872-05-02

| triumphantly against stone wall as the amateur politician? Institutions, alas are not things that we can go forth to do battle against with our naked fists: and M: Jobus, the permanent and irresposible. ! was an institution. He was ubiauitous. was M. Jobus: he had ramifcations; he extended to branches and hooks of the l ] commonwealth where there was no ex- peeting him. There were Jobuses in the press, Jobusses in the army, ,Tobuses in the church, Jobuses in society; each pub- lie office had it's JObus; for whether Jo- buses by name, or by connection, or by lntermarriage, or by ties of interest, grat- ! itude, or duty, they were all Jobuses, eve " man of them, and held together tightly, rising up at the sound of the war-note like gathering of Scottish clans, and pre- senting, not bold battle front, but an invisible army of amhuscades, from out of which they shot, whistling their arrows from behind rocks, out of copses, from everywhere. The minister began to be. attacked by the papers, not the large po- iticai journals, but the light skirmishers of the press, which. in Paris, have most influence. The GgGre observed that his trousers were nl-cut Now, every man has his foibles, and the counts was to like well-cut trousers; so he felt the squib keenly. In society it was said that his cearming manners of former days were quite vanished; that he had grown bear, and was becoming mad; some ladies, al- ! ways kind, invented that his father had died in lunatic asylum. In the cafSs, it was reported that he had only accepted 1 office because he was ruined, having squandered all his fortune in debauchery. Among pious circles, people asked wheth- I CT 1t were true that he was privately mar ried, but that his wife was person of disreputable life, who had fled from him to drink. When man goes to war with the Jobuses he has not many bruises to l show, but he is covered all over with stains, as if a million of flies had settled on him.
 The warfare had not gone very far, how ever, before the great parsonage, who had been the counts patron. was appraised of l 1t. He had selected the count, of all men, on purpose to avoid these disturbances, and it was rather hard that the sagacity of his choice should be so soon belied Nevertheless it was probably not too late to repair matters; 30 he sent in hot haste to bid the Gulprit, that is, the minister, come and see him at once, to talk over the business,
 'So your cog-wheels are not working i quite smoothly, my dear count ?" he said, In the friendly tone of one who should remark, '"The governmental machine is a difficult one for young hand to manage; but know what 1t is, and will advise l you"
 "I am in great trouble with my depart ment, sif, answered the Cochin China minister ''I have discovered abuses there which should have deemed impos- sible; and have been at work on a com prehensive scheme of reform, which in tend submitting to your Excellency, and to the council, at an early date. The great parsonage making no immediate re- i ply, the count proceeded to recapitulate what we already hnow, and great deal more that we do not know, and which can be no business of ours, being only members of the public, and consequently debarred from the right ef prying too closely inte official secrets. which should the great parsonage, who was standing on his hearth-rug, with his back to the fire, kept the glasses of his gold trimmed spec tacles fixed on the carpet, and 8 slight frown sketohed itself between his eye brows, and he seemed to be musing, 'How fallacious are appearances! Here is a man we relied on to be soft and affable with all. to make us friends, and to let things in general be; and here he comes, stirring up war amongst our own people, 1 just as if we had not enemies enough as it is."
 'I do not say that right is not entirely on your side, ;" he replied, in that atmeasured tone which those only conceive who have ever heard an experienced statesman speak. 'Indeed, your conduct in this af- fair quite bears out the high opinion had formed of your political aptitudes, before 1 inviting you into tl1e ministry But, my dear count, there are cases where we must act with extreme caution. M. Jobus is a very valuable servant; he has been in his post, I think, almost half century, and half century is a long time. Then we could nat introduce reforms into one de- partment without doing so in all It would look as if the ministers were trying 1 to outbid each other in public favor which would be most undesirable. Again, the reforms you suggest would require money, great deal of money, and we can afford none; the budget is the subject of my most anxious cares lay awake from thinking of 1t, last night"
 "But it is precisely because the budget is so overcharged that wish to reform and retrench," exclaimed the perplexed count. "It cannot surely want money to stop waste; to dimiss people who are do- ing nothing; t9 ahoiiah posts that are sucking up gold that IS so precious.
 To abolish posts is always serious matter" answered the parsonage, lifting up his coat-tails, and speaking with gray 1 ity. eve could not dismiss anybody,you know, without compensation. Two mill lion of fancs would be necessary in your department alone Twenty millions if we generalized your scheme. Where is all that to come from?"
 1.-Two millions twenty millions P ech- oed the count, aghast
 The great parsonage followed up his ad- vantage:
 "I admit that all"you urge is very for cible-most forcible. What you tell me of despatehes of great value remaining un- noticed of officials in foreign service be- ing snubbed for conveying information, or for suggesting inventions or Improvements; of salaries remaining accumulated in M. Jobus's hands, and of enlptoyss being afraid to draw them lest doing so should hinder their chances of promotion-all that is very striking and very new to me. But it is not good that the public should be led to suspect these things, my dear count: it produces bad effect. My great ! aim at this moment is to found an enlight- ened republic and we have need to be united, for our enemies would catch, with pleasure, at any rumors of departmental 1 abuses Abuses of this nature should al- ways be reformed esa faHliite, quietly. By and by, at some future time perhaps, when we have great deal of leisure on our hands, we will inquire into all this, and operate gently. Meanwhile they talk of the clerks in your department striking work this, of course, must be prevented at all hazards. As personal favor to me, my dear colleague, make friends with your people; and, as regards NJ. Jobus, the best policy, you will find, is to be for bearing for, as have said, he has really held his present post almost fifty years P The clock on the mantle-piece struck l twelve. H