, 1872-02-22

"eaItn OF this country is to be found il
the mines of California. His system O
appointments has been unintelligible.-
Appointments such as Mr.. Murphy
and Consul General Buffers are posi-
BILE, we see, because commissions have
been issued to them but how the samt
man who appointed Mr.. Murphy ano
Consul-General Butler should also have
appointed Mr.. Fish and Judge Hoar is
lnexplicable. Besides all this, he has
shown singular want of delicacy, te
say the least, in receiving innumerable
presents, and indirectly profting him.
self out of government contracts. To
own stock in commercial enterprise is
one thing, but to own stock in corpor.
alton which is daily making valuable
contracts with the departments at Wash
ington, is, for the President of the Unit
ed States, quite another. We do not
impugn his honesty. He is no doubt
innocent of all share in the management
OF the administration quarry" but such
a scandal ought not to be possible.
If the only question in American pol
itics were the election of Presidents.
the Republican party would have before
it prosperous career of indefinite dura-
ton. But unfortunately, there are 9TH
er problems of government which must
be solved, and political interests which
deeply concern any party desiring the
public good, or even It's own ascenden-
cy. There is a movement-it is yet too
early to call it party--of large numbers
in different parts of the country whose
aims, desires and intentions the Repub-
licans will do we'll to consider earnestly.
They are commonly said to be to reform
the civil service, to abolish the protect
i've system, to return to specie payments;
the new movement also includes those
who desire in the various States to in
troduce minority representation, to abol-
ish the elective judiciary sy stem, great
ly to reduce the number of other elect
i've Offices. and to lengthen official ten
ures to such an extent as to secure re-
sponsibility, and to prevent, at least for
the present, any extension of the cleo
tive franchise to women. To those who
are given to retrospective politics, there
may seem in this list of principles no
common bond of sympathy no doubt
it appears to many wise politicians that
the new movement merely represents
the local and personal discomfort always
ready to array itself against the party
in power.
But there is feeling common to all
those interested in the reforms we have
mentioned, that the course of admins
tration in this country during the last
forty years has been in the direction,
not of good government, but of anarchy.
The method Of selecting judicial officers
the tenure Of Office, representation, the
medium. the civil service,
the collection of revenue, the limits of
the franchise, all questions relating to
these subjects belong to the department
of administration. They have little to
do with the form of government they
do not touch upon natural rights they
are questions of administration, pure
and simple. The new movement, then,
is to effect reforms in the machinery of
politics and in administration it is to
evolve order out of chaos, government
out of anarchy.
The political ideal Of the Anglo-Sax-
on is liberty. With Englishmen and
Americans the most perfect government
is that which governs least the most
perfect state is that in which moral self
control is substituted for the sanctions
of government. This is the gaol at which
we are always aiming. If ideals were
the only political realities, the goal
would have been reached long ago. Bu-
the measures of politics are always car
ried by compromise between the real
and the ideal, The real in political mat
ters consists of the habits, customs, dis
positions and interests of society. The
ideal consists in aspirations, which
must be reconciled with these. For for
ty years the country has been pursuing
an ideal end, and has at last attained
it. Meanwhile the realities of the ma
tional life have been quite disregarded.
It is the aim of the new movement to
take these into account.
GREELEY ADVISING THE DEMoCRACY.-l
The following letter from Horace Gree
ley, which is published in the Lexing-
ton (Mo.) Caucasian, was written in re-
ply to one addressed to him by the edit
or of that paper: