Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1873-03-20
What is. is said ia i England: Our
selves as Others See Us.

selves as 0thers See Us.
-" -:
tFrou, the London Spectator, FEB. 22.]
l.. Nothing can be t,ore disheartehfil
to Radicals, OF indeed to any Hei
who believe il self-government, thar
the revelations Of corruption recently
reported from the. United States, ane
yet we appear to discern among then
one glleam of light. A belief in the
corruptibilityof American politicians
has Of late years been very widely
spread in Europe, perhaps undply
spread, but Until this month it was
corrected by an impression that the
Senate, at all events, was pure. That
body was not elected by a. Democracy
| but by the elite Of the people, the
State Legislatures; it. was filled by
men of different stamp from the
representatives, and it had long
traditiop of honor. =: Its members
might "job" as British ministers have
| jobbed, but the. short tenure Of Ameri.
can Office might account for that, and
after all some. one must. recommend
for local appointments; but there
was a belief that they would not be-
tray their trust for money.
The. revelations, in the American
Credit Mobjlier case and the Pomeroy
case show; however, that this belief
was il-founded,; that the position. of
senator, the highest in the Union
next to the. Presidents is sometimes
bought and sold; that the Legisla-
lures which elect the Senate may be
corrupted and that in ehe Senate
itself there exist men wh-se votes
can be regularly purchased. for a
moderate sum Of money. Without
going into improved scandals, there
seems to be no doubt whatever that
certar managers Of fthe'Paci6c Railroad
formed a Ring; that under the'title Oh
the Credit Mobiier they sold to them.
selves concessions made by Congress-
to the Pacific Railroad that they
resold these concessions at enormous
witnesses talk of dividends
Of 1900 per cent; that they were
arraigned in Congress, and that they.
gave shares-that, is, money-in
amornts! of about $1,000 to senator's
for protection. How many senators
are implicated it is impossible to say.
but it is certain that three at least
are held by opinion to be guilty,~in-
cluding Mr., Schuyler Golfax, the
Vice President, who AYERS that be
can make e full defence, but who
has only escaped impeachment by
three votes. : 1t is certain also that
lobbying" i. e., +.
THE PRACTICE OF CARRYING BILLS BY
BRIBERY,
has reached the Senate, that several
men have grown rich there without
cause, and that one man, MI. Pomer
roy, of Kansas, has been convicted of
buying his seat, in order, as every
one admits. to sell its powers. The
revelations are Of the most frank
character, and though they do not
cover a majority Of the Senate, or
anything like it, they do cover names
heretofore generally respected.
Anything more disheartening could
scarcely be conceived. If a democ
racy itself uncorrupt cannot find or
does not care to find representatives
who, alter double wirnowing are
commonly law honest will abstain
from actual bribes or actual plunder
ing OF the State till, Democracy is
dead before it has we'll been born.
No State can long survive pecuniary
corruption IN its rulers They may
urge, as we believe Americans do
urge, that they do. not sell their
countrymen that an anti-national
vote c,nnot be b. ugbt that they
only receive qualifications for votes
on indifferent matters, or that at
worst they only traffic in concessions,
bnt all that is delusive. The men
who sell concessions will sell contracts,
and in our modern civilization the
very life. of a nation may depend
upon contracts being honestly per-
formed, upon snip pivets, andsoldiers,
boots, and the quality OF powder
and the step from, furnishing boots
of paper to betraying an expedition
is very short indeed-how short we
may discover from any life ST the
first Duke of Marlborough When
once such u practice becomes general.
the work of Legislation is sure to fall
to men who make u trade Of it; who,
proiting by their work, attend to ii
and make a monopoly Of it; and the
control of great country may be
abandoned, as the control Of til"
great City of New York was aban-'
doned to a regular Ring, whose al.
most avowed Object is the plumber OF
the people. The Ring did not govern
New Y ork well, but badly, its ulti-
mate interest being not only high
prices, but scaAped work and a
Ring, if'jt obtained control Of the
Union, would not govern we'll either,
but as badly as France was governed
in the later years of Napoleon.
We do not hesitate to say that, im'I
medsely powerful as the Union is,
and splendid fighters as the Amerl-.
cans are, if her resources fell into
the hands Of men like the New York
Ring. she would in her next cam
paign be defeated by ca. and land,
if only through corruption among
her contractors. The, vice is fatal,
and if it spreads only little more,
we shall yet see :
THE FALL OF TIE MIGHTY American
:. REPUBLIC, ...
and of the brightest hopes Of the
race. now covering the globe. There
is no. conceivable reason why Austria
liaus should swindle less than Ameri-
cans. or why Englishmen under the
same conditions should be betterth
a;thar md I'll onnd or far.sighted