New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-04-28
TWO REPRESENTATIVE POLITICIANS

TWO REPRESENTATIVE POLITICIANS.
The two things that most offend the polit-
clan Of the period are, first, the affectation OF
good breeding and culture, and, second, the
afIcctation OF honesty and integrity. And
when we say atiectaiOn we mean to include
the qualities themselves as being offensive,
since the average politician is unable So con
criye of anything more than the a1cctation Of
them. Actual good breeding aud intellectual
culture they cannot comprehend, and actual
honesty they have no belief in. To them
there j., 10 such humbug in the world as the
pretfnSe of responsibility and intelligence, no
such sham "a the afectation Of honesty and
integrity. We have lately had two illustrations
of the feeling with which the average lead
ing politician regards tie new notions that are
becoming current Of the need of q fair degree
Of intelligence and reasonable amount of hon
cSty in our public men. Two representative
men, Mr.. John Morrissey and Mr.. Isaac Fl.
Bailey, have given us their views upon The
subject in the most uneQuivOcal manner. They
are chiefly valuable as representative opinions,
each Of these gentlemen having Il considerable
following in his own party. and each express
ing the sentiments of u whole class Of poll
ticians, Instead Of those merely of an indi-
yidual.
Mr.. Morrisscy's position vas get forth, as
our readers will remember. in a very clever
bit Of acted satire. Mayor Wicklam having
signsd his intention to appoint to Office only
Ineu of character and intelligence. and his I'M
Willingness to appoint any one who Wa, not at
least in outward appearance, gentleman, Mr..
Mouis,ey saiirizcd the Mayors attitude upon
the subject of appointments by demon-tra-
ton on Madison Square in full evening dress,
white cravat and white kids, and "a French
dictionary under his ann, and by giving out
that he had adopted this costume aud bought
the dictionary for tho purpose of getting an
Office of Mayor Wichbsm. Nobody could get
ian office nowadays the ex-Congrcssman
said. "nless he wore a swalow-tail coat,
"white choker. aud white kids, and could
"spcak French" 1t was thus that Mr. Nor
riSscy indicated his disbelief in tho tests of III
tclligcnce and good character that tho Mayor
was setting up in the face Of all party prece-
dents to the contrary. lie had no faith in tho
sincerity VI the Mayor, and none in the pre-
tensions Of his appointccs. To require that a
candidate for office should DO gentleman, or
that lac should have any more intelligence than
was necessary to RigD o payroll was rdicu-
the ab,ur'lity of it Icy lis neat little masquc-
rade.
Last week Mr.. Isaac II. Blilcy-in q letter
addressed 10 the ab!e-bodied statesmen who sat
around table at the Lincoln Club weeping
into thoir soup becaIlse Lawson insisted Oh re-
firing from public liie--took occasion to pro-
mul,:ate bis own notions, and perhaps the no.
toBs IF sevr,s, of his fellow men, upon the
ab-u1lity of being yirtuous in politics. In that
remarkable letter Mr.. Bailey managed to
make it cutirciy clear that what ho liked
Lawson for WAS because he chad not
L" shown his independence by betray ing the
"party" Precisely what he meant by saying
tbat g in these later Days ii has come to pass
that public men of worry mediocre calibor and
iI,,lc virtue suddenly leap 10 fame for states.
manship and imma'uacy simply by proving
" false 10 the carL'c they protcs.ed devotion t.,
" AID 1,o fioai, by whose exoriio,s uey wci.