The Republican journal., 1876-03-09
Belknap and other Patriots.

The appalling scandal which has been
made public since the last previous issue
of our paper, has struck with amazement
and CONSERVATION every honest and hon
orable citizen of this country. The state
OF things at Washington, as partly sus
pected and partly known was bad enough
heaven knows. But the proven and ad
mitted facts of this case so far TRANSCEND
ali previous conjecture of fraud and cor
ruption, that friend and foe of the admin
istration are alike struck aghast. Why
look at it, This man stood at the head O
Of one Of the most important department,
of the government. He was one of the
constitutional advisers OF the President
who had a seat at the board Of the execu
tive council, and was consulted in all mat
tiers of national Importance. He should
have been above reproach He disburseC
the appropriations for the support OF the
army, and should have been man with
clean hands. He was at the head of an
honorable and chivalrous profession. the
army Of the United States-whose cardi.
nal principle demands of its members I'M.
sullied personal honor. And yet he is
fully proven to have sold to grasping
traders the privilege Of dealing in sup
plies at isolated army posts at eXorbitant
rates, and to have kept one hand behind
his back, grasping for his specified share
OF the profits OF these rotten transactions
When public establishment and wonder
have exhausted themselves over matter
of this kind, the community proceeds to
ask itself how such monstrosities have
crept into the public service, and being
there, by what means they have so long
kept concealed, for they have existed dur
ing the culprit's whole term of five years
service. The answer to these queries is
not difficult If az intelligent man be told
that in a given locality, the animal and
vegetable products are of a certain class
that they are serpents, alligators, mon
strous vegetable growths, and huge para
sites that smother forest trees in their en-
brace-he will have no hesitation in fix
ing the character of the climate and soil
rank, pestterous, and untitled for health
full and useful products Exactly SO with
the moral growths Of a locality. Babcock,
and Joyce, and Mcdonald and Avery were
possible only in an atmosphere teeming
with moral and official miasma. And it
IS impossible to more upward or down
ward from the rank of this class, without
finding like developments. Belknap is a
step or two higher in the official growth,
but the rule appies-he gathers more of
the elements of a morbid growth and de-
velopes into a bigger rascal
There is no other conclusion, from this
and the long list of similar disclosures,
than that the public service is rotten to
the core, and from centre to circumference
The Republican party came into power
at the beginning of a civil war, which its
own pernicious teachings had done much
to provoke. The necessities Of that con-
test opened to their widest extent the
purse strings of nation and individuals
The most plentiful thing in the land was
money. Abundance of money begat lux
ury and extravaganza. Men who never
before saw a hundred dollars at one time
found themselves suddenly with album
dance. War, which to the brains and in
dustry OF the country always means disas-
ter, to that class was a blessing. Such
men, in and out of the service, lived in
luxury to them before unknown. The
trouble has deen and IS, that they thought
hey 1ccre TO pe1petually receare. and the
people TO be forerer plundered. That was
the rock from which skillful wreckers re-
moved Babcock, and on which Belknap
split and went down.
While Democratic soldiers, Democratic
money and Democratic generalship had
its fair share in fighting the battles of the
federal government, the Republican par
ty assumed that its members alone had
saved the country from division. and were
consequently entitled to live upon it for
ever From such an into lerant assump-
ton to plumber and fraud there is but a
step. AS a conseo uence we find the braz-
en- robbery which crops out from every
branch of the public service, and which
actually tries to resist the demand for re-
form by cry that patriots are privileged
There is but one way clear before the
country-and that is to turn out, neck and
heels, the whole army Of party Janissar-
les, from commander down. Let its false
hopes and impudent demands alike perish
and let the country begin the records of
the next cen fury with clean slate
The editor of the Bangor Wing ought
to know better than to allow an anony-
nous blackguard in the guise of Wash
ington correspondent to abuse James Nor
row, Esq, of that city, who holds posi-
ton under the Speaker of the House of
Representatives at Washington. Mr.. Nor
row is respectable gentleman, who is
held in high esteem where he is best
known, and who attends strictly and
faithfully to the duties of his position.
The fellow who assails him writes as
venomously as though he had lost cher
ished teat through the Democratic con-
troll OF that branch. The Wing had bet
ter close up that source of venom, and
save its credit