The Morning herald., 1876-03-16
PAST All Rsnn Z

Il
highest offices that is sufficient to awak-
en- the strongest apprehension for the
safety Of our government and its institu-
tions. 1t is illustrativeof theevjls Of ava
rice, and its accompanying transgressionssf
fraud and theft-what party can do when
party privileges are abused, and what the
Capitalization of power and the alliance
of high officers in collusion against the
public treasury for personal benefit can
accomplish. The following extract from
Merrioles History Of the Romans Under
the Empire" shows even as great and de-
plorable abuse Of governmental authority
and executive position then as we have
recently been panied to witness in the his
tory of the American government:
The appointment to the provincial COM
manas was left ordinarily in the hands efthe
Senate nevertheless the people continued
to regard it as their own indefeasible pre-
rogative, and sometimes, at the instigation
of their demagogues, did not hesitate to re-
sumo it. 1t was the general rule that the
cousuls and pretors, after serving their
year of Office in the city, should proceed to
administer for one or sometimes three years
the affairs of a province The state placed
large standing armies at their disposal
threw enormous patronage into their hands,
and their ambition, avarice, or mutual RI
valry. far more than any sense of the pub
| lie interests, impelled them to exert them
selves, during their brief career, in reduc
ing frontier tribes, in quelling instructions
which their own injustice excited, and when
ever they could find an excuse for It, in an
| nihilatingthe ancient liberties and privileges
still retained by the more favored classes
of the provincials. Surrounded BY an army
of officials, all creatures of their own, all
engaged in the same work Of carving out
| fortunes for themselves, and abetting their
colleagues, the proconsuls had little sense
of responsibility to the central government,
and glutted their cupidity without restraint
OF all the provinces the Cisalpine aud
Macedonia, and latterly Syria, were the rich
est and most amply furnished with military
armaments, and on both these accounts
they were generally coveted by the consuls,
and distributed between them by lot. The
tithes, tolls and other imposts, from which
the public revenue was drawn, were farmed
by Roman contractors, belonging generally
to the order of knights, who had few oppor
tunities of rising to the highest political
offices at home: and the connivance of their
superiors in the province, backed by the
corrupt state of public feeling in Rome,
shielded, to great extent, the sordid arts
By which they defrauded both the state and
its subjects. The means of enrichment
which the provinces afforded to the nobility
became the ultimate object of the deepest
political intrigucs. man of ruined for
tune looked 70 the Office Of proconsul as the
: sole means of retrieving his affairs. To
obtain it, he allied himself with the chief
or the party by whose influence he might
hope to rise successfully through the various
steps which led to the consulship. He first
terval he might hope to be elected adile,
grand object was then obtained, for upon
the expiration ofhis term of office he de-
parted as governor to a consular province
Z from the emoluments of which he calcula-
ted on repaying the expenses of his various
contests, on liQuidating the debt of graft
tude to his adherents, and accumulating 8
( vast fortune for his own qualification, Of
the advancement of his party.
The cupidity which animated iudfvidualt
' was in fact the handspring of the pclitica
factions of the time. The spoil of the pro
vinces was the bait with which the popular
leaders had lured tie Italians to their stand
Q ards. All the legal rights of citizenshi phat
been conceded, but the old oligarchic fami
lies, dignitied by historic associations ant
$ revelling in the wealth accumulated b.
# centuries of conquest, still hoped to main
tain their grasp of the larger share Of hon
{ ors and emoluments which they had con
l. trived to make generally accessible only tt
n the richest. They still looked with scor
themselves, and infused the same sentimen
u into their interiors, on the New Men, tn
h men Of talents and education, but ofmoder
=, ate origin and fortune, who were strivin
; on all sides to thrust themselves into pull
lie notice. The judicia, or occupation {
in the bench of justice, was the great instrr
70 ment by which they protected their mono
40 poly ; for by keeping this in their own hand
8, they could quash every attempt at revea
n- ing, by legal process, the enormities Of tn
provincial administration. This was th
y battle field to which as we shall see, tn
III testdnstinct of the orator led Cicero TO tram
ID stanhe contest; and when by a concurrene
is Mortunate circumstances, he found th
" due rs of revealing in one amazing instanc
to the glaring iniquity of the system, tt
H. mobiles were forced to surrender, if not thei
prerogatives, at least their impunity in abu
OF in them. But as far as each party SUI
a. ceeded in retaining or extorting share
nv the plunder, the same system was carried {
" by both. It would be unfair to point
es either as exceeding the other in rapacit
Mt and TYRANNY. The distress and conseque1
y, alienation of the provinces became the pres
III inr evil and danger of the times. Adve
d. turers sprang up in every quarter, and four
no floating mass of discomfort around ther
:, from which they were certa Of derlvil
fo direct assistance, Or Of meeting at lea
of with sullen appreciation.
Is, ------.- - -.
~ There is an honest ring about the folio