The New Orleans bulletin., 1876-02-22

i Hahn House was legal, as the House itse
:: was the grossest possible fraud-the ou
growth OF the infamous Returning Board
] -@
THE GREAT AMERICAN MODEL.
} The recurrence Of the one hundred AM
forty-sixth anniversary of the birth of Wash
ington viii suggest to many selections upol
the character of the citizen, the soldier, ant
the magistrate, mingled with regrets that tn
! class of men, Of whom he is an exalted type
are now 80 few. 1 scent author speaking o
the opinions of the men prominent at the
time Of che Inauguration Of our new Federa
Government, remarks:
At the head of the new Executive BY s1nan,
imous voice, was Washington,la man lofty in
his nature, regarding. Perhaps the scheme of
with combination of qualities that grow,
from ageto age, in the admiration of mankind,
that wisdom of virtue and clearness of mind
which taught him, whatever his ascendant,
not to use it to disturb the irrevocable policy
of free people. He was not one of those in
telligences described as men ahead of their age,
but he was far above it; and he made an i'm /.
preston on the world of which mere intelli-
gence, however great, is not capable.
History does not inquire how subtle the
genius Of Cato was; he filed the world; and
so did Washington. Cato's death at Utica
made less sensation than Washington's on
his Virginia farm, and the Roman occupies
less space to-day than the American will two
thousand years hence. It is not easy to see
how the country could have surmounted SO
| many obstacles, and so soon have got its new
direction without him.
Again, the same writer says:
Of Jefferson and Hamilton it may be said,
| not disparagingly, that they were party men !;
in the same sense in which the same thing
may be said Of other great public servants
and benefactors, in any country. But Wash
ingt0n was man of different order; in the
amplest sense out of reach of the prejudices
of party, he uniformly discouraged, disliked
and despised it. He was man, If ever there
was one, who may be counted to mean as
much as he said; and most emphatically de-
clare his apprehensions Of party.
Referring to Jefferson and Hamilton, the
author says:
If these two great men who disputed his
favor, and other statesmen since, abov. all.
his successors in the Presidency, could have
had imbued in them Washington's truly dem
ocratic idea, that the Executive was meant
for public servant and not q party leader,
our institutions would find more favor than
they do. Charles Ingersoll's Fears for Democ-
racy.)
In letter to the scheming Hamilton in
1898, Washington said: "I only wish whilst
am servant Of the public to know the will
Of my masters, that may govern myself
accordingly"
The example of Washington teaches to
public servants that their duty when in Office
is to cease to be partisans, to cease to work
for party advancement, to cease from party
prosecutions, to cease from winKing at party
measures which judgment or conscience dis
approves. That example would exhort the
office-holders of the present day to remember
that the entire people are their masters, and
that the highest rule Of action IS to conform |
it to the deliberate will Of the people.
Washington's equal may be looked for in
some coming age, butt is in the power of every
public servant to initiate his action. He was
industrious; they can vie with him
in that most useful if homely and old fash
toned quality. His integrity was true and
extending to details and minutie
10 the discharge of every official act; this
noble quality may be emulated by the hum
blest postmaster in the Republic and by every
officer in higher grades. He considered the
public wants and sought to supply them with
out reference to party associations, ties or
issues; he took the same broad views of all
public evils and applied the remedy to
zach in the same liberal spirit; there
g no reason why any administrator Of pub
ic trust should not be equally impartial and
ust He was in some respects an uneducated
nan, and found it necessary to depend upon
secretaries and agents as much as governors
nd presidents usually do, but he required
rom them neither party fealty nor personal
only seeking men who were
lonest, capable and diligent; in this he could
70 followed by all men who WELD the author
ty which the people confer. In his stern
ess, his unbending frmness, his adamantine
ill, his absolute self-control, his enduring
atience, his enlightened sagscity, his
trength Of conscience, he can only
Q approached by those who most
dmire him for his noble qualities; but even
ae attempt to approach him in any or all his
reat attributes is meritorious Our public
srvants ought, especially during this period
corruption and malfeasance, to turn their r
yes away from brilliant party orators and I
owerful party schemes to study the history, G
nalyze the character and comprehend the t
rtues Of the great exemplar. Let them
udy the grandeur and proportions of the
AN who could not be swerved from duty by Q
10 allurements of absolutism, and then turn c
.eir backs upon the petty gains and perish
Die notoriety of Office.
A case that puzzled London magistrate
as that of woman who had assalied her a
1sband with an axe. If he sent her to prison
10 husband would have to hire somebody to a
re for her children while she was incar-
rated. II he fined her, the husband would 5