The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-03-14
81 correspondence or the Troy
Times.l
THE HERMIT'S LETTER.

What Mon Cost-Old Tricks-Belknap Not an
acknowledgements Rascalities in the
"Good old Days Prices Of Property and
Rentals-Horace Greeley's Cappaqua Place
Other Properties-The Historical Society
Rooms Pictures and Artists-The Hippo
drome.
New YORK, March Q, 1876 A friend
has suggested to me "Man and his price
as an appropriate theme, as though he
would inquire if there be no such thing as
real virtue in public life? understand
the hackneyed expression. Every man
has his price," to simply express the gen.
eral power of temptation. FIR m this no
man is exempt. The frailty of human
nature renders temptation so successful
that the words above quoted are of general
application. Nevertheless there are excep-
tons, or, at least, there are men whose
price has never been reached. Here, for
instance, is Col. Richard L. Dodge, who,
during the rebellion, was provost marshal
of Philadelphia. He was offered million
as an inducement to allow fraud in the
quota, by. which a vastly greater sum
would have been saved to that city. Were
it necessary l could give the figures, and
show how, in the draft of great popula-
ton, this sum, large as 1t may seem, could
easily be spared for such an object, have
the very best proof that it was offered and
declined. Col. Dodge may have his price,
but it has not yet been reached. This
leads to the remark that the officers of the
regular army have thus far, as a class,
proved honorable men. They are trained
to this by the esprit de corps of the army,
which calls them to service rather than to
peculation.
NOTHING NEW.
Official corruption is nothing new. 1t
was charged against Benedict Arnold, that
while military governor of Philadelphia,
he trafiicked in appointments. His case
was much like that of Belknap, for he had
recently married gay woman (his second
Wife, and needed funds to keep up a
stylish mode of life. the fact that Bel
knsps crime has awoke such general indig-
nation elbows public sense of rectitude,
which is one of the safeguards of the ma
ton. Gen. Grants confidence has not
been abused so grossly as was that OF
Washington, though the former, like the
latter, might exclaim, Whom can we
trust" Pope gives picture not unlike
Belknap in his sketch of Sir Balaam Gin
parliament), and, as usual, the blame falls
on the woman:
"My lady falls to play; so bad her chance
He.muse repair it-takes a bribe from France.
The house impeach him Coningsby harangues,
The court forsake him and Sir Balaam hangs"
Any one who reads the letters of Junius
will notice how often corruption among the
highest officials is eloquently denounced,
and Young, IN one of his satires, refers
thus to the condition of public morals:
"such dead devotion such zeal for crimes,
Such licensed Ill, such masqueradipg times;
such venal faith, such misapplied applause,
Such flattered guilt. and such inverted laws,
Such dissolution through the world ind,
Tbs not word, but chaos OF mankind"
1t is very evident that on this point the
past has nothing to boast of. A further
illustration of the corruption prevalent in
his day is given by Pope, who says OF vice:
Hear her black trumpet through the land pre-
claim
That not TO be corrupted is q shame.
In soldier, churchmsn., patriot. man In power,
TITS avarice all-ambitlon is no mora.
All, all, look up with reverential awe
A. crimes that 'scape or triumph Ger the law.
While truth, worth, wisdom, daily they decay |;
Nothing Is sacred now but vanity"
SOME INSTANCES.
Public populations are in the highest de-
gree dangerous, because they threaten the
existence of government itself. This 10
shown by the fact that when Louis Napol-
con declared war against Germany, he
learned too late that his entire military sys.
tenn had been consumed by fraud. There
was cheat in every department, and ss an
inevitable result his sham army was soon
defeated. The British have little to boast
on this point. The famous mutiny In the
fleet at the More which created panic in
London and put consols lower than ever
before or since, was occasioned by the
abominable rations supplied the navy by
cOnnivance between the contractors and the
| authorities. One of the few issues of the
Bank Of England for G 900, 00o was 10 the
hands OF an army contractor during the
Napoleon wars. 1t is evident that ordinary
competition would have prevented such an
enormous profit, which can only be ex-
planned by fraud. The first development
Of breach of official trust in the country
occurred under Jackson's administration.
When Jesse Hoyt and Samuel Swartwout
were the favorites of the party. Both of
these men were in turn collectora Of this