Litchfield enquirer., 1878-01-10
WHOLE NO. 2eyS

l ic>execrable system can be reformed as All, ia may be we'll to take lesson from Engliah pol, | itics with which our own are contfagted 60 un. | favorably. Prom the time of the ReatoeA- | tion," we are told by Macaulay, "PwliaMem- | tary corruption continued to be prActiced with
 scarcely any intermission by long succession | of statesmen till the close of the American war; and until at length it became as notorious that l there was a market for votes at the Treassry I as that there was a market for cattle at 6mifh- | ield." There for instance, was one James Os- ! wald who at the end of the last century, held six or eight important offices underthe Crown, ! and who was scattering patronage ngns And ! left as industriously as any member Of Con-
 yress could do Of him. Lord kames wants l one thing for his son, and David Hume snDth- 1T for himself and Lord Elibank aSAip tof one to whose father he owes obligations. whils hia Lordship also wanted place for Amemher og ais family who possesses all manner Of s'negnr tive merit" The record is so scAndaloas t1a1
 reviewer of Oswald's Life exclaims, Wan l nocking devil can tempt men to commit such things to paper!" It is this OsRald who aays inD hls sae0Taspondenna thai AAe boa ma4oA earth, when ia q certain elllcp. . m49pe q Reye-
 ical necessity of beingthe mCsk immoral, while 6 secretary of state may be saved ts private
  And yet, in the estimation of Scottish writer. Oswald could never be too strongly recom- mended as a model and virtuous Htatesman!
 No longer ago than 1850, just before the re. form of the rotten borough system, it was aAid the great body of the peers could not afford to keep a conscience; and that the House of Lords was powerful only when it united with the crown in plundering the people. They love to talk about the present incorrupthiAsy of members of Parliament, but in thoee days Parliament were said to be the dispensers of fifty millions sterling, with the power ol ap- pointing to numberless offices, not only in England, but all over the globe. A writer in Fraser" for 1880 said the House of Commons was ''mean," servile, peddling, corrupt and cowardly; that a more petty larceny set Of rOgues never yet projected small robbery or debated on the division of sixpenny spoil !" while Lord Broughln said they were "a lotof vile tlatterers and fawning parasites, covering and crouching beneath Duke Arthur's sword and ready to obey his worst orders with the alacrity of soldiers, the recklessness of merce- naries, and the devotedness of assassins." The candidate from Middlesex described his own countrymeh with one or two e1ceptions co backing ministers with whatever thoy could get from the treasury, and spoke of the Iriah members as a set of crawling beggHTB, who, after the loudest professions of patriotism, sold themselves on the most convenient oppOrtu- nity and got pricked down on the list of the illustrious whippers-in. In Q more e. riouS strain the Earl of Chichester could not but blush for his country when he recalled the abuses which had crept into the constitu- tion; while writer in the ''Westminisaer Re- view" for 1882 declared that before Parlia- inent could have reached the degree of base ness which forced on the present reform, the government which bribed the Parliament must have been more base than the Parliament which bribed the government"
 And here it is to be observed that reform in 1832 did not come about chiefly through Par lament or parties, ,rstll less at the hands of the politicians. The politicians, of course, were committed against it, and asalways were past redemption. Parties were shaken to their darkest foundations; Parliament stormed and bullied and urged prescriptive rights; the House of Lords at last voted down the bill which proposed reform in the face of countless petitions. Such was the indignation through out the country that some of the Lords were assaulted in the streets.
 Now, if a system which had been in opera tion in England more thau ahundred years be- fore our government Qegan, was broken up less than fifty years ago, it is not likely that in hope1ess corruption. it riis pnErfieo bes noNlete CT, that reform as in those daya must come from the people, It was the people who push- ed on the Parliament, and who determined that through Parliament or over Parliament, the measure should be carried. Now, it is still more true of the United States. that in the Ian e,.aSe st of Won Hoist, 'thorOugh political chan " way to make sure reV 6fT 6hT the the direct and en- public and long continuing agitation. "0-
 It is at least happy omen that in the open ing years of our second century both president and people seem bent on the refOrmOf our civ il service. If he can bring 1t about, we will not say in a single term, but if he can lnaug0- rate measures which will finally accomplish It, President Hayes will earn the lasting gratitude of the country It is at least fortunate for him and for the people, that in seeking examples they are not required to contemplate the great and good of other countries, and still less to con1ure up for imitation imaginary gods and heroes They have in the first President man of high and sustained enthusiasm, who could not possibly prostitute his otticefrO mo tives of ambition or friendship. His entire or ticial record is a sublime rebuke, not only ot the selfishness of those days, but still more of the horrid and disgusting seltishness ot later times SureIy it is a sign of sad degeneracy and base ingratitude if at the end of hundred years we no longer remember and gather in- spiration from man who would add dignity and glory to any nation, and who was an example of all civic and heroic virtues. It may not be aniss to call to mind, either, that the immor- tai writer of the Declaration was commended by one of those reviewers, who, In 1850, was deploring the lamentable state ofthings in Eng land, as "a pattern of executive justice and moderation, and whose course affords noble contrast to the wretched nepotism practiced in other countries"
 This being the state of the case, wemust re form by going back. We must return to the principles of those exalted men, who, under standing as they did that they were founders and guides of great commonwealth, wrought under high inspiration, and brought 90 bear their integrity and wisdom that they might fashion and set forward institutions which should be worthy of themselves and their pos terity. Surely it becomes those whoguide the state to study and initiate these shining exam ples, if they may hope in vain to equal them; while it is high time for rulers and people to lay it seriously to heart that great human government is the last thing to trifie with, @ also when held sacred and inviolable, and rightly administered, it is, of all institutions on earth which human wisdom can devise, the most ennobling and exalted