Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1878-04-27

the president was his humble servant.
The postmaster in the city OF Galveston
who, we believe, was faithful officer,
was dismissed to make room for a man
who had been driven out of the house of
for fraud. Tom Muir
ply, one OF the partners in the Tam
many ring OF thieves, covered all over
with his political vices as with garment,
and with neither capacity nor knowledge
to fit him for the duties of any civil office,
was appointed collector OF the port of
the city of New York, one of the most
lucrative and politically potential posi-
tiOns under the government, and Moses
II. Grinnell. an honest and capable man,
was sent into retirement as a further
illustration of civil-service reform. And.
when the popular pressure became so
potent AS to compel Murphy to resign.
the president "vindicated" him In let
Ter. complimentlng him on the ability
and faithlulness with which he had dis
charged the duties OF his high Office;
while Leel and Stocking, who had noto-
riously been cheating public justice.
were still plundering the merchants OF
New York. in spite of their protests.
and in defiance of public opinion. In
1872 the office of collector at New
Orleans. was held. as it has continued
to be till quite recently, by Colonel
Casey, the presidents brother-in-law.
who had brought out his "Gatling guns"
to aid him in packing political conven-
ton of his party. and who was convicted
of bribery and corruption by con-
gressional committee OF his own political
friends, who subsequently reported the
facts to the president, and demanded his
removal, which demand was never COM
piled with. Civil-servIce reform found
an apt illustration in the performances
OF Powell Clayton. of Arkansas. AS we
remember the facts, he packed the leg
islature of that state by corrupt means
with his tools, who in turn elected him
to the United State senate; but when
the grand jury of that district indicted
him for his political otfenses, and thus
invited his attention to the hospitalities
Of the penitentiary, the president, wish
ing to ''vindicate' his friend. removed
the marshal and district attorney through
whose agency the indictments were sup
posed to have been secured, and filled
their places with friends of Mr.. Clayton,
who non-prOSsed the indictments. by
which the distinguished senator was
allowed to escape justice. and to devote
his political activity" to the reelection
of his patron and chief Secretary
Robson took S93. 900 from the treasury
and paid it on false claim to one
Secor. without authority of law and was
excused on the score of his good in
tentions;" while Secretary Cox had beer
driven from the cabinet for refusing tc
prostitute his Office to political purposes
PostmasterGeneral Cresswell did his
best to take from the treasury some
$445, 900, and pay it to Chorpenning or
fraudulent CLAIM for carrying the mail:
in California. and the president approved
his conduct, and his political activity
on the stump for his reelection.
In dealing with the question OF civil
service reform, we must not fail to notice
the presidents espousal of the Sar
Domingo job. He personally assisted
General Babcock, the negotiator and
ringleader of the project. in lobbying
for it in the senate. although the coun
try, with singular unanimity, condemn
ed 1t. and compelled its abandonment
Charles Sumner, for performing his
simple duty in opposing it, was driven
from his craftsmanship of the committee
on foreign relations; and Simon Came
ron, who was turned out of Mr.. Lin.
coins cabinet during the war, on ac,
count of his corrupt completely with
army contracts, and dlsgraced by vote
of the house of representatives, and
who had had a national reputation as q
political trader and charlatan for nearly
rfn of n1aHa his
successor; while the distinguished SEN
ator from Massachusetts, then the fore.
most public character in the nation, was
still further insulted by the offer of Il
place at the tail of a committee on edu-
cation and labor, with Mr.. Flanagan,
of Texas. at its head.
These are the illustrations of the
working OF our civil service under the
first administration of General Grant.
They are the ripe fruit of the theory that
the republican party could do no wrong,
and that the democratic party. at all
events and at all hazards, must be kept
out OF power. Carl Schurz publicly
stated, in 1872, that he had seen a for
eign minister in Washington hunting
the government as a man hunts for a
lost child. or horse strayed or stolen
1t was at Long Branch, looking after
the business of horse-racing, or down
in Carolina, stumping for Grant. or
out west with Mr. Delano, in his iatherly
concern for land-grauts and Indian
affairs. If we are not mistaken, all the
cabinet ministers. except Belknap, were
then on the stump, electioneering for
their chief, while the president himself.
spurning the example of Washington,
Jefferson and Adams. had been heaplng
honors and emoluments upon his rela-
tives. and accepting presents of fine
houses and tempting largesses in money
from men unknown to fame, who sub
sequently received executive appoint
ments. And when liberal republicans
turned away from the picture we have
outlined, in sorrow and disgust. they
were everywhere denounced by the
champions of the president as ''apos-
tates'' and "rebels." Horace Greeley
was branded as traitor, in league with
confederate traitors OF the south, and
plotting his way into the white house,
tor the ulterior purpose of undoing the
work of the war, re-establishing slave
ry, and fastening upon the nation the
rebel debt Sumner, Trumbull and their
co-iaborers, were pursued with the same
hungry and unslumbering political venom
and personal malice. In the many po-
litical conflicts of the past, whether in
the early times of the abolitionists. or
during the fierce passions excited by
the civil war, we can recall nothing
which exceeded the rancor and rage
which inspired the republican leaders in
1872. in their treatment of the men who
rebelled against the party-lash. in order
to save their own honor and selirespect
But the task upon which we have
entered invites us to follow the fortunes
of republicanism through the second
administration of general Grant; and.
in entering upon this work, let US re-
member Senator Morton's declaration
that ..ours is the best civil service on
the planet - and his assertion in 1876
that, 'all things considered. the present
is the purest and best administration
this country has ever had Let us
glance at some of the actual facts which
supply the commentary upon these re-
markable statements. 1t cannot be
denied that soon after the second inaug-
uration OF the president civil-servlce re-
form became a more glaring political
mockery than ever before. The enforce
ment OF the rules framed by the COM
mission was an only occasional event,
while their suspension was the order OF
the day. Governor Holden, of North
Carolina, who was lmpeached, convict
ed and rendered incapable OF holding
any office, was made postmaster at the
capital Of that state. Sharpe, a brother