Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-11-20

and what may be hoped from we'll
considered measures of reform.
The following extract is from
Otto Trevelyan's new work, enti-
tied IA History of the Early Days |
of Charles James Fox" and exactly
furnishes us with what we were
looking fora picture of the spoils
system in full blast in the days
when George III. was king, and,
by way of contrast, another picture
of the situation after the thorough
reforms of Queen VictOria's days
had abolished it:
The utmost that a modern statesman can
do for a son OF a nephew is to nominate him
TO the privilege of competing with a dozen
other lads in history and modern languages
with the prospect that in case of success he
will obtain an income that would not have
paid the WINE bill of a placeTnan in the days
of Weymouth and Sandwich. Even the
Duke OF Newcastle would have scorned 10
put in his bid for the disposal OF sucil paltry
patronage as thilt to which his degenerate
successors have limited themselves.
But IL was worth a mans while 10 be sec
rotary of state Under the Georges. At time
when trade was on so small a scale that
L1an
self fairly well OF on the income which his
great grandson now gives to his CASHIER a
cabinet minister, over and above the ample
salary of his office, might reckon confidently
upon his securing for himself and for all
who belonged to him and who came AFTER
him, permanent maintenance, not de-
which would be regarded as handsome and
even splendid, in these days of visible and
all-pervading opulenee. one noblema1 mad lsla
l colonelcies Of three regiments Another, as
! auditor of the exchequer, inside which he
never looked, had eight thousand pounds IN
years of peace and twenty thousand in years
of war. A third, with nothing TO recon-
mend him except his outward graces, bowed
and whispered himself into four great en-
ployments, from which thirteen or fourteen
| hundred British gutneas flowed MOI tn Dy
| month into the lap of his Partisan mistress.
| And the lucrative places which statesman
| held in his own name formed but part,
| and often the least part, of the advantage
that he derived from his position. All the
| claims on his purse were settled, and all ser
/ vices rendered by him, honorable and dis
honorable alike, were recompensed Dy fresh
/ and ever fresh inroads upon the eXchequer.
/ The patron of his borough, If he was a COM
moner; his mOuthpiece in the lower house
| If he was a peer; the gentleman Of the bed
4 chamber Who stood his friend at court the
| broker who, when the last loan was brought
out, had got to know more than was pleas
/ ant about the allotment of the scrip; his
1 racing friend, who had nothing left to lose !;
his French cook, his children's tutor, his led
| captain, his hired poet, and MS inspired
/ pamphletcer, were all paid with nominal
| lions, or pacified with reversiOns. If COM
| Portable berth was already occupied, at any
| rate the succession to il might still be worth
| the having A paymaSter OF the works, or
| an auditor of the plantations, with plenty
| Of money to buy good liquor and plenty Of
| time to drink il, did not live forever and a
next appointment to the civil service in the
last century might be discounted as freely
as n next presentation to living in our
own.
fWlad no nf
| pension-a resource elastic and almost un-
| limited under a monarch who was never
afraid of appearing before his parliament IN
| the character of an insolvent debtor. Those
| recipients of What-with an irony which
the taxpayer was beginning to understand
was styled the royal bounty, VINO were TOO
| disreputable to figure in the English civil
list, were quietly and snugly Quartered on
] the Irish establishment Decent men were
| not always willing to see themselves en-
| rolled in a column of names which, aPprO-
| priateiy headed by the Queen OF Denmark
! recalled the successive scandals OF three
| reigns; but squeamlshneSs was not the fall-
ing of the age, and the Irish pensions were
| trebled in the first thirty years of George the
Third. The English pension list grew ST.
| lently and steadily, with occasional periods
| of sudden and very perceptible expansion.
| twas reckoned that every change ofgovern-
ment (and changes of government were tar
| more frequent then than now cost the
1 country from nine to fifteen thousand a
| year. A minister who was true to his order
| never allowed himself to be shelved, or
| shifted, or degraded, or even promoted,
without getting something for himself, his
| wife, or his Son-in-law. whenever the poy
Iitical cards were shuff1ed the people paid
the stakes; and a dozen pensions had gen.
| orally been distributed, and half dozen in
/ creased, before the seals, the key and the
I sticks had got into the hands where they
| were to remain for the next twelve-month.
| When Lord NOrthingtOn ceased to be chan
| cellor in order to become president of the
| council, he would not leave the Woolsac till
| he had secured an immediate pension of
| two thousand year, prospective pension
| of four thousand a year, and the reverslon
| for two lives of the clerkship of the hanaper;
and this although he had already provided
! for his daughters by veSting rich sinecure
| with a trustee for the benefit. There were
| times when q disagreeable man who knew
| his own powers of annoyance, or even
| weak man who had fathOmed his own
| terms he chose with those who desired to
get rid of him and there was nothing what
| ever which strong man, by watching ms
| occasion, might not obtain as the price OF
his services.
We have not yet got to stage OF
the spoils system which will match
the above description, but we are
rapidly moving in that direction.
The prizes at least are not yet as
splendid as they were in George the
Thirds days, but ever since the re-
publican party has been in power the
tendency has been to increase both
the number and emolument of Off
ces, and now we are to have four
years of Garfield, and, in all prOba-
bility, an definite period of Grant
afterwards, during which we shall
have time to rise to the Georgian
standard.
The sooner the better; the present
system is evidently bound to grow
a good deal worse before it grows
better; so the sooner it attains its
worst the nearer will be the day
when the public will universally
demand a change. But then, while
the party in power is multiplying
offices and enriching their emolu-
ments, it is also strengthening itself
in power, and the question remains
whether when the time comes for
the people to recognize the enOrmity
of the evil they will have the power
to enforce the remedy. We think
we see one circumstance which will
render this more difficult process
in this country than it was in Eng
land. There the emoluments of the
vicious system were all rigidly re-
tanned in the hands of one class, the
aristocracy; and when the eyes of
the people were opened, it was
battle between the nobility and all
the rest of the nation.
No one class can stand up perma-
nently against all others combined,
and, after a fierce struggle for its
maintenance, the system fell. But
in this country there is no one class
which does not comprise men per-
sonally interested in the mainten-
ance Of the spoils system. They are
everywhere, and, in political move
ments, those who are personally in
terested are always much more !
active than those who are influenced |
by general principles. The ever
increasing body of office-holders will
become more and more efficient as
workers to uphold the vicious sys-