New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-01
THE moral OF TIE PREAcHER."

and especially men of that class in the State
| of New-York began to discover the influence
upon the chief person in the Government, and
! consequently upon the councils of the Admin
stration and the policy of the Republican
party, of a master mind. Imperceptible, or
only dimly deserted in what are known in tae
larger sense as public affairs, it was felt, and
/ soon came to be everywhere recognized as SUI
premeIy potential in that lower order OF what
are still defined as public affairs, but which
are ranged upon the subordinate grade OF party
policy, or the lower plane of personal am
billions and personal iealousIes. This power,
so mysterious to those unacquaintcd with the
unique personal characteristics OF its possessor,
and only vaguely comprchended by those upon
whom it is exercised, grew greater by the
lapse of time, and by those subtle pro-
cesses through which a strong and vivid
| personality, saturating the less nimble
mind upon which it operates with its
own intense aversons and prepOssessions, comes
to take the latter into full and abso-
lutte possession. until it became for all practical
purposes the eye, the ear and the Judgment OF
the Head of the Nation. In the administration
of Federal affairs in the State of NewYork, it
was only through this channel thar the ear OF
the Executive could be reached In appoint
ments to Federal Office, and what should be
the Government Service, though the practice Of
politicians has made it better known as EXecu
tive patronage, the popular wish, the petitions
of interested classes and even the expressed
preference of the Presidents party, were i'm
potent against the choice of the master mind;
and that choice was never in Il single instance
based upon any other consideration than the
energy and capacity of the candidate IN sup
porting the personal fortunes of the man
who made him." This unparalleled power was
held by a Senator of the State OF New-Iork,
and held easily for eight years.
During this period he managed not only to
secure every Federal Office in the State OF
New York for his personal adhcrcnts, but by
virtue of the position of vantage thus afforded
him. to gain possession, little later, OF all the
Offices, the power and the patronage of the
state Government, and, through his devoted
followers, hold and occupy them all So that
it happened in this present year of grace a
little more than ten years from the date at
which men began To observe the movement
and clutch of his tentaccs at a crisis personal
to and created by himself in which he made
it his pleasure and hoped to find his profit in
antagoni2ing an Administration of his own
marty. he found himself at the head of the
best equipped, best disciplined, best Organized
and most absolutely LOYAL personal following
that ever answered leaders call. Every
State Office, and, with barely an exception here
and there. every Federal Office was heather
brush from which these warriors Of Clan
Alpine sprang at the whistle Of their chief
The cightycars Of always growing and at The
end almost absolute, power had So plmpercd
this mans vanity, always great, and 50 fed the !
natural arrogance of his character, that his
manner became dcspotic 20 his associates, and |
70 those who disagreed with him intoerable. |
Omittns during this time to bring 10 the sup !
mort of such measures of his chief rs were de
fnitive of the policy Of the Administration |
those higher intellectual qualities with which |
common rum0r credited him, whose field Is the |
forum. ne lost no opportunity OF diminishing |
great national concerns to the proportions of Il
personal wrauglc and of infusing into a differ
cucr upon great affair of government, which
should be- far above the reach of personal con-
.idcrations. the pcttiucss and uastincss of in
drviIual jealousy and spite. 1t resulted there
from that the Administration, without be
ing sustained in it, argument by It's most
promincnt and powerful supporter was, chiefly
by hi, efforts, prccptated into personal dis
mite with ;hc ablcst and most uusclfsh leaders
of the party to which it owed ia election, and
that out of this dispute came, at a most critical
moment. the peril and almost the loss of the
partys supremacy.
Kccnly alive to anything that threatened
to shorten or interfere with his own autocI1cy,
but to all else duh and dead, this po'scSSor
of a unique .and irresponsible power came
70 regard himself iot merely rs the intcllcc-
tull superior of Administrations, ScnatcS and
Congresses, but--what can never be tolerated
in a Drmocracy-thc dictator TO the majority.
Contriying in a majority party to attract to
himself by such means as have been suggested,
and chiefly by the use of patronage, band
of adhercnts who, being in Office, were first
loyal not 10 the country in whose service they
were, nor to the party which administered the
Government, nor even to the Administration to
which they owed their continuance in Office
but To the distributor Of offices, who seemed
10 them omnpotent he made this force
n leverage equal to a majority, by using 1t al
WAYS as a balance of power which was his
absolute possession. According rs he fought
with the party or against the party, or sulked
in his tent, they did. They were the balance
of power that decided, or were believed to de-
eide, events in the great State of Ncw-Iork,
and consequently in the whole country. He
felt his power, aud he used it. During one
whole Presidential term he antagOnlzed the
Administration elected by his own party, Wis
ting upon its chief and all its members his
undisguised and widely bruted scOrn and con-
tempt. 1t was the misfortune OF the party
that, under u previous Administration, his own
influence had brought it into such low esteem
with the people that it had not the confidence
or courage to withstand him to his face. He
first beggared. then bull ed It. So, with a ball