Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-06-12
CHAPTER III.
COMPLETES THE STORY OF JOHN NEEDHAM's
RISE, AND ALSO DESCRIBES HIS FALL.

COMPLETES THE STORY OF JOHN NEEDHAMs
RISE, AND ALSO DESCRIBES HIS FALL.
Although IRON mon ltary pJlat o. view
a lord of tn treasury 5 no grea advance
ment, sac prospecj watch ii opens up to
a capable man and an aspiring mind in
cludes the premiership itself Ga tue wav
to that seat Of authogity, what powerful
and profit tble hating place is the secre-
tarysnip 10 the treasury! An only think
what wealth an unScruDul1us C iancellJr of
the excnequer mig ut comman in one snort
year Of Office! To a man of Joln Need
hams aulacity the situation would have
been full OF the most tremendous Do.
sibilities.
In military warfare If a man Turn trai 5or
be Is shot. The fell of politics allows a
much broa .s' margin for tie action of it,
dividual indie 7enience. John Needham was
shamefully untrue to the party that elected
him TO lie its chief, AMI tue result va, his
advancem Mt to the honorable AM high
post of a lord of the treasury. Had he been
successful in some other trans ressions
against morality, bis political treason
would, in all probability, have led him to
the very CHEST place in the queen gov
eminent.
1t may be left to the philosophic ANALYST
to consliar whether pure and righteom
patriot at the head Of English affairs might
not bring about disasters as serious as thoss
which would be expected to follow the
operations of an MISCONCEPTIONS kaava Never
thelcss the imagination reels at the thought
that John Needham might have successfully
filled the grea5 offices of state that lead up
to the premiership.
A man OF conspicuous ability, he could
fairly have looked forward to TIL, post of
honor and of power. The situation il full
of temptations to moralist The author
who worked out the possbilities of creation
In the hands of Satan would find plenty of
material for speculation in the possibilities
of an English policy. foreign or O. herwise.
with John Nee1ham at Downing street.
1t may be that after his first depredations.
which would have given him command of
untold wealth, Jonn Needham might have
paused and given his Country a chance.
John Nee lham above want. beyond the
reach OF financial difficulty. might have de-
veloped higher phase OF character than il
is the historians duty to exhibit with the
existing materials: for, so far as the facts
are concerned, John Needham. at the time
OF MS introduction to Office under the adj
mlnistratiol Of Lord Aberdeen. was a swim
oler AMI thief: and the circums ances in
winch he was placed at later date might
have led even less desperate man to the
committal OF the most serious crime known
10 the law
IL the new lord of the treasury ever hao
made his way to the premiership he coul d
have been as rich as the wealthiest of the
hothsehiids, AMI he would: for in his an
pointinent he already concentrated the next
step on the road to it. The secretaryship of
the treasury would naturally come easily
and soon to a man of his abilit The patron
age and emoluments of this office would
have lesn turned to quick and profitable a c
count; and think of the vast wealth that a
chan Of the exchequer, operating di-
rectly or indirectly in the city, could realize
with simple stroke of the penp'
Fortunately for the country, some of Mr..
Needham's commercial and financial UNDER
takings began to be seriously troub esome
to him just when his political fortunes were
most smiling. Indeed he was SO pressed Tor
funds, almost Immediately after his an.
poantment. that he commenced to traffic
financially with his Official knowledoe h..