The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1889-08-23
Hawthorne In the Tolls Of tho spoiIs
system.

that memorable sketch of the Federal office
holder In the days of the old Democratic an,
Wing regime. So long as there shall be Gus
tom houses will live that ROW of venerable
figures, sitting in old fashioned chairs
which were tipped on their hind legs, bacl
against the WALL" ard "who OCCASIONAL,
might be heard talking together, in voice,
between speech and snore, and with that
lack CT energy that distinguishes the occu.
pants OF almshouses, and all other human
beings who depend for subsistence on
charity, on m0nopolized labor or anything
else but their own independent excrtions.' u
Those old days are gone, and with them has
departed in great measure the balcyon
days of laziness in the public service, as the
officials of our post offices and custom houses,
NJ least those in the minor positions, dc
more real hard work than they generally re.
ceiye the credit for. Departed also in con-
siderable measure is that system which made
these officers dependent for their places, no
upon merit, but upon political favor. Ye
enough of the old system remains to enable
this generation to have lively appreciation
OF some descriptions of the spoils system
which are given in some hitherto unpub
lshed letters of Nathaniel Hawthorne
These letters were written in the first hall
of the year 1849, after the triumph of the
Wing ticket of Taylor and Fillmore Imme-
diately after the election, Hawthorne, who
had received the office of Surveyor of the
port OF Salem at the hands OF Democratic
administration, began to have premonitions
that he must CO. II am informed, :" he writes
to friend, in letter that liscioses G cru
elites OF the spoils system in as forcible a
style as ever was employed for this purpose
that there is TO be a strong !, fiat among
the pollticlans here to remove ME from Office,
and that my successor is already marked
out. | do not think that this ought to be
done; for | was not appointr 10 Office as a
reward for political services, nor have [
acted as politician since. A large portion
of the local Democratic party look coldly on
me fol- not having used the influence of my
position to obtain tie removal of Wings
which might have done, but which | in
no case did. Neither was my appointment
made at the expense of Wing; for my
predecessor way appointed by Tyler in
his latter days, and called himself Demo-
Graf. Nor can any charge of inattention to
duty, or other official misconduct, be brought
against me; or II so, could easily refute it.
There is therefore no ground for disturbing
me, except on the most truculent party sys-
TEN. All this, however, will be of little avail
with the ng-whangers-the vote dsturbers
the Jack Cades who assume to decide upon
these matters after political triumph; and
as to any literary claims Of mine, they
would not weigh feather, nor be thought
worth weighing at all. But it seems to me
that an inoffensive man of letters, having
obtained pitiful little office on no other
plea than his pitiful little literature, ought
not to be left to the mercy of these thick
skulled and Moderated ruffians. 1t is for
this that now write to you There are men
in Boston-Mr. Rufus Choate, for instance
whose favorable influence with the admins
tration would make it impossible to remove
me, and whose support and sympathy might
fairly be claimed in my behalf-not on the
ground that am very good writer, but be-
cause gained my position, such as it is, by
my literary character, and have done moth
ing to forfeit that tenure" But neither his
character as man of letters nor the influ-
ence OF Rufus Choate availed 10 save Haw-
thorne. Il am turned out of office" is the
unpleasant sentence with which he begins
the next letter to his friend. letter in which
he casts about, in despairing tone. for
some employment. "The emolumepts of the
office have been so moderate" he continues
"that have not been able to do ANYTHING
more than support my family and pay some
few debts that had contracted" flow mr.
gent was his situation may be read between
the closing lines" do not think ANYTHING
too humble to be mentioned to me-" and.
"Sophia has not yet heard it. She will bear
it like woman-that is to say, better than
man." But in the three years before the
chang whaDgers" and Jack Cades." as he
calls them, succeeded in robbing him of his
employment he had made the first draft of
The Scarlet Letter, and the very next year
after this mournful letter was written the