At this juncture we find our highest office pre sided over by one who chose to be chief ofa party, and not of a nation. In his eye no country ex isted, except. that of the party which elected him. Under this petty "Czar," public officers, from the highest to the lowest, who were thought to look upon this new dynasty with disfavor, were dis missed. Their places were filled, not by men of honesty, sobriety and competency, as per consti tutional requirements, but by men who were ac tive in securing his election and zealous in sup porting his party. Since then public interest has been the last thing considered when public servants were to be selected, and a public treasury is to-day look ed upon politically as so much legitimate booty to be dished out to the successful party, in much the same way as the merchandise of a rich caravan is divided by the Bedouins of the desert. Furth ermore there was no effort made to conceal the mercenary character of this system, but it was de fended as just and right, in the highest legislative council of the nation, by a leader of the party which first profited by it, and ages will pass be fore the enunciation of its fundamental principle, ''To the victor belong the spoils," will fade from the memory of man. This spirit, though at first the outgrowth of .one party, is no longer the property of that party alone, but has become the recognized system of all parties, Our political struggles are no longer waged on questions of constitution or law or governmental policy, but are discreditable squabbles between two sets of political cormorants, equally unworthy, which strive for the privilege of preying on the public. Under this state of things the power of appoint ment has been so prostituted that under the rule of a strong willed man, even in the face of a hostile legislature, the government is converted into lit tle better than a practical depotism. The found er of these principals was proud to speak of the government as "my government," and of himself as one "born to command," and presumably would have defined the state as did Louis x4th, THE FREE LANCE. This scheme readily took firm root, and now no matter what party is in power, the system is always practiced and the result is always the same. Years of experience, however, show us this impor tant change which the inventor probably never anticipated. The privileges which they once re • ceived with thankfulness are now in virtue of long unquestioned possession, demanded as a right. The spoils are claimed as the common property of the victorious band, and even the dis tribution of it, by the chief, is set at defiance, thus depriving the executive of the power to select its own subordinates, and a constitutional govern ment in this respect has practically ceased to ex ist. As a result this growth has developed a something, which to classify in the various sys tems of government either ancient or modern, would indeed be a difficult task. Its representa tives, while elected by the people, are not the people's choice; hence it is not a republic. The periodical appeal through universal suffrage to the popular voice, is as empty and unreal as a plebis cite under the Second Empire; hence it is not a democracy. The elements composing it are so little deserving of respect, that it cannot be called an aristocracy. It cannot be an oligarchy; for it exists by no recognized right, and its existence is not even confessed. In the absence of any known term to express it, a word has been coined which is well adapted to the purpose. It has been named by those most "L'etat, c'est moi." To his successor, who was by no means as dar ing a man, is pretty generally conceded the hon or of the important discovery in the economy of scientific politics, viz : the increased power of governmental patronage derived from the em ployment of middlemen. Generally the best of this class of men is to be found in the legislative body, and time and experience have shown that the greater the number of these men one can se cure, who are in interest as well as sympathy at tached to the leader of his party, the greater will be his power.
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