into a more or less active member of an organized band for the suppression of the will of the people, and for doing the behests of a corrupt cabal. The ramifications of this system almost exceed belief. Some time ago, a man desired to run for a nomination who was objectionable to this cabal for the reason,—there is no use of mincing matters,-for the simple reason, that he was known to be honest; and a tradesman who was to have run as a delegate to the nominating convention in his behalf, and who had for a customer a once most respectable political club, was actually visited by some member or envoy of the club, and plainly told that, if he desired to continue his trade with the club, he must not run as a delegate for the obnoxious candidate; and he did not. In another case, a man desiring a nomination thought proper to introduce himself to a statesman who he knew could allow his votes to appear, if he desired. The statesman (who had acquired a competency in a position paying no salary,) inquired the man's name, and upon hearing it replied, "Yes, I've heard of you, young man; you can't be elected." The young man explained that a majority of his constituents would vote for him, and asked why this would not secure his election; upon which the statesman remarked, "Because I say you can't; and when I say a man shall not be elected, no man ever was elected." The aspirant tried it, polled a majority, and was counted out. These and hundreds of similar affairs occurred in Philadelphia. Our legislators in Councils, at Harrisburg, and in Washington, are, with a few notable exceptions, the product of such methods, and it can hardly be expected that any intelligent legislation will be supplied from such a source. Any scheme for reform, be it philanthropic or patriotic, is strangled in such an assemblage. Do we desire proper financial legislation ? Constitutional improvement in the method of electing the Executive? Repeal of delinquent tax laws? Economy in city government? A metropolitan police? We cannot obtain consideration, even, of these matters, until the trained mercenaries, who render our representatives defiantly indifferent to our appeals or expostulations, are removed from their support. The effect of the possession of this trained body of retainers is to render the ruler absolutely defiant towards the voter, and we can all remember in the last few years many instances of high-handed disregard of the people which were thought too impudent for execution when first suggested, but which were consummated and have passed into history. Occasionally, the "boss" overestimates his power, and meets with disaster, but nearly always he succeeds, and the sovereign. citizen is left to acquiesce or grumble, as best pleases him. The persons whom we pay to do the government work furnish this fellow with the power to snap his fingers in our faces. A man, holding a clerkship in the public service in Philadelphia supported for nomination a candidate obnoxious to the "machine," and a magistrate, who had been elected on the ticket of the opposite party, came to him, stating that a politician of the same party as the clerk had endeavored to borrow some roughs of the magistrate (who apparently kept a supply on hand,) for the purpose of making a personal assault upon the clerk on the day of the primary election. And, upon the clerk requesting him to make an affidavit to that effect, the justice of the peace refused, on the ground that the would-be borrower of roughs of the other political party was a friend of his, and that the information was merely between one" gentleman" and another. Civil Service Reformers aim to render it unnecessary for a justice of the peace to retain a following of roughs. The captain of plunder and ballot-box stuffing, known as a prominent boss politician, has no part in the detailed application of his tyranny. He merely orders an underling to see that a given section is properly managed, and is himself left at liberty to pursue his schemes undisturbed, unless called upon to remove some employé of the city or Government who has rebelled against the authority of this underling. Civil Service Reformers wish to deprive this fellow of his power of removing,-to cut this Samson's hair. The boss has but one fear,-mutiny among his serfs,—and his generalship consists in playing off their claims one against another, and uniting all in a co-partnership for the acquisition of spoils. This constitutes the statesmanship of most of our public men. The same organization and facilities for rewarding and punishing extend to all the vast number of persons employed in any manner, (excepting the army and navy,) by the United States, the several States, and various municipalities throughout the land. From New York to California, from Maine to Texas, have the tentacles of this devil-fish--the "machine"--encompassed the country and throttled the free suffrages of the people. The number of employés and office-holders whose whole effort is to make the" machine" all-powerful, cannot be accurately estimated, but it is known that their votes are enough to secure a majority under any usual division of political parties, and that the conventions which nominate the usually unfit candidates, for one of whom we must vote, are composed almost exclusively of their number. The convention which nominated the last unsuccessful candidate for Mayor of Philadelphia, was composed of twenty-three policemen, four constables, nine members of City Councils, five police magistrates, eighty-six office-holders, ten tavern-keepers, and only thirty-five whose connection with the " ring" was not obvious. Is the political party under consideration composed of these elements in the proportion represented by this convention, and are over eighty per cent. of the Republican voters of Philadelphia either office-holders or tavernkeepers? An examination of the list of members of the city and ward committees will show a monotonous list of policemen, clerks, contractors, and coroner's undertakers. How much voice has the taxpayer in all this? Where are the people who pay the money represented in the selection of those who are to appropriate and disburse it? If these employés could keep their appointments otherwise, there would be few of them who would work so hard and run such risks to assist a local politician. Besides the subversion of the will of the people, what a source of demoralization to the nation the existence of such a class must be! When the magnitude of the evil is appreciated, and the depth of the abyss perceived, the differences between voters of opposite parties must be lost to sight, and, after sufficient agitation, the people will combine against the "bosses," as the latter have long since combined against them. In our larger cities, the union between the "bosses" of the opposite parties is nearly always in existence. The party supplying the larger number of the defenceless voters, pensions the opposition to avoid exposures. In New York, it is brought to such perfection that the police are assessed and the money placed in the hands of a trustee for division between the two parties. But, bad as it all is, it was once worse in England, but has been reformed within the memory of the present generation, and there are signs which indicate an uprising of the supine public. The efficiency of the "machine" has already been somewhat impaired, and the grip of the "bosses" has lost some of its tenacity in many localities. The recent national calamity has tended most strongly to call public attention to the subject. While that desperate act was probably the blind impulse of a man crazed in the effort to obtain an appointment in our rotten civil service, yet the people seem to have taken the view that the spoils system in politics, as prosecuted by men of acknowledged ability and intelligence, and occupying positions of prominence in political life, has borne its legitimate fruit when in a weaker intellect it led to the assassination of the Executive of the country. It will not be surprising to find some politicians who have fattened on the spoils system, adopting Civil Service Reform as a necessary measure of self-preservation; and, indeed, it seems as if he will prove himself to be the shrewdest who will advance and champion the cause, and, perceiving the ground-swell of popular agitation, will mount the tide, to be borne aloft, rather than to be drowned in his hole. THOMAS LEAMING TRANSLATIONS FROM GOETHE'S "FAUST.” THE DEDICATION. "Ihr naht euch wieder, schwankende Gestalten.” Ye wavering Forms, again ye come around me, Still does my soul from old illusions feel it cannot part? As ye come stalking up from out the fog and mist ; And, by the magic breath whose perfume marks your way O'ercome, my bosom heaves, as long ago, with youth's unrest. The images of early days your presence brings before My soul; and many lovely phantoms of the past Appear; while with them, like some old and half-forgotten lore, The tones of early love and friendship are heard again at last. Sorrow has joined the throng; I hear again the lamentation Which from the maze of life's confusing course, gains all its might, And summons back to memory fair hours of joy's intoxication, Whose blessings, once so prized, have vanished from my sight. Alas! they hear no more the measured cadence of my song Those souls to whom I sang the first. I find myself alone : Dispersed is all of what was once a well-known friendly throng, And memory even fails to hear the earliest answering tone. Strangers are they, the throng who listen to my singing now,And even their applause but fills my saddened heart with fear. The friends who used to listen to my song with pleasure,-now, Alas, if living still, are scattered, wandering far from here! And now there fills my heart a long unfelt and ardent longing For that unseen and still and earnest spirit throng; And, with the unvoiced tones to Eol's dreamy harp belonging, Murmuring in wavering cadences, I give the world my song. Trembling has seized upon me; my tears are flowing in a ceaseless stream: |