The Lancaster Gazette

The Desire for Office. Looking at the scramble for office in this country and the results which oftentimes follow it, it is not a very favorable Commentary upon the character of our people. Our only defence and consolation is, that it is confined to the few out of the many. In the Union, in the State, in the Church, in Literary Societies, in Public Meetings, there is always a due quantity, unfortunately too many, who desire promotion by their fellow citizens, either from ambition or that less commendable trait of character acquisitiveness.

As soon, for example, as a political party obtains power, there are a host of expectants, who consider that their services to their party and the country entitle them to the honor and profits of a public office and are sorely vexed if their claim does not bear that consideration with the appointing power, which they themselves think it entitled to. In many cases the country would not be ruined by the loss of these men's patriotic labors and the party to which they belong could with advantage dispense with their services.— Yet in their opinion, they have performed invaluable services and a disappointment is considered unmerited and unjust.— They go about the streets and stand up on the corners, repeating to every passer-by that "Republics are ungrateful." and henceforward and forever they will retire in disgust to private life. This it is true will work no serious inconvenience to the country; on the other hand it might prove an advantage, were it not that hope springs up anew, or the "sweets" of private life require the industry of the bee to extract them, and the retired politician again awakens to the awful reflection that the country is in danger and

It is a burning shame to this class of our citizens, who have frequently been rewarded beyond their merits, that disappointment should tend to weaken their zeal for their country and thus make a forcible contrast between what they now say and what in other days they proclaimed in public harangues and bar-room conversations. It leads the public to believe that their patriotism was excited by an expectation of receiving the crumbs of office that might fall to their share in case of a successful issue, and has a tendency to weaken their future influence and somewhat tarnish their reputation.

It is frequently the case, it is true, that an Administration is imposed upon and consequently make improper appointments. In these days, there is a loose disposition in signing petitions for office, and almost any man can obtain signatures. The most eager for office, in this way, very frequently can present the longest array of names, and thus it is often the people's fault if they have men in subordinate offices, who are not capable of performing the duties

But be that as it may, it does not evade the force of our previous remarks or render less liable to censure the men who array themselves against an Administration which they have helped to place in power, and who exhibit their disappointment in their cunning and bitter opposition—and this, too, from the simple fact that their claims for public patronage did not out weigh all others. It is a matter of regret to many of their friends, who have been accustomed to view them in a different light, that their standard of patriotism is to be fixed according to the regulations of the old Albany Regency, whose zeal was tempered according to the quantity of spoils to be distributed.