having taken other
matters out of its hands,--presided over by an official who bore the
title and responsibility of the Custodian and Disburser of the Nation's
Purse, and received a salary that a bank-President would have
sniffed at. For it was part of this Constitutional Inconsistency and
Administrative Absurdity that in the matter of honor, justice, fidelity
to trust, and even business integrity, the official was always expected
to be the superior of the Government he represented. Yet the crowning
Inconsistency was that, from time to time, it was submitted to the
sovereign people to declare if these various Inconsistencies were not
really the perfect expression of the most perfect Government the
world had known. And it is to be recorded that the unanimous voices of
Representative, Orator, and Unfettered Poetry were that it was!

Even the public press lent itself to the Great Inconsistency. It was
as clear as crystal to the journal on one side of the Avenue that the
country was going to the dogs unless the SPIRIT of the Fathers once more
reanimated the public; it was equally clear to the journal on the other
side of the Avenue that only a rigid adherence to the LETTER of the
Fathers would save the nation from decline. It was obvious to the
first-named journal that the "letter" meant Government patronage to
the other journal; it was patent to that journal that the "shekels" of
Senator X really animated the spirit of the Fathers. Yet all agreed
it was a great and good and perfect government,--subject only to the
predatory incursions of a Hydra-headed monster known as a "Ring." The
Ring's origin was wrapped in secrecy, its fecundity was alarming; but
although its rapacity was preternatural, its digestion was perfect
and easy. It circumvolved all affairs in an atmosphere of mystery;
it clouded all things with the dust and ashes of distrust. All
disappointment of place, of avarice, of incompetency or ambition, was
clearly attributable to it. It even permeated private and social life;
there were Rings in our kitchen and household service; in our public
schools, that kept the active intelligences of our children passive;
there were Rings of engaging, handsome, dissolute young fellows, who
kept us moral but unengaging seniors from the favors of the fair; there
were subtle, conspiring Rings among our creditors, which sent us into
bankruptcy and restricted our credit. In fact it would not be hazardous
to say that all that was c