Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/510

 504 Southern Historical Society Papers.

very genius and safety of Republican institutions to place their civil administration in the keeping of men of military aptitude and train- ing. Brave fighting is no evidence of able statesmanship. It is usually evidence of the very contrary. Otherwise, Captain Jack was the foremost statesman of this age, and, instead of being hanged, ought to have been made President or Senator for life. If this habit shall not cease, we shall not have a civil statesman for President this generation. In Congress, too, we have generals, and colonels, and captains, and lieutenants, sufficient to make a small army, and scarcely statesmen enough to form a good committee. I will not al- lude unkindly to General Grant. However much wrong he may have done otherwise, we, in Georgia, owe him a debt, of which I have personal knowledge, and I shall never speak of him unkindly. But I am speaking of a great principle, and if General Grant had adopted and acted upon the grand truth uttered by Lee, he would have lived deeper in the affections of his people and higher in the esteem of mankind than all the battles he has won, and all the presidential terms he can receive can ever secure for his name.

The second thing, indispensable to the elevation of our statesman- ship, is the reduction of congressional salaries. Upon principle, the legislators of a country, who have in their hands the purse of the peo- ple, ought not to have the power to help themselves. I believe Franklin was right when he desired by constitutional provision to prohibit compensation to members of Congress. I am very sure the propositions of others in the Convention to fix the amount of the compensation in the Constitution — so that the members could not in- crease their own pay — was full of wisdom. Madison uttered a truth when he said it was an indecent thing for members to fix their own compensation.

Then, again, high congressional salaries are wrong and hurtful in policy. They excite the merely mercenary, with desires to secure the seats. This begets scrambling and trading in every election. Men of high ability will not be parties to such contests. Thus mer- cenary men get control of the Congress, and as they are chiefly moved by a passion that is insatiate — if the salary were a hundred thousand dollars — they would use the ofiice to double the sum. This will finally reduce our statesmanship to one governing standard — use money to get office, and use office to get money. With few ex- ceptions, Congress is now but a sad congregation of negroes, knaves and imbeciles, and no people ever won, or preserved, or recovered either liberty or right under such civil leaders. You cannot scatter