The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume 1, Issue 139, 10 January 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. FRIDAY, JANUARY 10, 1868.

lOuEofthe most obnoxioui of institutions in any place is a system of beaureaucracy, and it matters not whether it is carried out, or attempted to be carried out on a large or a small scale, and any attempt to introduce it in any community should be most rigorously guarded against. Insidious at first iu its operations, it to conciliate till it attains a certain amount of popularity, and then it throws off the mask and becomes a rampant despotism. Attendant on it are many evils, but none more so than that of sycophancy. Sycophants are beings so thoroughly detestable, and yet so thoroughly deceitful that it is doubtful whether it is better to regard them as dangerous friends—for dangerous they undoubtedly are—or as secret enemies, who would stab their friend of to-day in the dark if they hid the opportunity. Sycophants worship for their own ends the powers that be, and in order to obtain favor, they care not how much dirt they may eat, or how low they grovel—they adopt the policy laid down by Macchiavelli in his that the eudj justifies the means, —and so they obtain the favorable notice of the powers they worship they care not what means they adopt to accomplish that. end. Should the object of their fulsome adulation b> a man combining all the evil qualities of a Nero, a Caligula, or all the vices and immoralities of a Wilkes or Greorge IV., they will find excuses for him, and pardon his self-glorifica-tion, though the object of their worship be as disreputable'aud ahaaiolcos as a satyr. Delegated power in small communities, is apt to form itself into an autocratic or beaureaucratic system of management, in either of which cases these disciples of Euerates are in their element; nothing can be wrong, nothing can go wrong with the objects of their flattery, and they are ready like the Jews of old who worshipped Herod to cry out "It is-the voice of a Q-od." But this only exists so long as the symbol of power remains, take that away, and Sir Pertinax will discover faults where none before ever existed in his idol. It is astonishing how jubilant everybody in connection with the reigning power becomes, from the boy who sweeps out the office to the great "I am" himself. Nothing can be done without consulting him, and care must be taken not to give him offence, for is he not the Sir Oracle. A somewhat similar idea of his own importance seems to prevail in the present head of the New Zealand Government. Nothing can be more autocratic than Mr Stafford's demeanour; nothing can be more supercilious with which he treats everybody with whom he is brought in contact, or nothing can be more abject than the manner in which he is worshipped by his sycophantic toadies. He affects to despise anybody who differs from him in opinion, and endeavours to crush all who may oppose him, stopping short of nothing in order to accomplish his purpose ; and in this respect he is imitated by any petty satrap under him. Officialdom is imitative, and according as the head is so is the body. Should the ruler-in-chief be courteous and politic, so are the underlings, and they will ' regulate their conduct accordingly, ( but should he be the reverse, then the ' underlings are egotistical, conceited, ! and bombastic, lacking wisdom and J sense, and pandering to those syco- ' phantic flatterers who are ever ready i to bespatter even the most humble of officialdom. 1