Nuhou, Volume I, Number 23, 13 May 1873 — A SINECURE [ARTICLE]

A SINECURE

ā stipend "witliout a service. Kieh old countries and some rich new ones ofFer many )llustrations of a sineciire. In RusBia } onee, thc Empress had a sore nose, and desired a sma!l pieee of tallow ; to get whieli an order had to be given by the proper Minister for the needed fragment of suet, and for long years afterwards a certain sum'of roubles was seen in the budget for supplie3 ? attached to the iiame of some court favorite ? as purveyor ol* grease to Her Majesty» And again in enlightened America, there was designed a certain crypt to enshrine the sacred remains of the Father of his Country, and an appropriation was made for the compensation of a custodian -of' this national tomb, whieh, however, was never constructed; yet for many years, even till as late as 1870, a happy pensioner on public L>ounty received two thousand dollars a year for an imaginary service as n Keeper of tlxe Crypt, M Now we, as a couiitiy, are too small for these pleasant little indulgences, And yet we are disposed to make a swagger of respectability like older and bigger countrieSj and squander public funds for the support of some old fogy sinecure. Are we speaking advisedly or are we merely surmisingj We are sure that our w orihy Chancellor ean set us ariglit in this matter if venturing to k upon imperfect informationv But this mueh we know, that an eminenl judge has, w r hilst engaged for years 011 a feftiss!oii ol' diplomacy or tlie still more sacred mission of family duty, been in the receipt of some \fiiwiipeiisation, for this foreign labor; whilst at the same time he drewthe emolument whieh accrued to the vacant Bench at home, This might be generously allowed to slumber, as an overlookeci 3argesse of past liberality ; but if we liave reason to anticipate its repetition as we iliink w T e liave, then we say in the name of the toiling, diseased an<l dyingnative, andin Ihe name of the hard working, tax-paying foreigner that ; we eannot afford to permit sucli a sinecure.