LETTER OF
The GOSPEL TRUTH CHARLES G. FINNEY
1871
To Jacob Dolson Cox
9 January 1871
[MS in Jacob Dolson Cox Papers, Oberlin College Archives, 30/3]
Oberlin 9th Jan. 1871
Dear Son Dolson
James Monroe informs
me that your article
was published in the
North American Review.
This will, of course, leave
the way open for a further
investigation. You are
well acquainted with
the objections to this reform
urged by Boutwell &
many others. To the com
mon mind some of these
objections seem formidable
if not fatal to the reform
To you & me they are of
no value, but it is quite
surprising to hear many
& some educated men
speak of these objections
as having good weight.
[page 2]
"Yes" they will say; "the present
system is a great evil, but
the proposed reform would
or naturally might be a
still greater". Some fear
an aristocracy of office
holders, others that disloyal
men might by a competitive
examination get important
offices & if they could be
removed only for malfea
sance in office, they
might hold on & exert
their official influence
against the government. This
you observed is Boutwells
great objection. He affeared
that if this had been the
law nearly all the
offices in the U.S. would
have been & continued to
be in the hands of disloyal
persons. Of course a civil
[page 3]
service law would make
violations of the constitution
or laws of the U.S. a for
feiture of Office. It is true
that a law rendering office
holding perpetual except
for mal feasance in official
duty is liable to very irritating
abuse as most old lawyers
but too well remember.
The old judges in N. York
became very irritable &
provoking & exacting in
their treatment of the bar.
This may easily be remedied
by making such treatment
when gross & insulting a
cause for removal. But
if it could not be remedied
the value of their decisions
would more than compensate
the bar for any annoyances
they might suffer from
[page 4]
the impatience & arristocratic
airs of the Judges. When
I studied law judges Jonat
Platt, Chief Justice Spencer
& others of that class were on
the bench. The bar were
sometimes rudely snubbed
by them. But I believe that
every lawyer of their
day would never vote
for a speedy return to the
old system. Why, the necessity
of the independence of the
judges of all political
fears or hopes is so selfevident
that one is amazed at the
folly & madness of the present
system. But Dolson, freemasonry
is doing more at present to betray
the cause of justice & good
government than all other
causes combined. It is every
where working under ground
& nothing escapes its influence. All
send love God bless you all.
C. G. F.
Footnotes:
Jacob D. Cox, "Civil-Service Reform" North American Review LXII (January 1871), pp. 81-113.
George Sewall Boutwell (1818-1905)
Finney evidently intended to write Jonas here.