Page:Colymbia (1873).djvu/172

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166
COLYMBIA.

popular of ministers. This was just what the chief of the state wanted, and what he foresaw would happen. He could now safely depose the unpopular minister and did not need to fear him hereafter, as his actions, when in office, had fairly deprived him of all influence when out of office. The very circumstance of his having accepted office would ruin him in the estimation of some; his offensive conduct to better men than himself would cause him to be disliked by others, and his economical cheeseparing's would alienate from him all interested in the expenditure of Government money, so that his career as a demagogue was cut short.

The politics of the Colymbians are of a very simple character. There are those who want place and power, and those who want work and pay. These latter place the former in power, if not with the expressed intention, at fill events with the full expectation, that when in power they will repay their electors by plenty of work and high wages. A government which professed its intention of being economical, became at once unpopular. None interest themselves in politics, save the place-hunters and the inferior sort of working-classes; and yet these last, who constitute almost the whole of the electors—for persons who have no interest in Government jobs seldom take part in elections—never elect one of their own class, but always one of the members of the upper ranks, rightly judging that people who are not under the necessity of earning their livelihood by work will know less of the value of money than those that are, and consequently will be less chary of lavishing the public wealth by which they (the electors) profit.