REVENUE. 343 



cers, who, under proper systems of government, are 

 paid fixed salaries by the State, in order to pre- 

 vent as far as possible, an abuse of the power they 

 must necessarily wield in the community. To show 

 the character and extent of this abuse, we copy the 

 following extract from Gen. Concha's work on Cuba, 

 published in Madrid, in 1853 : 



" The absence of fixed salaries makes official situ- 

 ations uncertain in the extreme, under which the 

 probabilities of their proving lucrative can only be 

 estimated by antecedents. What, then, must any 

 one think, calculate, or hope for, who, soliciting or 

 accepting an appointment, sees that after a few 

 years an incumbent returns to Spain with a fortune, 

 not such as he might have made by means of the 

 strictest economy, while holding one of the best paid 

 places at home, but one comparable only to those 

 made by fortunate speculators. * # * * For 

 many reasons, it is unfortunate^ too notorious that 

 an officer of a special tribunal was able to save 

 or make from his office, in the short space of 

 four months, more than Forty Thousand Dol- 

 lars!" 1 



The appropriation of the revenue of Cuba, as 



1 " Memoria sobre el Estado politico de Cuba, por Gen. Jose de la 

 Concha," p. 331. 



