The Sun.
London, England, 1868-06-25 00:00:00

THE DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE.

The prediction of the Democrats that the Re-
publican 'party would be destroyed in the acquittal
of the PRESIDENT has been followed—at least by the
Copperhead section—with the prophecy that the
nomination of Chief Justice CHASE as the Conser-
vative Presidential Candidate would destroy their
party. Generally the reverse of such predictions is
nearest the truth. Instead of being weakened, the
Republican party has been strengthened by a good
riddance of Impeachment, by the suppression of the
War-horses, by the return to moderate counsels, and
by the nominations of good candidates. Since the
publication of the Chicago platform the party is
stronger, more compact and united, than at any
time for two years. We believe that the nomina-
tion of the Chief Justice at New York, on the 4th
of July, would, in the same way, strengthen the
Democratic party, as it would shake it clear of its
War-horse section and objectionable principles,
enabling vast numbers of moderate men who approve
its general platform to range themselves on its side.
That this is the growing opinion is shown by many
signs. AUGUST BELMONT, the President of the
Convention, favours him ; the Hon. HORATIO SEY-
3IOUR, who would himself be the favourite candi-
date, if health and inclination allowed him to run,
does so likewise; also, WILLIAM BUTLER DUNCAN,
G. HUNT ; and many
S. L. M. BARLOW, WILSONG.
Democratic leaders and men of weight. In New
York,and generally in the cast, the movement is most
marked, and the New York TVorld, the Albany
Argus, the Troy Press, the Philadelphia Sunday
Mercury, and other influential Democratic journals,
either openly or covertly favour the nomination.
The great pill which looms so large in the eyes of
the Copperheads that they cannot see how it can be
swallowed is Negro Suffrage. Mr. CHASE, although
he may modify his opinions, still rigidly adheres to
his broad principles, and to Negro Suffrage he is so
committed that if he stood on a Democratic plat-
form without that plank under his feet the respec-
tability of the nation would turn its back on him,
and as a candidate he would be worse than useless
to the party, for he would bring nothing to it but
a soiled reputation. If not absolutely pledged to
Universal Suffrage—which we believe he is—he
might scrape over the shoal by substituting Impar-
tial Suffrage. He is compelled to oppose any re-
striction of race or colour, and there are millions in
the United States who desire impartiality, but ear-
nestly and honestly protest against universal suf-
frage. The word is elastic, and may mean a great
deal or very little. If everybody who cannot read
is deprived of the ballot, and the restriction be ap-
plicable alike to white and black, to rich and poor,
it is impartial ; if the test be property, and the pay-
ment of certain taxes the condition, if all are ex-
cluded who are unable to conform, that test is at
least in practice impartial. But it is said the Chief
Justice adheres to the three cardinal ideas—univer-
sal suffrage, universal amnesty, and the maintenance
of the public credit—regarding the first as neces-
sary to the blacks for protection ; the second as a
salve for the wounds of the late war, and to secure
the necessary intelligence and education for the
government of the Southern States ; and the third
he sums up in one word—a return to specie pay-
ment, which he declares would be the immediate
result of his election to the Presidency. He
supports Free Trade and a more equal system of
taxation, and in one direction he is completely in
unison with the most advanced Democrats ; he has
always expressed a bitter dislike to the continuance
of military rule in the Southern States, and
earnestly desires to extend a general amnesty, and
bring back the people within the pale of the
law and the Constitution. So far he is a goud Re-
publican, for there is no principle enunciated which
would not qualify him to run as the Radical can-
didate. If elected few need care outside those whose
chances of office are affected, or despair of the Re-
public, for if CHASE succeeds instead of GRANT, of
the two the man most committed to Republican
sentiments will be in the chair, and there will be
something exquisitely absurd if the Democrats
fight for the stronger Republican as their candidate,
leaving the Republicans to fight for the less pro-
nounced one as their's. We regard the CHASE move-
ment as a happy sign for the United States. To
us it indicates the lessening influence of party, and

the increasing influence of personal character and
fame. GRANT is pledged to nothing—and CHASE
to very little in party interest; and GRANT is not
the best Republican, nor an intriguer, uor even de-
sirous of being elevated to the post. He is chosen
as a necessity to the party, he giving them the pro-
spect of success, not ttey him. CHASE, if he
be nominated, will be selected for the same
reasons, at least with one important exception.
No one can contend that he is the best Democrat,
considering that no amount of soap and water can
obliterate his Republican stripe. He will be no-
minated, not because the party is so strong that
they can select and carry any decent candidate, but
because they must get a candidate that can carry
them, which requires a man of no lesser note than
the Chief Justice. It will then be GRANT versus
versus the famous
lCaWiLykSeEr: ththeesucfacemssofuusl wGaernrieorarlagainst the successful
orator, financier, and statesman. GRANT has the
greater national services, but CRASH is the better
qualified for the post. The war furore has not
sufficiently died out to give fitness the preference
over sentiment, and therefore no candidate can
have much chance against GRANT; but the Demo-
crats may be right in thinking that if there be one,
it is Chief Justice CHASE. We said that in all but
one point the positions of GRANT and CHASE were
similar, which is that the former has only had his
Presidential appetite aroused by well-administered
stimulants. Naturally he does not care for the place,
and would not dream of seeking it if left alone. But
the craving of CHASE for the Presidency is insati-
able, and has surprised his friends and admirers,
who cannot see why he should long to sacrifice the
most elevated permanent office, and work earnestly
to secure a post certainly of vast dignity and power,
but more transient, more laborious, and beyond all
others exposed to slander and vituperation. Yet it
must not be supposed that CHASE'S nomination is
assured or unopposed, for now it merely looms from
out the mystery in which the Democratic candidate is
shrouded. It is said that the friends of General
NI'CLELLAN have withdrawn his name at his re-

quest, and we learn from a correspondent in Switzer-
land, that instead of being on his way back to the
United States as reported, he is expected at St.
Moritz, in the Engadine, which, though one of the
most elevated otc.tiono in tha A 111 g, does not indicate
running for the Presidential post. PENDLETON,
however, is working hard, having opened recruiting
offices in Chicago and at New York, where his sup-
porters, who are supplied with uniform, have
established their quarters at the Masonic Hall.
General HANCOCK'3 committee sit in rooms at the
Astor House, and his friends are confident of suc-
cess. Of course there are rumours at Washington.
HANCOCK, it is said, has the approbation of the
PRESIDENT, and the CHASE movement was in-
augurated by SEWARD. The PENDLETON vote,
some say, will be distributed between HAN-
COCK and CHASE, when the JOHNSON men,
holding the balance of power, may either select
him or either of the other candidates. It is only
wasting time to predict what will happen, but our
readers can form their own conjectures from the
material we endeavour to collect for them. Most of
the rumours turn out to be untrue, though often
advanced with great confidence and authority.
One assertion, however, we can here make, that
Chief Justice CHASE, when the mail left, was the
man to whom public opinion most pointed as the
candidate for the Democratic Nomination at the
Convention to be held at New York on the 4th of
next July.—Anglo-American Times.

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MR. SCHENCK'S SPEECH ON INTRODUC-
ING THE NEW INLAND TAX BILL.

The Chairman of the Committee of Ways and
Means, Mr. Schenck (as we last week stated) re-
ported the New Inland Tax Bill to the House,
June 1, explaining both it in a speech of great clear-
ness, and his own views,which are eminently sound
and sensible. We need not here add to the lengthy
epitome in ourlast issue of this the most voluminous
bill ever brought forward, but we cannot allow the
speech to pass without notice. Mr. Schenck
acknowledges his error in supposing a whisky tax
of $2 a gallon could be collected, the effect being
that the revenue dwindled to little more than a
tenth of the estimate, $13,000,000 being raised
this year instead of $120,000,000. As the differ-
rence represents upwards of one hundred millions
of plunder, the effect may be imagined. Rogues
grew in such rank luxuriance that it is now almost
impossible to penetrate through the tropical jungle,
and the strength of the whisky ring is such as to
govern the country, so far as they choose to rule.
Into every branch of the public service the gang has
carried fraud and corruption. Men who had hitherto
been honest have been seduced in hundreds into per-
juryand peculation, while the manufacture and con-
sumption of whisky have been stimulated to an enor-
mous extent. Mr. Schenck, in common with many
members of Congress, has learnt a lesson by expe-
rience for which there was no necessity, as the
teaching of the human race from all time ought to
have taught them, and saved the country from a
legislation productive of such vile results. However,

it is better to learn late than never, and the Chair-
man now proposes to reduce the tax to 75 cents. If
his estimate be correct, the distillers would sooner
pay this sum than defraud. Mr. Kelly thinks 50
cents. the better figure, but Mr. Schenck is correct
in fixing it at the highest that can be honestly and
fairly collected, always supposing it can be. The.
Philadelphia correspondent of the limes, observing
that Mr. Schenck calculates next year on obtaining
from the tax as fixed by him $70,000,000, adds,
" even if the tax be reduced." This shows how little
he understood what the Chairman of the Commit-
tee said. Why, it is because the tax is reduced that
he expects this result, for his whole speech went
to demonstrate that the temptation of a high
rate generates a fertility in rascality which
utterly defeats all legislation. He estimated
that the total anticipated revenue for the next
fiscal year will be as follows :—From Customs,
$165,000,000; inland Revenue, $210,560,000 ;
Public Lands, $1,000,000 ; and Miscellaneous,
$30,000,000. Grand total, $106,560,000. The ex-
penditures for the next fiscal year he calculates at
£352,320,629, which would leave a balance of surplus
revenue of over $54,000,000. Most of this surplus
is expected on realizing the results anticipated from
whisky and tobacco. Speaking of the national
obligations, Mr. Schenck said :—" There is but one
way after all in which the debt of the country can
be paid, and that is by working it out. Industry,
commerce, the productions of labour and of the soil
are eventually to pay the debt." After propound-
ing such sound reasons, it is strange to see Mr.
Schenck falling again into the error out of
which he is now struggling. Why not utilize
the experience of other nations in legislating, and
why persist in assuming that there is something
different in American nature from European na-
ture, which impels the American into the repetition
and consequences of European blunders. Mr.
Schenck proposes to tax foreign brokers $5,000,
and to send them to the penitentiary if they do not
pay, who transact business in their rooms and hotels,
thus evading the tax on brokers of $22. The result
will be in a small way to reproduce the effect of the
whisky tax, introducing a set of unmitigated
scamps in place of whatever is decent in the class
he legislates against, and erecting illicit brokerage
into an art which will more than ever thrive. The
best feature of the bill is the absolute control be-
stowed on the Commissioners of the Revenue over

the employes in the service for whose behaviour they
will then become responsible. But it is necessary

to supplement this by making the mode of appoint-
ment such as is advocated by Mr. Jencks—that is,
by training and examination ; promotion being by
zeal, ability, seniority, and good behaviour.
The dodges by which excessive taxation is evaded
are well illustrated by the following case. In im-

posing a duty ou pig-lead,Congress exempted leaden
busts as being works of art. Forthwith moulds in
the likeness of Washington, City, Webster, Jack-
son, the Apostles, and others, were forwarded to
Spain, into which the lead was ran and the tax
evaded. A dispute, is now being carried on between
the revenue officers end the importers of foreign
tobacco, on which a duty of 30 cents a pound is
levied when twisted or reduced from leaf into a
condition to be consumed without further pro-
cess. The importers pack dried tobacco leaves
in square boxes, so as not to come within
the conditions, but the Inland Revenue
consider these leaves to be manufactured to-
bacco, and therefore liable to duty. Against
this the New York Journal of Commerce con-
tends that, "if packing a raw article in square
boxes is such a processs as the law contemplated
when the tax was imposed, the hay sent to market
in square trusses is most certainly a manufactured
article." The fact is certain that so long as a high
premium is offered to ingenuity and rascality in
evading the laws, ingenuity and rascality will be
forthcoming, and unless compelled by the circum-
stances no statesman should offer the inducements.

THE BLADENSBURG DUELLING
GROUND.

Two recent cases have attracted attention to this
famous duelling ground, which is situated in Mary.
land, some six or eight miles from Washington. It
is a beautiful little grass plot,:surrounded by trees,
and there a number of most noted duellists resorted
to perform their deadly work. The Watchman and
Reflector tells us that in 1814 Edward Hopkins was
killed in a duel. This seems to have been the first of
these fashionable murders on this duelling ground.
In 1819 A. T. Mason, a United States Senator,
fought with his sister's husband, John M'Carty.
M'Carty was averse to fighting, and thought there
was no necessity for it ; but Mason would fight.
M'Carty named muskets loaded with grapeshot, and
so near together that they would hit heads if they
fell on their faces. This was changed by the seconds
to loading with bullets, and taking 12 feet as the dis-
tance. Mason was killed instantly, and M'Carty,
who had his collar bone broken, still lives with
Mason's Dioter in Georgetown. His hair turned
white so soon after the duel as to cause much com-
ment. He has since been solicited to act as second
in a duel, but refused, in accordance with a pledge
he made to his wife soon after killing her brother.
In 1820 Corn. Decatur was killed in a duel here by
Coin. Barron. At the first fire both fell forward,
with their heads within ten feet of each other; and as
each supposed himself mortally wounded, each fully
and freely forgave the other, still lying on the ground.
Decatur expired immediately, but Barron eventually
recovered. In 1821 two strangers, named Lega and
Sega, fought here, and Sega was instantly killed.
The neighbours only learned this much of their
namee from the marks on their gloves left on the
ground. Lega was not hurt. In 1822 midshipman
Lock was killed here by a clerk of the Treasury
Department named Gibson. The latter was not
hurt. In 1826 Henry Clay fought (his second duel)
with John Randolph, just across the Potomac, as
Randolph preferred to die, if at all, on Virginia
soil. He received Clay's shot, and then fired in
the air. This was in accordance with a declara-
tion made to Mr. Benton, who spoke to Ran-
dolph of a call, the evening before, on Mrs.
Clay, and alluded to the quiet sleep of her
child and the repose of the mother. Randolph
quickly replied, " I shall do nothing to disturb the
sleep of the child or the repose of the mother."
When Randolph fired he remarked, " I do not
shoot at you, Mr. Clay," and extending his hand,
advanced towards Mr. Clay, who rushed to meet
him. Randolph showed Mr. Clay where his ball
had struck his coat, and said, facetiously, " Mr.
Clay, you owe me a coat." Clay replied, " Thank
God the debt is no greater." They were friends
ever after. In 1832 Martin was killed by Carr. Their
first names are not remembered. They were from
the Soiith. In 1822 Ur, Key, sou of Frank

and brother of Barton Key, of Sickles' notoriety,
met Mr. Sherborn and exchanged shots, when Mr.
Sher born said—" Mr. Key, I have no desire.to kill
you."' "No matter," said Key, " I came to kill
you."' " Very well, then," said Sherborn, " I will
now kill you." And he did. In 1838 W. J.
Gravf 3s, of Kentucky, assuming the quarrel of James
Wathon Webb with Jonathan Cilley, of Maine,
selected this place for Cilley's murder ; but the
parties :learning that Webb with two friends, Jack-
son an d Merrell, were armed and in pursuit, for the
purpor e of assassinating Cilley, moved towards the
river and nearer the city. Their pursuers moved
towat.ds the river, but missed the parties, and
then returned to the city, to which they were
soon ;followed by Graves and the corpse of Cilley.
The L ttest was between Colonel P. H. Green, of
Missot tri, and Daniel G. Wright, of Baltimore, in
which both were wounded ; and Mr. A. G. Law-
renae, United States Minister to Costa Rica, who
fun ;bt his duel there with Baron von Kosserow, of the
Pruss.'an Legation in Washington, accompanied by
Count Lothum. Although neither of the combatants
was hit, the President removed Mr. Lawrence and
nominated Mr. Mott in his place, and Mr. Seward
has directed the attention of the Prussian Minister
to the spatter, in order that these members of the
Legation might be made sensible of the displeasure
of their: Government by their removal.