The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-10-29
T H E R E P u B L | C .
w ASH N TO N:
MONDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 80, ls4s.


The Union grows classical in its tears.
The Niobe of ofice-holders weeps attic
rheum. 1t is piteous to behold, as the
large round drops chase each other in
melancholy haste down its innocent nose
1t describes storm abrew in the sEcalm
which has shrouded the political atmo-
sphere in the vicinity of the White House"
Thunderbolts are on the anvil, and light
ming is being done up in quantities for con-
venient use. The accomplished and able
Solicitor of the Treasury, We are informed,
has the glory of being the frstling of these
| new preparations. Like tall oak, or
cedar of Lebanon, he has been smitten by
| the first glimmer, for that his head was
nigh the clouds. He has "the honor of
leading off in the new batch of proscrip-
| TONS" which the Union fears will extend,
like Banquo's issue, to the crack of doom.
We gather from the concluding remark
of the Union's lugubrious Vaccinations,
that, if the thing were done genteelly, our
contemporary would become reconciled to
removals. The instruments of decapita-
ton are not sufficiently polished, and the
manner of using them is not French-like
and polite, to suit an elite taste "The
decapitation," exclaims the Union, evil
be performed-not with the keen, light
scmetar of Saladin-not with the ponder
Gus oattle-axe of Richard Ceur de Leon
but with the huge Rough and Ready
cleaver of the Butcher"
We believe it was Al Raschid the Great
who boasted an executioner who passed
his scimetar between a gentleman's head
and his shoulders with such inehable skill
that the subjects of his art did not know
till they sneezed that they had undergone
the process of truncation. II was in this
aInable and humane way that ghosts were
made during the last Administration.
The Union invented a keener scimetar
than Saladin's. "All the offices held at
the will of the Executive" said the Union
in lS45, "are supposed by the Constitu-
ton to be reached By the nopating Jrin-
clPie an the reelection Of ep9y Chief Ma
gistrats." Here We have fifty thousand
heads off, and but one blow stricken. So
keen was the scimetar, that a single sub
Ject was proxy to every neck in Office.
Not only in the matter of executions
was this gentle process in requsition, but
suicides were performed in the same kind
ly and collateral mode. The Union, upon
the occasion cited, added that con his
the new chief magistrate induction into
office every head of department resigns,
as a matter of course, his commission
and this act Of the first functionary of
every class OF public service is, in effect,
to say that every place under them is va
can't" Al Raschid the Great might have
battered his marvellous headsman for a
recipe like the Union'8, and found his adj
vantage in the bargain.
These are the Union's exploits in the
scimetar line. They would seem to leave
nothing for the battle-axe of Ceur de
Leon but lest a head here and there
might be so neatly dealt with as to heal
! upon It's shoulders, our contemporary
Numbered forth "He," the President,
"is just as responsible for retaining as for
appointtngo a man in office. What Wing
head could survive such ponderous bat
tle-axe as Locofoco responsibility for his
actions more especially after Salsdin's
keen scimetar had tasted his jugular' The
scimetar of Saladin and the battle-axe Of
Richard Ceur de Leon we're both in busy
hands, and the Wings had to undergo the
keenness Of the one and the ponderosity
of the other They were slain collateral
ly and inductively, as well as directly and
individually. But now that they have got
in power, they have nothing but rusty
old cleaver to do slowly and piece-meal
what scimetar and battle-axe performed on
them suddenly and wholesale. Will not
the Administration relieve the Unions
distress by borrowing its scimetar and
battle-axe : The burden of our contempt
rary's complaint is an invocation to do the
business fast and French.
The New York EUening Post of the 26th
inst publishes a long letter from Salmon
P. Chase, United States Senator of Ohio,
who is a violent aboltionist, defining his
position as to politics and slavery. The
Posi- says: "MR. CHASE DESIRES TO BE
REGARDED AS A RADICAL, ANTI-sLAvERY
DEMOCRAT"