New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-13
FROM WASHINGTON.
corr--ponjenoe Of Th- n Y. Tribune.
WasuISGr0S

WASHINGTON, Jan. III, 1898.
The Lecompton Constitution is rs dead as door
nail. without even being brought here. Its con.
triyers may go through that farce, but il will
hardly pay expenses. If any doubt existed on this
subject before, it has been removed by the pro-
ceedngs of the Indiana Convention and the caucus
Of the Ohio Legislature. Those two results have
only confirmed previous tendency, and afforded
chance to bolt. which will be gladly accepted
Every day the strength of the Administration is
declining on this test, and in few weeks the are
eaters will BE- left alone in their glory. Even now
the conservative portion Of the South is beginning
10 retreat and Clay, Jewett and Stevenson of Ken.
tucky will denounce the LecomptOn instrument as
a Constitution not fit to be made, at the first op-
portunity. Indiana has already surrendered almost
solidly, notwithstanding the fatulent demonstra-
ton of the green member from Bloomington
Hughes by name-who undertook to lecture his
brother Democrat from the Columbus District for
dissenting from the Presidents Message, and whose
country zeal led him to propose a resolution of
commendation, which was strangled at the instance
Of the old managers Pennsylvania, too, is sharing
the general epidemic of detection, and hardly cor
MORALS guard will be left north of the line by the
time the returns of the Kansas elections
ceyed Yet with all the impressive indications
of reaction the belief really existed in court circles
so late as Friday night that Douglas utterly
extinguished, and that LecOmpt0n was fixed fact
They have recovered from the delusiOn by this time
1t il easy to predict now what will be the probable
upsbOt of all this controversy at the present session.
for the state of parties furnishes the clue. The
Lecompton contrivance will come here with seven
thousand votes, most Of them manufactured to
order. On the other side, the popular vote against
it will perhaps reach twelve or more thsusand. In
the face of such expression, it is doomed That
having failed, the next experiment will be upon
Douglass Enabling act. Against that the whole
force of the Administration and its allies will be
concentrated with every prospect of insuring its
defeat He, in turn, will make war upon Mr..
Puph's Pacifcation bill, which Will meet similar
fate. Thus all attempts at legislation having one
after another been crushed out, the question will go
back where it properly belongs, to the people Of
Kansas. The Territorial Legislature will authorize
new Convention, require the Constitution to be
submitted to the people and Kansas will be here at
the next session, claiming admission with all the
| machinery of State Government perfected. This
il the solution which presents itself to my mind,
| after looking calmly over the contingencies.
Kansas has been the cemetery of good many
Governors, but there are some other dgnitaries
who are likely to share its honOrs of burial. And
among the most conspicuous the late Senator from
| Indiana Mr.. Bright He cOna not restrain his en-
thusiasm, and must 90 to Philadelphia to offer him
| self up AS a sacrifice to the cause. Like Caesar,
| he came and he saw, but unlike him, he did
| not conquer. His power has departed and his
scepter is broken. The prestige of success, which
gave him real and imaginary influence, is gone and
with it the last hope of bankrupt politician. 1t is
even doubtful the South will sustain his preten-
sion to the seat, now hIed IN denance OF aa, ana
of a precedent established by Southern votes. The
fate of one must necessarily be the fate Ofthe other,
and Mr. Fitch will follow in the tetreating footsteps
| of his acknowledged leader. They will both take
il hard should il come and retire with little sym
pathy from friends or opponents. Bright was con-
| fdent of carrying his party, and announced that
purpose as the exclusive object of his mission to
Indiana, giving every assurance that success could
not be- doubtful.
Mr.. Pugh, whose seat is in no present jeopardy,
bears up better under the crushing condemnation of
| the Legislative caucus. He stands his ground
waiting for the factOus majority" to ground arms
and solicit terms of surrender. Mohammed will not
| 90 TO the mountain Perhaps it will come to him,
| as mountains are in the habit of being Obiging.
Last Monday Mr.. Brown of Mississippi was OBJ
| ged to desst from speaking on account Of indspO-
| sition He was ndnlged with pOstpOnement until
this morning, when he came forward to admit that
| the rapid transitions in Kansas Affairs 30 changed
the aspect of the case that he yielded the floor to
VI.
meditation. There are others who would give u
| Jews eye to get out of the scrape as Mr.. Brown
has done without incOnyenient records to rise up
| in judgment hereafter.
The illustri0us and chyalrous Pickens is by the
advice and consent of the Senate, Minister to Rus
STA. He slid down an inclined plane this morning,
descending from his stately sovereignty to beg
carly embassy only to oblge an anxious and suffer
| ing country.
Mr. Breckenridge, though not an actor in the
Senate is by no means passive spectator. There
| is no special sympathy between him and the Admin
straton at best, for cases which may be explained
hereafter and the LecOmptOn enterprise, not being
to his taste, will hardly lead to any better under
| standing.
The Naval Reform Board is likely to get its turn
| if the movement of Mr.. Houston in the Senate to-
| day can succeed, which requires them to be sub
ected TO trial as other officers have been. There
are, perhaps too many direct interests involved to
secure its passage. Otherwise there would be some
| futtering among epaulettes.
Mr.. Davies joint resolution, which passed the
Senate virtually allows the President to review the
decisions of the recent Courts of Inquiry, and to
promote from the reserved to the active list whom
ever he thinks proper, providing only that the ag'
pregate of officers fixed by law is not exceeded.
This cOnfers discretion which is the most dam
aging that could be employed against the service,
for Executive interference already has been one oil
| its worst infections. INDEX.
CLIFFORD.
| Correspondence of The N. Y Tribune.