Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1860-05-19
LETTER FROM WASHING TON.
Mr.. EDIToR:

WASHINGTON ID. Y. MAY IL, lSbU.
Mn. EDITOR:
The greatest speech recently in the House
was delivered on Friday last by Mr.. Eli Thayer
of Massachusetts. He advocated Squatter
to with great deal of attention. Mr.. Douglas
was present. and at the conclusion of the speech, |
hailed Mr.. 'rhayer as the very king of Squatter
Sovcreigns.
Mr. Thayer, your readers may remember, in
terested himself largely in the colonization of
Kansas, during which, it is said, by the way of
giving some idea of his labors, he travelled at
least seventy thousand miles. He has great
faith in the ability Of the Anglo Saxon race to
govern itself; and he proposes to divide the
remaining territory of the United-States into
land districts for the purpose of giving settlers
titles to the lands, and then let them alone to
govern themselves. As Mr. Thayer is of the
Republican Party, he has, in taking full posses.
sion of Squatter Sovereignty, left no plank but
the old worn out idea of democracy for the
Douglas men to stand on. lie made one re-
mark in his speech which is lamentably only too
true, 1t was to the effect that the members of
Congress had apparently forgotten where the
true source of power in our form of govern
ment lies; they seem to think that it lies in
Washin gton and not in the bosom of the peo-
pie, and are seeking TO control the political
opinion of the country, when they ought in
fact to be governed by it. Instead of attend
lug to the civil business of the country, they
are aiming to shape its political sentiment The
truth of this is very evident to those who visit
Washington Many of the seats of members
of the House of Representatives are vacant,
the occupants having gone to the Convention at
Chicago As to the cause of this growing evil
no one can doubt, on mature consideration, but
that 1t springs from the prevalence of demo-
crazy. 1t is the character of pure democracy
to act directly upon the people and govern
without any other form or ceremony than the
ascertaining of the majority; and so long have
we been under democratic rule that the tenden-
cy among us is to govern through political con-
ventions, committees and caucuses, rather than
by the established forms of Republican Govern
ment. 1t is high time that the evil should be
checked for it leads TO most ruinous neglect
of the business of the country.
Mr.. Thayers proposal TO dispense with ter
rtorial organization and substitute land dis
tricts instead, would strike death blow against
adminstrational influence in the territories. il
adopted. 1t will not pass, probably. This
subject of future territorial limits is one of some
considerable Importance, since the senatorial
representation from the desert region of the
Rocky Mountains ought not, it would seem, to
be equal to that of corresponding extent of
surface on the seaboard. An interior state, of
grazing capacities at best, and poor at that,
ought not to counterbalance in the senate a
state Of complex interests upon the Atlantic or
Pacific coasts. A state of desert land, like that
Of Utah, ought to be much larger, for instance,
than the state of New York. Hence Congress
should be careful of the number of new states
that they mark out along the Rocky Mountains.
Half dozen new ones are proposed already.
Mr.. Morrill, tariff bill has passed the House,
and the responsibility of its defeat will now lie
with the democracy in the Senate. New Eng
land, New York. New Jersey and Pennsylvania,
containing probably more than a third of our
entire free population, or more than all the
slave states put together, demand this bill for
the security of their just interests and it will
remain to be seen if their expectations are to
be still kept in allegiance.
| The fibrilia, or fax cotton which YOUR readers
have been informed of, is exhibited here now as
| of hat lao H., a.
1t is shown in every stage from the condition
of tow up to the woven cloth. When once
prepared, it would be difficult indeed, to distin-
guish it from Cotton itself. The mines of nation
al wealth that it seems to lay open are of incon-
ceivable magnitude. The invention of single
machine-the cotton gin-has shaped the pol
itical course OF the United States for nearly
century; and perhaps another machine-one
for converting flax or hemp into cotton, may
have as great an effect upon our policy for half
a century to come ia policy as much in favor
of freedom as our old policy has been in favor
of slavery.
The manners of the members of Congress
have experienced considerable change during
the reign of our cotton policy. From being
staid, attentive and quiet, they have become
boisterous and undignfed in the extreme.
They have but little respect for their speaker,
who is wholly dependant for the exercise of his
functions upon the promptings of page. 1t
is a curious sight to see the boy always at his
elbow, looking out upon the noisy crowd of
members and telling him what to do. They
have no more manners than a section of Broad
way would have and it is indeed lamentahle
to witness such an evidence of want of self
respect. The governors of a self.governing peo-