Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1866-03-09

Savjors of the Republie-The Cotton SWIM
S,es in the South-A New Life of Doctor But
ler-A Word of warning-The Mother Of
Lapsed States again Pregnant.
Correspondence of the N 7 World.
WAsHNeros, Feb. 27.-Y Yesterday and
to-day the common remark in Washington
has been, How dull it is p Everybody
says 50, and what everybody says IS some
times true. Dull, indeed, it has been SINCE
Saturday, when a dozen faithful proof
readers met in the House and read 70 each |
other their" impression" ion proof-Paper) |
respecting the message the President sent 70
Congress three months ago; for the House Is
still considering that message, and Will come
to no conclusion thereon till after fall Con-
gressional elections, when the universal
Conclusion among the Radicals will be that
an earlier consideration with view of fol- |
lowing the suggestions therein laid down, |
would have been a good thing all round. |
The Senate gallery is dark, dense, every |
day with well-dressed darkies, who are |
fairly greasy with government rations, and |
one cannot walk block on Pennsylvania |
avenue without encountering some poor SOL |
dier, minus an arm or leg, who begs for |
dime to get something to eat-or, perhaps, |
to drink-it matters not; il shows he Is IN |
need of so small a sum as one dime. Let |
him take the thanks so generously be |
slowed upon him by the Senate, and leave |
such things as land and money to the black |
saviors Of the republic.
After the thanks, Davis, of Kentucky, |
called up a resolution which has been lying
on the Senate table for several days, to ap-
point a special committee to investigate the
astounding frauds of government cotton
" agents " in the South.
These frauds are said to amount to more
than one hundred millions of dollars. These,
mind you, are alleged frauds upon the
Treasury" and the sam, enormous as it is, is
only fraction of the amount robbed and
swindled from people living in those States
which the Radicals hope to. reconstruct" so
that they can be cleaned out entirely. When
this resolution was called up couple Of
weeks ago, Senator McDougal spoke of the
wholesale robberies of single military
officer" he explained to the Senate and to
the country that he meant Doctor Butler.
At the same time, he said, he knew man,
rejected by the Senate when nominated as
Colonel and Quartermaster, who was moth
ing but common gambler in California, not
worth $4,000 After his rejection by the
Senate, he went to New Orleans, where his
brother was in command, stayed there few
months, came North, died, and by his will
in Surrogate's Court in New York, it was
clear that he had COLLECTED" two millions.
And lest the people should not know who
this suddenly enriched common gambler
was, Senate McDougal said it was another
Butler Andrew J.
We have heard so much about the "loyal-
| ty" and "patriotism" of these Buffers, that
L IL to do lisfia fo chOvv
how loyalty and patriotism, like religion,
reward more than an hundred fold in this
| life. Considerably more. And these para
graphs about these "patriots" fill the same
| space in the newspaper literature of to-day
that other Butler "reminiscences did in GER
tain Democratic Journal forty or mere years
ago.
Let me add here, that Parton's Life" is
! by no means so complete work as may pos
sibly see light before many months, if all L
! hear about forthcoming publications" can
| be relied upon. One interesting chapter has
been somewhat shortened but not wholly
suppressed, by the disagreement of the gold
| stolen from the Smith Brothers in New Or
leans. But if the work is anything like
complete, the " Life of Robert Kidd" will
take second place in sensasion libraries,
and the Pirates Own Book will be no
where. | only give you rumor that
reaches me through the medium of a private
| letter.
But to go back to the Senate, though this
| episode was naturally suggested by the Davis
| resolution. BY vote of the Senate, the
| Secretary proceeded to read paper from
trustworthy source exposing some of the
frauds and robberies of these cotton agents"
| The reading had not far proceeded when one
| Radical Senator after another objected to the
reading. The compositions of these "agents,"
| contributed to Summers and Wilson's scrap
books, about supposed negro outrages, are
read in the Senate in whole sheets, and al
most daily. But this was different matter.
These were the real outrages ofthese agents
their robberies and swindlings, and so Con-
ness, of California, characterized the paper
as can unauthorized censure upon Govern
ment agents and officers" This sort of South
ern testimony these Senators do not wish to
hear. But the reading went on-went on to
speak of the outraged people, who, under
fear of death, or in hope of release, consented
to the confscation of their property" went
on to tell how these "agents" looked about
to see" not who was entitled to favor, but
who would pay for it not who was loyal,
but who had anything to steal"
Unpleasant reading, all this, surely; and
so more objection to further reading; 'it was
not material;" 'it would consume the whole
morning hour" and while the reading of the
paper would not, probably, have taken ff-
teen minutes, the discussion, whether or not
it should be read, did consume the morning
hour-effecting exactly what the obstruc-
tionists intended, and putting off this un-
pleasant testimony to another day. ~
But when the resolution comes up again,
Senator Davis has the floor, and he pledged
himself to-day to the reading Of that paper
to the Senate. ~
A word of warning. For the last two days
Sumner has been busy in his seat in the SEN
ate, in preparing another elaborate speech.
Small boys have brought in large books by
the armful. The Senator private secretary
Il have seen no more melancholy looking
youth-so wan, SO worn, so wild with much
Notwithstanding since the last time saw
the stage apothecary in Romeo and Judiet)
has been in constant attendance. Sumner