The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1866-04-11
No. 36.
SIGHTS at Washington.

~ s "a" snese rnadnrs That of Ben. Butler The
beasO is graphic and pictures him just as We sa@ ur
half dozen years ago. when he was ensa6eu =
king southern-rghts speeches al baUi.oie ~"
accession His prophetic soul must already nave na0
visions of s'silver spoons" and other rebel prizes
of war flowing into his capacious ches's, 100
| Our author begins with Fred Douglass, ~hoS0 I1,
aonal appearance we do not reuenioei ~
described before In.
| Having a few leisure hours in Washington one asy
last week we devoted them to q stroll throls1 'ne
capitol now one of the most magnheeht pui'a'aa -
The world One of the first gentlemen we met "a L"a
;otunda was Mr. Douglass" who was making ms
accustomed visit to the halls of legislation " bod
never seen Fredn nor even read DESCRIPTION o.
his person but felt sure it was no common nigger
! we saw, and must be "Nr. Douglass lie IS stout,
| ;gelbuilt man, with long gray halr comoea oen'hI
his ears: dresses in neat suit Of black, with sllYer
shoe buckles: sports a handsome cane, tgoldheadeu,
doutless wears high cloth cap, with heavy ron OF
fur about si1 inches broad around it, and seems p
have as the Irishman would say, "a good conStts 9A
himself' Fred is not "a niger" but judging rom
his complexion we should say that he Is about two
/ thirds white. Fred has inherited his ambition from
! she Anglo -Saxon-not the negro race. tie comes oF
it lawfully and is intellectually much above the race
of which he is paraded as fair type Inc adhiAluto
of blood with good natural endowmentS, has mace
him what he is Fred is not full blooded negro Lee
that be remembered
Fred is not much of "a niger" after all-only one
third in hlood and skin, while at heart there are a
good many fairskinned SaXons about washington
who beat him all hollow.
We stepped into the supreme court room (the old
senate chamber few moments, where all was quiet
is of yore Within the bar sat Judge" Underwood,
of Virginia ia spectator, OF course) VIM A. Graiam,
of North Carolina, and the great bottled oil tort
Fisher notOriatv We took good look at old Ben,
and felt that nature had depicted his character Il his
face 1t is tie most yllainous we ever beheld sueh
1 compound of meanness and maignity was never
more accurately portrayed in physognomy thai mas
not one redeemng feature about it. BleareFed, hook
hosed and with great labby jaws he sat the imperso-
nation of all that is vile. No man sat near him, tor
The instincts of honor and true manness forbade IT.
Though Mr. Garfield of Ohio, was making very seTsi-
BILE speech to which the court and the audience paid
3tret attention the hero of Bethel restless and
bven fdgettv The place and its surroundings we're
evidently too sacred for one who should feel that be Ia
severed from the sympathies OF all mankind. How
hard is such fate! And yet it is just. The mill Of
thc gods will grind fne But we must leaYe ola Zen
IN his bottle
We passed through the splendid corridors leading
so the senate; the magnificent room OF the PRESIDENT
the marble CHAMBER on the same floor and ascended
10 the gallery of the senate chamber Mr. salisbury,
of Delaware was speaking and, in the course OF his
remarks referred to the sable friends of the vice
president whose shadows darken this chamber every
i, day" We nvountarily turned in the direction IN
which he poated and, sure enough, there were nun
lireds Of American citizens of African descent az
ly ounging about in seats where he had never seen
Ithem before. Some of them were genteely dressed
but others presented very unseemy appearance aud
suggested the thought that they might have been much
ette emDoved ia useful labor to enable them TO pro-
,,ure indictments suited to the place and to their new
position as freedmen" The prm, starchy appear
anca Of their greatest admirer, Mr. sumner, tine
glass of fashion and the mould OF FORM should sug
5est 10 them the fact that rags and dirt do not com
lmend themselves to the Adonis Of the senate. But
that is not our concern.
few in their seats, but the majority
were Walking talking reclining on the sofas out
side of the bar When first looked upon the Uni
sed States senate Webster, Clay, Calhoun Cas- Ben
ton Bright Berrien, and a host of great men were
there; and we trust that is not dsloyal dspars
ginr to say that the the manners of former
If sge have been preserved. The senate, grieye to
If sav is not what it We left IT. (that s, the
3 gallerg,1 without regret.
/ Vending our way to the house Of represenlayiyg
. Land ascending to the gallery, we looked down upon
II the busy crowd below. They seemed to be doing
d something, but could not tell what. We sawi but
10 heard nothing, confused murmur of hoarse dis
/ cordan notes proceeding from the many voices below
fow the reporters manage to find out what Is going
h on the Lord only knows They must exercise tHRil
e Imagination and guess" at great deal.
We found Ourself here again in the presence Of tho
# ubiqutous and inevitable "darley" May his shadow
never grow less, for we Virginians. much as We arg
misunderstood really love the darkeys; though o 9th
crs have strange fancy about the places that bss
: suit them having idea that congress is not the place
: this is matter of opinion, in which some Of h
imodcrn reiormers disagree with ns.
IS Bidding final adieu to congress we returned e
Alexandra to help elect president of the only kim
that we southerners can have any part n tand sye1
. this right is not unquestioned) feeling that
!, Eoyal any man in the country, and that despite
Isome abuses this governments properly administered
/ lis the best the world ever saw"
!, THE New ORLEANS Press AND Gov WELLs-Th
1nr
F Wells severely for the action he took in the inyestiga
E ton of the Gruber assassination case The Star O
: thc 29th ut, contains the following card from tn
coroncrand jury of inquest, excupating the gogcrao
h from any participation in the case:
ID In an article which appeared in tie Pfca7uuc o
of the 27th grave charges are made against Gov Well
20 sand the jury Of inquest and the coroner which mad
kthc preliminary examination in the case of the KILN
Eof J. 7. Gruber. The Picayunc says:
cr There seems to have been great laxy in detanin
& the accused and want of diligence in pushing j
or inquiry to the uttermost in fcrretng out tdis rou
., murder Thirdly, the difficulty in identifying The as
qe sailant until it was too late to arrest sone OF them
ne and fourhy feeble and unsatisfactory prosecute
mt OF the inquiry before the coroncrs inquest shoau
is as argued by many, conspiracy to murder th
3t Implication Of the police in the affair and an Judi
On position the part of public officer tc drive oh
fs investigation to the conviction of the accused
is This is not true. The jury took every means
he obtain clue to the guilty party and every wiJne
a was thoroughly examined-a number of persons we,
he offered witnesses who could testify to n0thue-a
th three days examination the guilty party discg
he cred and accessories identified and all tesGmoH
ase being exhausted the closed and the proc
la verbal rendered in accordance with law will appa
ley tby the document here published All tile part
eat thought 10 be concerned and under pr
ssented to the witness for identification, and nor
could be identified save the man who is now ID prise
MA THE chief Of police, Capt Burke afforded every
icilty in his power to ferret out the assassin.
ci- The Picayune says:
ok 1t is stated that the coroner in eztenuat.an Of
ne inefficient prosecution of the inquest has declar
W that he was hindered; Distracted or couaselea
ary no less parsonage than the chief magistrate Of
! d State--Gov Wells"
The governor offered Instructions whatever
the prosecution of the inquest nor did tie coror
an stle inquiry at the suggestion Of authority,
ma made thorough and complete investigation OF
ov- case, as he was in duty bound.
i've P. YEtsrR, Coroner
eut Jos W BURKE,
Eu4 L