Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-07-23
wAsmInGTON CoRREsPoNDENCE

4 Editors Memphis Appeal,
| Many of the republicans are very much
annoyed with Mr.. Sumner for his hesi-
| tsuce in bringing up the bill for the
/ establishment OF universal suffrage with
7 out regard 10 color, throughout all the
! states. Certainly Afr. sumner is justified
/ ia saying that they have as much right
I to 90 this in New York as in South Car
/ olina. But people in New York may not
7 be so well pleased at having this measure
/ applied 10 them as to the people Of South
! Carolina. At any rate, the leaders of
/ the party are many of them very much
afraid OF this issue. Mr.. Sumner follows
/ his fanaticism blindly, without much re
/ gard % the effect on party. He feels safe
/ in doing so, so far as his popularity in
/ Massachusetts is concerned, inasmuch as
/ his constituents are but little behind him
Z in politics.
these IRE some of the most radical
| members Of congress, who are very anX-
! iOus to have cOlOfsd representatives in
! congress from the south. They say put
| ting colored men in such possessions
would elevate the race in this country by
causing them all to feel more self-respect
and dignity. When Mr.. Sumner, there
| fore, announced a day or two since that
he hoped soon to see colared men mem
bers Of the senate, he made known not
a mere individual wish, but what is de-
sired BY influential members Of the
radical party for political or
social effects. A strong effort will
be made from Washington, though it
may be managed so as 70 let il appear
8 spontaneous local movement, to cause
cOlored men to be elected to congress
( from some one or other Of the southern
states
Mr.. Julian's bill to declare all eland-
grants made to southern railroads, which
have not been completed, forfeited, is
intended to provide land for homesteads,
to be divided out into forty acre tracts.
A favUTite idea of the republican leaders
is to break up large bodies of lands, and
let them be divided into small holdings.
But this measure Of fOrfeiting the land
grants TO the railroads meets with very
sharp opposition. tits saidinOrthern cap
italists have become interested in these
southern roads, and therefore oppose the
reception OF the land grants. Then it is
urged that the north is interested in
building railroads south, and that even
the freedmen will be more benefited by
railroads being built than by having
hOmesteads in accessible wildernesses.
1t is not likely, therefore, that this bill of
Mr.. Julian's will find foyor with con-
gress.
The debates yesterday in the senate
on the execution of Macmillan, and
Mexican policy, serve very strongly
10 show to what a low depth the
senate Of the United States has fallen. In
the pafmy days of the United States
senate, when there were giants
there, great questions of state pol
icy were discussed with an ability
Of which the country was proud Now
the discussions, especially on foreign af-
fairs, are beneath contempt. When one
remembers Webster and Clay and Cal
houn, and their great debates, one bushes
to listen to the absuTdities of such men
as Chandler and Fowler and Nye. The
tendency OF the courts ia this country to
place in high political positions an infe-
PiOr order of men to these who Illustrated
the past is very striking. Nowhere is
this mose-obvious than insthe United
States senate. In that body, if any
where in the United States, one would
expect to find superior talent Yet
how few men in that body are
OF unusual ability. Taken as
whole, especially after deducting some
four OF five men, the senate OF the, Uni
ted States is 3 very ordinary body of men,
and this bcdy, generally speaking, have
no individuality Of ofopinion. Itis but the
echo Of the popular cry. 1t is Notorious
that senators secretly protesting to dspre-
cate eertaiH radical measures, vet, when
brought to the test, vote against their
own sentiments.
The instructions from Gen. Grant to
Gen. Sheridan, that the opinion Of the
attorney general is mot promulgated as
binding authority to the district com
manders in the southern states, pleases
the republicans very much. They con-
slider this as guarantee that Gen. Grants
sympathies are with the congress, and
not with the president. -