Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-03-05
VuIrarity i'm tI,e SENATE.

When Republican statesman so calm,
dignitied and self-possessed as Senator
Fessenden, felt himself compelled, the day
before yesterday, to stigmatiZe Summers
assault upon the Secretary of the Treasury
as ':fotiI nottthed," and when Republican
fellow-member so dispassionate and dis
Greet in his language as Senator Sherman
could In no other way characterize. Sum-
ner's remarks than as "HnpdTltdnlentdfy, un-
qentIemdnLy and faLse,' we imagine that peo-
pie of ordinary human passions will admit
that, on this OCCASION, the conduct of the
Massachusetts Senator must have been
more than ordinarily disgraceful. ''S'
And it is certain that during the whole
session of Congress we have had nothing
more indecent. than took place on Wednes-,
day, when Messrs. Sumner and Chandler
poured their volumes of vulsarity upon the
distinguished functionary whom President
Lincoln called to the management of the
national finances. I >a3Q Nl " '' .''-
1t may be an open question whether
Secretary McCulloch was justified in per-
mitting certain men to hold the very hum
BILE positions Of Assistant Assessors in the
Southern States who could not take the
''iron-clad OATH" Perhaps it would have
been more in accordance with the strict let-'
ter of the law If he had permitted the rev.
enue to remain uncollected in all those dis
tricts where he found it impossible to get
unadulterated and historical leyalists to
and collection. These are points on which
men or sound intellect, fair morals and sane
loyalty may differ. Naturally enough
Secretary McCulloch looked more to the
spirit of the law, the broad requirements
of Justice, the wants of the Treasury and
the necessities of the situation than to the
strained enforcement OF clause of the
Revenue act to cases in which it was inap-
plicable, and where its application would
defeat the main purposes of the law itself.
And when the Secretary gives the assur-
ance that the few cases in which persons
who could not swear by the iron-clad, were
permitted to act as Assistant Assessors
were confined to districts in. which no dit
ferent material could be had, we suppose
that his assertion should either be consider
ed sufficient, or should be shown by facts
to be inaccurate. If Mr.. Sumner 6thinks
that loyal negroes should have been ap-
pointed as Assessors rather than white men
who could not produce white record, he
must remember that in many Southern dis
tricts there is not single h'""k man pos
sessed of the education nd tr lining and,
qualifications required even II. an Assistant
Assessor. Or if he thinks that Northern
men might have been sentSouth to perform
the duties referred to, he must remember
that, in these Southern districts the COM
pensation is too small to excite the interest
even of Cape Cod fisherman; and, more
over, an Assessor must be resident in the
county in which he holds office. fa
And yet it was in matter of this kind
and magnitude that Mr.. Sumner found q
preteXt tor his horrible accusations against
the personal veracity, honor and capacity
of the Secretary of the Treasury. And it
was here that Mr.. Chandler backing up
the original slanderer, seized the oppor-
tunity of indulging in personal vitupera-
tion no less vulgar and malicious. 1t was
because of his line of action on this (surely
not very tremendous) question that one
Senator of the United States could rise in
his place and denounce the Secretary as d
''criminal, "and another could rise and style
him ''pauper;" that one could twice in
successive sentences charge him with the
guilt of notorious falsehood," and another
could end vile period by saying, ''unless
he8(the Secretary had stolen more than he
thought he had; ;" that Sumner could vent
his gall and Chandler his bile, until the
gorge of every decent American rises at the
spectacle. fH a#- .4 1858 t + af
We suppose there is to be no end of this
sort of thing, and it would seem that there
services can shield him from it. -3s
There was what we must regard as a
hopeful feature, however, in Wednesday IS
Senatorial exhibition. Several of the most
distinguished Republican Senators entered
their indignant protests against the asser-
tiOns of the slanderers. Senators Fesscn-
den and Sherman, in particular, used
scorching language upon Messrs. Sumner
and Chandler; and Senator Lane, even, was
impelled to vindicate the object of outrage.
We hail this as a good sign for the respec-
liability of the Senate.-Neoo York Times,
(ReDub.) s-el s.l 5st- a7t 81. .jir..E