The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1867-03-07
NsENsIBuTrY.

American cltlzen, TetnaTkeu 10 US JnaC Us
he sat, the other day in the balls Of
Congress, and saw the military, the
Sherman.Stevens bill pass without sub
stantiql resistance, he felt disposed to do
as Frenchmeu in Paris are wont to do,
take off his hat as the funeral of consti.
tutional liberty went by, But he looked
around and saw that few felt us he. did
aud he came horne here to Philadelphia,
and he went among his business friends
the moneyed men of Third street and OF
the bank parlors, aud he found all per-
fectly tranquil. . The truth was, no one
cared either about the burial, or the pos.
sibe resurrection. And this it seems to
us is the terrible reality. At this mo-
ment, there is building over our heads
and all around us the buttresses and
ramparts ola Parliamentary despot.
ism, the like of which has not
been seen since 1910 in England,
and 1898 in France. The processes
are actively going on. An uncontrolled,
because sectional, majority, not OF the
people, but of deputies, who do not
always represent majoritcs, now openly
seeks and is likely to obtain absolute
control, and we, the descendants, in but
the second generation Of those who went
to war against the mildest of Pariamen.
tary restraints, look on. and acquiesce,
uuieting our consciences or our imagina-
tons occasionally with silly ceremonial
about an old chair and table which, if it
had any significance, and we any sensi'
bility, would stir us up to mutiny. A
benumbed sentiment is the American
characteristic now Occasionally we
fancy we see minute signs Of restlessness,
of hesitation, OF doubt, Of irritability, in
quarters where we have no right to look
for them, but they are very slight.
When one grave Republican Senator,
rather of conservative type, on the
floor of the Senate, calls kadical COLI
league liar, and another speaks OF him
as a foul.mouthed calumnis;or, it shows
that there is au uncomfortable state Of
feeling underneath apparent unanimity,
We have no doubt that the ruffians who
murdered Banquo were on perfectly
good terms Of. fellowship -aDd as little,
that those who fought about the babes
in the wood had ugly words before they
came to blows. The irritable man is al.
ways the doubling one. Sumner, who
is as destitute of sensibility as he is of
courage, and who thinks all that is doing
is right, did not mind being called liar
at all. Mr.. Fessenden aud Mr.. Sher.
man used the words and gave vent to
their temper Cat least, we hope so), be.
cause they are beginning to pause and
to doubt. Then, too, though this
shows no mater of feeling, or, ex.
cept 10 its consequences, Of temper, the
sudden breaking asunder of the great,
hard, frozen foe of republicanlsm, the
West from the East Oh the tariff, Penn
sylvauia being of course crushed to death
by the grinding, is symptom OF dis.
turbance. This can hardly be healed
now. Stevens of. the iron works goes
home iu unappeasable wrath at the
: Western wool gatherers, and graft
/ rasers-our little representatives. birds
| will twitter fiercely, Then again, at this
; iuncture comes the remarkable decision
| of the Abolition Legislature of Ohio no
+ to strike the word white" out OF it
: Constitution, to be followed sooner o.
later by every State that has the limita
. ton. But most remarkable of all is tn,
: sprouting up. the cropping out of fear
. and uneasinesss about the public credit
: in view Of the progress of political ruin
= Mr.. McCulloch in his last anual re-
. port Thought and said that the restoration
= Of the Southern States and the rehabili
e tation Of their industry were as eSsentia
e TO the restoration of financial security
4 AS mere contraction of the currency, o
anything else, This is his "cIime
: in Summers eyes. Bnt every san
:. man knows this as well as th'
d Secretary-.and yet whole session
|. of Congress has rolled by and W
: are further off than ever, and in tn
/. next matters will be worse. Does an
y one wonder that funded capital is uu
i easy, and this alarm, in spite of ever
1t inducement on such delicate subjet
&c to be silent hnds expression w
i we're much struck by an illustrate
|. of this in our usually cautious and loyi
's neighbor. tye Public Ledger. In r.
IS viewing in Fridays paper the assets
lie sonie of the large Saving Funds OF ii
country, the Ledger comments on th
at alarming fact ESQ he describes it), tn
'g relatively small portion are mortgage
at the bulk being government securitl'
., aud bank stocks, "now dependent
ne government credit" "If any acc
i'll dent should happen"--so says th
is Ledger, or such is the obvious tenol
81. what it says, "to government cred
iis what would become of the poor depo
le itors ? The assets should be mortgages
r. "Nevcr put" this is the illustratio
ng "too many eggs in one basket" VIII
nd we ask Of the Ledger, no: if the bask
is strong, and he who carries it 6rl
y, footed, and the eggs Of that peculiar co
no et.uct;o,, nc tb,,n o. ,uhinh tho o0O