The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-12-10
Radical;sm in Congress.

TUESDAY ... ...sDEOxSMDSh Az, 'oV''
Radicalism in Congress.
The event Of Saturday in Congress
the death Of impeachment - displayed
Radicalisn, we may say, at least In the
to the conventionalism Of the great art q
dramatic literature, 80 true to nature
the diabolisn, or the villain of the story
gets on the declining road to retrioutaon
and perdition. In that act the plot TRICK
ems, and we begin to see the concatenation
Of circumstances which is to bring about
the conclusion in the ffth act, so entirely
In accordance with justice and the sympa-
thies of mankind.
The scene of Saturday was most In
structive, while 1t was highly marked with
dramatic interest. We behold in that
scene the brutal and arrogant spirit Of
Radicalism, which had ruled with despotic
sway, still demanding Of its followers con-
currence and support in its excuses. But
we saw that it had gone to that intolerable
extreme Of which all but mon steeled to
every sense Of reason, humanity, and JUS
tice, hesitate and fail to advance. That
innate sense Of horror in the human heart
Of those deeds Of outrage and crime which
are wholly inexcusable, and to the CON-
mission Of which nothing can impel men but
the most violent of passions-the unchain-
ing Of which places society at the CON-
plete mercy Of brutality and rage, IN
checked by law and unawed by public
opinion, or even decency-rose in "rebel-
lion," and could not be tempted or goaded
70 advance step further. Radicalism
found itself unsustained; it found that its
forces were behind, and that it was help
less in its wild passions, and that, to it,
the most dreaded of all retributions-
defeat-was for the first time its sad fate
When men are laboring honestly apd sin
cerely to accomplish what they think
right, defeat cannot rob them Of con-
scious sense Of rectitude and honor. But
to the merely vicious, the avaricious, or
tyrannous, whose only object is the oppres-
sion of others for their own selfish and
malignant qualifications, there is no con-
ISOLATION in disappointment and defeat.
They only experience the notifications
and tortures Of the damned, whose mo.
tives and crimes are exposed and brough,
to judgment.
The scene Of this first decided reverse
to the spirit of Radicalism, which was con.
Quoting the nation to final ruin, was made
the more dramatic by the presence of that
poor old man whose malignities have more
vitality than his physical frame. He was
conveyed to the House On a litter, and
there, prone upon sofa, he responded to
his name at roll-call, and vented his malice
like the sputtering of the fame as it sinks
low into the socket. There was beauti.
full unity and harmony of plot in this ap-
pearance of THAD. STEVENS as figure in
the act in which impeachment ingloriously
persisted. He is the representative of the
relentlessness and brutality of Radicalism
and the impeachment was its extreme test
of submission to it's heartless dominion
The decayed and expiring leader was
.------ awe those whom be had O.
often whipped up to his cruel
measures again to aid in the policy
of usurpation and tyranny. And no
thing could be more appropriate than
that he should feel that he was no longer
feared, and that he should witness the re-
turning Of sense of reason to body he
had 50 often misled-the first symp-
tom of the dying out of those bad passions
he had engendered, and the forthcoming OF
the utter defeat and ignominy of the party
of ruin he had erected in the State. To
him the dawning Of reason and humanity
was the beginning Of that retribution
which he is too sagacious not to foresee, and
appearing to him as the sun is about to set
upon his life forever, suggests degree
OF remorse which is no doubt fully CON-
mensurate with his crimes.
There is certainly great deal of mean
ing in the proceedings of Congress Cd
Saturday, and We may hope that turn in
the tide of national affairs has begun, and
that the material interest and welfare Of
the American people, if no higher motive,
will in good time take US fairly out of the
dark valley in which for nearly three years
we have miserably fingered.
The Gamers Of the Con ven ton.