New-York tribune., 1868-03-25
4 FEW ANSWERS.

One DR.. Rudolph Wieczorek of this city,
who seems to be a perfectly benevolent and
well disposed gentleman, informs us that he
has addressed five different petitions to Con-
gress, and these he sends us printed, with the
complaint that Congress has taken no notice
of his memorials, and that Mr.. Mungen of the
House has returned the copy sent to him, with
some words of nciyility scrawled upon the
margin. We cannot print the Doctors petl-
tons, as he desires us to do, but we cheerfully
state their purpOrt
No. protests against the XIllth additional
Article of the Constitution, which provides
that Neither slavery nor involuntary seryl-
"mde, except for crime whereof the party
shall have been duly convicted, shall exist
" in the United States, or any place subject TO
their jurisdiction" The Doctor very properly
| observes that the Government has no right TO
impose slavery even upon convicted criminals J;
but we think he mistakes the purport of the
article 1t appears to that, i'll the first place,
il totally prohibits slavery. 1t then provides
for "involuntary seryitude' (or seryice)-for
employing convicts in making boots, hats, &C..
| without any payment Of wages. All the con-
victs in our prisons are now in condition OF
involuntary seryitude," but they are not
slaves
9. The Doctors second petition, presented Uo
his credit be it statcd) last year, is for the I'M
peachment of the President. At present, 1t re-
quircs no particular comment.
g. The third petition is protest against the
| doctrine of State Sovereignty; and 1t is curious
that the Doctor hits upon precisely the word
used by Hamilton to express his ideas of the
Federal Union. at is not a partnership SAID
Hamilton "There is no alluson,' says the
! Doctor, Sin the Constitution to a partnership
agreement We think he is right.
4. The Doctor is so good Democrat that he
objects to such designations for counties as
Duchess" r"Kings,r" r"Queens," Prince '''','
| or "princess 's'sr For the sake
of the Post-O Office, perhaps, it would be
well not 10 make any sweeping change in our
Geographical nomenclature. The street upon
which our establishment is situated was named
for Dutch Duke, but we are not conscious
of any monarchical or aristOcratic bias arising
from that circumstance The Doctors objec-
ton to the word county" because 1t Is de-
rived from Count" is thus stated: The
"United States and the several States being
declared from creating Counts, must be logl-
"cally debarred from creating counties" There
may be something in this, and we must think
it over at our leisure.
8. DR.. w. petitions for the prohibition OF all
such titles and additions as Esquire " Hon
"orablc.r "Excellcncy,n which he styles Brit
"tanico-monarchical tituary frippery;" but he
doesn't say a word about abolishng the title
of Doctor We quite agree with him that
such distinctions in Republic are nOnsensical
and so, perhaps, is Dear Sir" at the begin
ming of n letter, or "Your obedient servant,
which We find at the end of the Doctor
Give Petitions Does DR.. W. mean to admit
that he is "the obedient servant OF Mr
Mungen, who sent back his Petitions and
treated him so disrespectfully' Nobody need
use the word Esquire in addressing us, oi
! even plain Mr.;" but it appears to us that
| the designation of members of Congress as
Honorable may occasionally have the effect
of n very subtle and grave irony. AS for
"Exccllcncy," We concur with the Doctor In
giving it up, at least until We have new
| President DR.. w. is for passing law against
the use of the word Esquire; )" but it seems
hardly worth while to attempt to put down a
bit of harmless and unimportant foppery by
| Act of Congress. Perhaps, if the Doctor should
live long enough, he will see it fade out, as
useless and meaningless fashions are apt to
disappear and with it the complimentary
prefix of "Mcssrs.,' to which the Doctor also
adheres.
Ihe Irish RepuJHc-which has won an honor
| Il. ;., OH ,,f