The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1869-08-31
Judge Dent on tic War PatN.

=
which his brother in-law, President Grant,
is the head center He blameS Boutwell,
for Grants defe ction in the Tarbcll con
versation. and has addressed that gentle
man the following highly interesting and
spicy letters
Hon. George Boutwell,, Secretary of the Treas
ury:
SIR: | shall make little apology for
asking your attention to my letter, and
less for the nature of its contents. You
were the first to deny the political ortho-
doxy of my friends and myself, and by
all the rules of the forum Fam entitled
to defense Again, you hold au office
of the Republic, and your acts, there
fore, are legitimate subjects of criticism
by the humbcst citizen thereof But III
some respects we arc alike, we are both
aspirants for place, with this difference
you aim to be the next President, with
every assurance of success. except in
the opinion of the people; while ] seek
an huInhler place, with my hopes in dis
astrous cclipse,except in the judgment of
Mississippi. So, in the probable results
of the future, we both stand adverse to
the Judgment of the country.
In the pursuit of your ambition you
are unscrupulous Us to the means Of
your success. Your organ, the New
York Sun, in the same breath, ridicues
the capacity of your master, aud dwells
with emphasis on your peculiar fitness
for his Office.
| Your excellent tool, Mr. Tullock, be-
came 50 reckless in the manipulation of
your department in the interest Of your
ambition, and so defiant Of the wishes
of the President and the country, that to
save yourself from an explosion OF pop
ular indignation you found it convenient
to transfer him to another sphere of
scandalous activity, where his talents
might he eXerted with equal effect and
less etfrontery.
Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi and
Texas, not to mention anything SO hum
BILE rs myself, were distractions i'll the
way of your success, because, through
President Grants intervention iu eXclu-
ding the proscriptive clauses from their
organic laws, these States are brought
into the Union firmly welded to his sup
port. Now, this is in direct conflict with
your systcmatizel plans; for what Gen.
Grant gets in the next election, clearly
Mr. Boutwell, will not get; and therefore
you have denounced the Conservative
Republicans who are for Grant, that, you
may obtain the proscriptiye Republicans,
who are for Boutwell,; and by some
strange, dexterous management, and oc-
cult political strategy,you have SO work
ed upon the confidence of the President
as to cause him to flourish the club with
which you intend to break lis head, by
inducing him to join you in denunciation
of the Conservative Republicans,a party
created by his magnanimity, and trium-
phant through his management. -.
But, sir. your purpose is easily dis
cerned, aud has two-fold object, name-
ly, to destroy the National Republican
party in the South, and then to recon
struct from its shattered fragments n
Boutwell, party, with no Richmond in the
field to strike for your crown. But if
you cannot succeed in this scheme of
desperate enterprise, you mean to run--a
result, from present appearances, much
more likely to be reached
| Your official intervention for Wells,
for instance, gave 10000 majority for
Walker. Your letter to Stokes gave
| Tennessee to Senter by an overwhelu inc
vote of 10000 Your marvellous politi-
cal sagacity, now active in Mississippi
and Texas, will repeat your calamity ,and
again overwhelm you with discontinue
and defeat. Superadd to these results
of your unapproachable folly the impo-
sition on these States of your iron clad
oath, and the alienation is complete, lan-
ding them all in the outstretched arms of
! Democracy.
But the consequence of your folly
does not end here Ohio, and Pennsyl-
vania, and others will follow their polit-
ical status in October, aud the North
will echo back the condemnation Of the
South, and peal in your ears this fact
that there is still left enough OF the in-
corruptible virtue of the Republic to re
buke YOU for wanton representation OF
that most sacred right, the elective fran
chisc.
But, sir, this will not deter yot from
your mad course. You will still per,
sist until every prop that supports our
party is stricken away, and the whole
grand superstructure tumb!es about our
ears in hopeless ruin.
When you were appointed Secretary
of the Treasury and unanimously con
firmed by Seiiate Of every shade of po-
litical opinion, did you not take an oath
to administer your Office impartially, and
for the exclusive objects of its creation
to collect the revenue and control the
finances of the country? Is not that
office the property of the nation, and
yourself only clothed with 4 little brief
authority? Then, sir, how do you ex-
plain this peryersion Of its legitimate
uses and functions into means ard il
strument of oppression, and compel the
election of obnoxious rulers upon the
people of the South? Is such course
consistent with your oath of office,or do
you call this n great moral idea -! But,
Mr.. Boutwell,, though you have thus
prostituted the powers Of your office for
purposes of oppression, without the
warrant of conscience or law, 1t may be
that Nou can tell Inc by what authority
YOU presume to pronounce upon my po-
Iitical orthodoxy? Who constituted you
the inf;llible Pope of Republicanism :?
Who gave you authority to hurl the po-
litical anathemas of the party? Again,
what right had you to commit the Ad-
ministratiou to your policy? Have you
to learn yet TINT you are only a apart of
the Administration, and not the whole
of it; though your friends believe that a
monomania has settled your mind on
that subject, and that YOU verify believe
yourself the State. Very respectfully,
LEWIS Dent.
"a prudent man, says Witty French
man, ''is like pin. His head prevents
him going too far.
A young Parisiali says that to get rid