The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-08-19
WASHINGTON NEWS.
Another Political Ecster from Judge
Dent---Pungcnt Criticism of secrc-
,ary Boutwell, and his Political
Course.

Deut---Pungcnt Criticism of Secrc-
tary BOUTWELL, and his Political
Course.
WASHINGTON, August l7.--Judge Dent
has written TO Secretary Boutwell, q pun
rent letter, of which the following is
copy
WASHINGTON, D. c., August Il, 1869.
To Hon. George S. Boatecci!, Secretary of
The Treasury:
>ir.-I shall make little apology for ask
inc YOUR attention to my letter, and less for
The nature Of its contents. You were the
first 10 deny the political orthodoxy of my
friends and myself, and by all the rules of
the forum I am entitled to defence.
Again, you hold an Office Of the republic,
and your acts, therefore, are legitimate
subjects of criticism by the humblcst citi-
zen thereof. But in some respects we are
alike For instance, we arc both aspirants
for place, with this difference You aim to
&c tho next President, with every assurance
Of success, except" in the opinion of the
PEOPLE.
While ] seek an humber place, with my
homes in disastrous eclipse Except" in
the Judgment of Mississippi, so in the
sand adverse to the Judgment of the
country. In the pursuit of your ambition
YOU are ungrateful and INSCRIPTIONS as TO
the means of success. Your organ, the
New York Sun, in the same breath ridiculcS
the capacity OF your master, and dwells
with emphasis upon your peculiar fitness
for his Office. Your tool, Mr.. Bullock, be-
came 80 reckless in the manipulation Of
Il.
ambition, and so defiant of the wishes of
the President and the country, that to save
Yourself from an explosion of popular in
d;cnation You found it convenient 10 trans
fer him to another sphere Of scandalous
activity. where his talents might be ex-
crtcd with equal effect and less ef'rontcry.
virginia. Tennessee, Mississippi, and Texas.
not to mention anything so humble as my
.clf. were distractions in the way Of your
success, because through President Grants
intervention in excluding the proscriptive
clauses from their organic law these
States arc brought into the Union and
firmly welded TO his support.
Now. this is in direct conflict with your
svs,cmatized plans: for what General
Grant gets in the next presidential election
clearly Mr.. Boutwell, will not get, and
therefore have YOU denounced the Conser-
vatiyc Republicans who, are for Grant,
that YOU may obtain the prOscriptive Re-
,uhlicaus, who are for Boutwell,; and by
some strange, deXtCrOus management and
oycult political strategy. you have so worked
Hron the confidence Of the President as to
cause him TO flourish the club with which
YOU intend to break his head by inducing
him 10 Join YOU in Pronunciation of the
Conservative Rcpublicans-a party created
hy his magnanimity and triumphant
through his encouragement.
But, sir. your purpose IS easily discern
ihc and has q two-told ohject-namcly,
Il. destroy the National Republican party
in the South, and then to reconstruct from
IT, shattered fragments Boutwell, party.
win one Richmond in the field 10 strike for
,our crown. But if you cannot succeed in
this scheme Of desperate enterprise you
mean 10 ruin II result, from present ap-
lcaranccs. much more likely TO be reached.
Your official intervention for Wells, for
instance. gave thirty thousand maj ority 10
Walker. Your letter 10 Stokes gave Scntcr
Tennessee hv an overwhelming vote OF
seventy thousand. Your marvellous politi
cal ,agacity. now active in Mississippi and
Texas will repeat your calamity and again
ovcrwhe!m YOU with discontinue and de-
feat. Supcradd 10 these results of your
uuupprcacLable folly the imposition on
these States Of your iron-clad oath, and the
alienation is complete, landing them all in
the ou;stretched arms Of the Democracy.
Eui the consequence Of your folly does
NOT stop hcrc-Ohio and Pennsylvania and
others viii follow. Decide their political
status in October, and the North will echo
back the condemnation Of the South and
zeal in Your ears this fact, that there is
>ull left enough OF the incorruptiblc virtue
# the republic 10 rebuke You for a wanton
repression Of that most sacred right the
elective franchise. But. sir, this will not
deter you from your mad course; you will
a;iu persist until every prop that supports
our party i stricken away and the whole
grand superstructure tumbles about our
cars in hopeless ruin.
When you we're appointed Secretary OF
the Treasury, and unanimously confirmed
hy Senate of every shade OF political
opinion, did YOU not take an oath TO adj
minister your Office impartially and for the
exclusive objects Of its creation . To col
lcct the revenue and control the finances Of
the country p Is not that Office the pro-
perry of the nation, and yourself only
clothed for time with q little brief autho-
ritv! Then. sir, how do YOU explain this
rcrversion Of its legitimate uses and func-
tons into a means and instrument OF OPP
r~cssion 10 force and compel an election OF
obnoxious rulers upon the people of the
South:
l. such course consistent with your oath
cf oifce or DO you call this q great moral
idea, But. Mr. Boutwell,, though you have
thuS prostituted the power of Your Office for
purposes Of oppression, - without the war
rant Of conscience or law" it may be that
YOU can tell me by what authority you as
sumo 10 pronounce upon my political ortho-
doxy. Who constituted you the intallible
hope Of Republicanism
Who gave YOU authority to hurl the po-
l.tical anathemas of the party. Again,
what right had You 10 commit the Admin
s,ration to your policy? Have you to learn
vet that YOU are only part Of the Admin
istration, and not the whole of il 2 though
YOUR friends believe that q monomanla has
seized your mind on that subject, and that
YOU verify believe yourself 1.-The State"
Very respectfully, Louis DENT.
MISSISSIPPI Judge Dent goes 10 Mlssls-
.irr! on the fifth Of September. The Con
veat;on Conservative convencs on the eth
Of that month, and the campaign com
mences on the lst of October. Judge Dent
j. confident he will he nominated. DATA.
" 1900 7, .-.....,.g Co,, ;criouar Do