Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-01-14
"MACK "IN WASHINGTON.

4 VI WV "sSO esASS -
of the same conspiracy.
|
MACK IN WASHINGTON.
The Radicals at Sea on the Financial
QuestIOn-HOw Carpet Baggers are
Treated. M
| Correspondence of the Cincinnati Enquirer.
| WASHINGTON, Jan. s, 1S69.-The re-
assembling of Congress finds Senators
and members still at sea on the great
question of national finances. They are
no more nearly agreed now than they
were when they adjourned, in blunder-
ing confusion and ignorant doubts, be-
fore the holidays. The Radical Sena-
tors attempted to harmonic their views
in caucus on Thursday, but they
found they could do nothing but
talk. The CAB god ruled supreme, and
at the end Of their conference they were
no nearer to a solution of the problem
than at its commencement. They are
all in favor of what they are pleased to
term an early resumption Of specie pay
ments, but an allewiSe Providence has
endowed them very largely with that
impudent egOtism which is such a strong
characteristic of twoSpenny statesman
ship, and this has the healthful effect Of
making each think his "plan the best
and only one, and preventing that unan,
unity Of sentiment which, if it existed,
might be crystalized into incalculable
evil.
Such is, briefly told, the condition of
the financial question in Congress at the
present time. There is very strong
| disposition to force an early return to
specie payment, but there are so many
men ambitious OF leadership in the mat
ter, and determined to oppose all plans
but their own, that they will not be able
to enact any legislation on the subject, at
least during the present session. Morton
has one policy, Sherman has another,
Fessenden has another, and even the.
| carpet-baggers are expected to follow
suit and swell the volume. In fact, one
Of the latter gentlemen has already whiS>
pered to his loyal friends that he will
soon astonish the country with "plan"
which will far transcend any yet presen-
ted in the brilliancy Of its conception and
its entire feasibility. / trust | shall not
be deemed disrespectful if | say that the
idea ola carpet-bagger presenting meas
ure of this kind calls to mind a very ad-
mirablc painting l once saw, of an impe-
-cunious gentleman in the act of being
elected from a garnet lodging for non,
payment of his weeks rent, while from
his coat tail pocket prOtruded agigantic
plan for the liquidation of the national
debt of Great Britain.
They tell Of a debating society at I
tached to an English college, which num-
bered six members, and represented
even different religious creeds. Such,
happily for the country, is about the con,
dition of the Republican happy family at
the present time on the subject of specie
payments, and how to bring them about.
| So, let us thank our stars for this diver
sity of opinion, and acknowledge thatin
the multitude Of counsel there is safety,
if not wisdom.
AS To CARpET-BAGGERS.
1t would be safe to wager a thousand
dollars that if hell were dosed with tartar
emetic, the last dregs of the last result
ing vOmit would be ten or a dozen of the
style Of men who have GENE here under
the Congressional policy of reconstruction
to represent the Southern States. They
have already manifested all the attributes
| of interlOperS and dead BEATS" and have
carried their efrsntery to such an ex-
tent as to disgust even the most loyal OF
| their Northern Republican colleagues.
l had not been in Washington six hours
when heard curses, both loud and deep,
heaped upon the head Of one Of the gen
| tlemen from Louisiana for some imper-
thence, the exact nature Of which could
| not understand. | inferred, however,
that he had been giving some sort of
practical illustration to the poetic truism,
that fools rush in where angels fear to
tread"-that he had been busying him
self to do or say something, which
modesty and good breeding would have
| left to an old and experienced member Of
| the House. The complaints Oh this
score are multiplying, and the consequent
disgust IS increasing every day, and 1t
will be strange if, before the close of the
session, we do not witness few undiss
guised ebullitioRs ofwrath on the subject
1 lTOul SOll6 vi lllO OluCSb lsdulCdl
1.-THE very men who may take to them>
selves the doubtful honor of paternity for
the whole carpet bag race. Nor is it at
all strange that the rpet-baggers should
act precisely as they do. The wonder is
that they have restrained SO long from
asserting their claims to political leader
ship and legislative precedence. And
when Mr.. Bingham and Mr.. Butler, and
Mr.. Washburne, sheer cOntemptuouSly
at them, and affect state of wonderment
at their impudence on the floor of the
House, they seem to forget that greater
impudence which was necessary to
| enable them to force themselves upon
constituencies who neither knew or
wanted them. So far from discOuraging
the Southern delegation" in their deter
mination to be seen and feltin the National
Council, feel like putting them on the
back, and telling them to proceed with
increased vigOr. And when the Radicals
who legiSlated them into existence, OBJ
iect TO their little freaks of greatness, l
beg to remind them of an incident IN a
body which this Congress very strlkingly
resembles in many respects-the reVoiu~
tionary assembly Of France. 1t is related
that, when the Able Sieyes objected to
the confscation Of church property which
was proposed in one of the debates, Mira
bean turned to him and said my dear
Able, you have loosed the bull. Do you
think he will not use his horns p The
logic was unanswerable. And so with
Congress and the carpet baggers. They
have not only loose ], but created a set
of the viIest wretches that God in his
wisdom tolerates to live, or man in his
folly hesitates to hang-and when they
look for anything but what they now
| complain Of, they only repeat the mistake
of which Mirabeau reminded his col
league. MACk.
NEVI THE REGT