The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-04-26
CHI HARLEs TON.
MONDAY MORNING, APRIL 26, 1869.
A Plea for the southern Radicals.

The musical peace festival which is ad-
vertised to take place in Boston, Mass, in
July next, would do noble work if il
could establish concord between the warning
Radicals in Congress, and harmonic into
one. grand whole the wall of the disap'
pointed place hunter and the 10 triun.phe
which welcomes the return to the Hub oi
the successful candidate for Office. The
baton which can direct the mingled bleat'
ing, brsying and roaring of hundreds oi
sopranos, tenors and basses, should be able
to control refractory politician; and tie
genius which suggested the performance Of
ethe national air of our country sympho-
ssnied by :salvos of artillery, discharged by
eelectricity at the waive of the accomplished
"conceiver of this wonderful spectacle, !"
ought not to find any difficulty in the way Of
hushing the great guns Of debate or at
least Of converting their sullen roar into q
symbol of approval of President Grant and
his administr alton. This would, indeed,
be q great national work, emitting the sue
cessful operator to the same reward which
is bestowed by the new President on blood
relations, marital connections and personal
friends, as well as donors of houses, lands
and richly embroidered boots.
1t was not to be expected that the lion of
Rhode Island would always lie down in
peace by the lamb of North Carolina, nor
was it expected that every senator would
be satisfied with the division Of official
spoils. D'Alembert once complained that
men so exhausted their industry in obtain
ing place that they had none left for the
discharge Of their duties. This, however,
is not the case with the Senate of the Uni
ted States, at least ia. discharging their
duty of obtaining as much profit as possible
for themselves and their friends. Senator
Trumbull says that the ante rooms Of the
departments are crowded with members Of
Congress seeking little appointments, which
Senator Fessenden calls Ga matter of! taste,
"not principle" And certain it is that
of the As, 900 Offices in the gift of the Pres
ident, there is not one for which there has
not been a long list of applicants. Unfor-
tunately:there can be but one incumbent for
each place. For every man made happy
score are made miserable; and the ways Of
the defeated are not those of pleasantness
and -naana--Aa- thu afsAAo-e.--Sh>1- L.
hubbub increases and the excitement grows
more intense. An escape valve was neces.
sary, and II has, been found in the long de-
bate which took place in the Senate on We'd
nesday, upon motion made for the prepar-
alton of report showing the way in which
the Federal offices were distributed among
the several States. s..' 81.
!, This resolution was stoutly supported by
Senator Abbott, of North Carolina, who said
that the distribution Of official patronage
should be made as nearly as practicable &C
cordipg to representation and population,
and that to con6ne patronage to any par
ticular portion of the States, or sections,
either wholly or partly, was injurious and
unjust Senator Fessenden admitted that
there was q perfect scramble to'see how
many persons could get into Office, and that
the modern principle was that the office was
made for the individual and not for the good
Of the State. OF course. And who should
know this better than Radical senator like
the bellicose Abbott. But Senator Fessen-
den still thought that experienced and edu-
Gated men should not be turned out in order
that ignorant and inexperienced men might
be appointed in their stead. Senator Cam
eron growled at the way in which the ap-
pointments were made, Senator Wilson fol-
lowed, in the same vein, and Senator Abbott
again declared that none of the States ought
to be ignored. This brought up Senator
Sawyer, of South Carolina, whose words
went straight to the mark. What his views
were may be summed up thus: The good Of
the public service should be considered
first; but claims of the reconstructed States
had not been recognized, snd they want a
national policy welcoming them back with
open arms, 80 that they might receive eve
rything in the way Of patronage which
they cal reasonably demand. "0ur enc
semies tell US in the South" said Mr.. Saw
yer, "that we represent nobody, and hen
sswe come here we are told the charges
(which the rebels make are true, namely
"You represent nobody, and must, there
''fore, expect to be ignored. And it had
sheen said by persons in high position,
"You must recollect that the white vote in
ssyour States was small affair. Had it
"come to this that any members of the Re-
'publioon party which had declared for the
s'political equality of all men, without re-
s'gard to race or previous condition of ser
''vitude, should speak to him in this man
'sner about the white vote of the South
Gall these States gave majority of votes
s'in favor of the administration; and were
'sthey to be told they should have less pat
'sronsge that the Democratic State of Ken
"tucky?"
This is plain talking, and it expresses the
ideas of the Radical party of South Caro-