The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1870-08-06
What COpgessmcn shall be Returned.

The members of the Forty First Congress,
after their last arduous session of seven
and half months, are again at rest, the
most of them waiting, and perhaps plan
ming, to hear the "well-dene" of their
constituents sounded out from the polls
Does their record show them entitled to
that reward as a matter of course? The
general ability of the present House of
Representatives is cheerfully conceded, as
we'll as it's high standard of individual in
tegrity. In both respects it is above the
average of Houses. The trouble has been,
however, that it did not reflect the public
sentiment of the day-has not been, what
it prominently ought to have been, a rep
..,~..t~t;va body What tho uppor
most wish of the masses with regard to the
last session? Evidently that relief should
be given to the business interests of the
country, by prompt reduction of the
taxes, by putting the currency ON better
basis, by the application Of some adequate
funding system to the public debt, and by
a general utilization of the revenues. And
yet nothing in this direction was done till
the closing days of the session, and then
only as the result of a constant, ever-in-
creasing outside pressure. The same pa
ralysis was observed in the treatment of a
matter which ought to have been SO per-
construction. Georgia elected as much
confused discussion as if nine States had
not already travelled the same road of
restoration to the Union. Again, if it had
not been for a piece of brilliant out-fank-
ing on the part of the President, the House
would certainly have brought itself into q
predicament OH the Cuban question con-
demned by the judgment of nine-tenths of
all disinterested people.
These instances suffice to show that there
is somewhere break in the connection
between the Representatives and their con-
stituents, that the former, as Matthew
Arnold would say, have lost the secret of
popular sympathy. There is a national
feeling and there is congressional feeling.
What is it that can make this difference,
where SO many obvious influences operate
to the contrary, but that subtle and insid-
ious spirit Of office, which is so apparent
in old governments, but is sometimes seen
in the long tenures enjoyed under our own
To the man of disinterestedness and wis
dom, Office is commanding station, pre-
senting only wider and juster view of pa
triotic duty, and impressing deeper sense
OF responsibility. Not all officers, how
ever, not even all members of Congress,
are either disinterested or wise; and to
those who are not, the influences of office
are narrowing, chilling, miasmatic. For
this reason our fathers provided for fire.
quent returns of official authority to the
hands of the peoplc,-a privilege which
the, people should never cease to value. A
few years ago, under the prevalent war in
fluences, there sprang up general cutlery
at the North in favor of the old Southern
practice of keeping congressman long
time in their seats, under the pretence that
their skill and efficiency were thereby i'm
mensely enhanced. Hence denominations
in the loyal States came to be matter of
course, with little or no merit of the in
cumbent. Had it not been for political
changes in many districts, the Forty First
Congress would have been substantially
identical with it's two predecessors. AS It
is,-leaving out of view the lately rebel
lious States, because the conditions of their
representation are wholly exceptional, and
because they have but slight control over
current legislation find the consecu-
tive service Of the Northern members of
Congress susceptible of the following clas-
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