Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1870-06-28
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.

ueE6 uGNOLA was . HSA-S
the United States, before the present, in
which the vocabulary of Five Points could
be introduced into the debates of Congress
with impunity. But to-day scarcely any
other emanates from the Capitol. Men stand
up in their places and pour out on the heads
of those they oppose the foulest abuse, with
out stint and without the fear of conse-
quences. Blackguards by nature and ruff
fans by habit, they cannot express dissent
except by scurrility. Junius, the seEerest
writer of modern times, never caled'a man
"fool," STAR" "sceundrer' or "thief;"
but when his object was to describe such
characters he employed the courtliest terms
in the language, and the Damascus blade cut
through and through, and the fatal stroke
was dealt without the smallest violation of
rhetorical propriety, or the manifestation of
an, angry or heated temper. Butth pigmies
of the American Congress know not how to
initiate the terrible and polished Junius.-
Accustomed to vulgar and mean associations
throughout life, they are but true to their an
tecedents in their rowdy ebullitions in public
spheres. For the most part uneducated, their
bad grammar and pointless diatribes would new
er be elevated even to the level of mediocrity
but by the indiscriminate infusion into their
harangues of obscene anecdote, personal vitu-
peration and outrageous assaults upon others.
Nor do our Solons fear the merited rewards
oftheir blackguardism. Congressional morals
have lapsed into licentiousness, and public
sentiment tolerates the open expression Of
such mild desires as that stated by General
Logan the other day, when he chafed under
the restraints of desks and chairs which pre-
vented him from "cutting the bloody heart
out of Ben Butler" See the debate on the
Presidents message in regard to Cuba. This
Western hero has scarcely won his laurels and
appeared in the two-fold character of Sioux
chief and an American Statesman, before
they are snatched from his brows by no less
person than the redopbtable gentleman against
whose "bloody heart" he expressed the other
day such murderous propensities.
On the 22d inst, the House of Represen-
tatives was engaged in the consideration of
the Presidents veto of the bill in favor Of one
Rollin White who had invented patent pistol,
and claimed further recompense in addition
to very considerable amount which he had
already made out of his patent. Now there
were certain shrewd yankees in Massachusetts,
who thought that White had pocketed suf
ficient sum out of his patent, and on its ex-
pjration sent forward certain pistol of their
own which they. claimed was an improvement
on Whites. They .petitioned the Commits
sioner of Patents, therefore, against reissue
or extension of the patent as detrimental to
"the interests of the United States and certain
citizens of Massachusetts," General Butler
citizens of Massachusetts, and wrote letter
to the Commissioner urgently and deliberately
opposing the extension of Whites patent
In the meantime White being a sharp fellow
turned his inventive faculties in another di~
rection, and this time he invented splendid
patent in the shape of tsoo thousand dollar
order in favor of the Hon. Benjamin T. But
Ter. Commissioner Butler at once saw some
thing in this meritorious and inventive genius,
and notwithstanding the fact of his employ
ment by certain citizens of Massachusetts, to
oppose the White patent, he Enthusiastically
renounced his Massachusetts, clients and as
earnestly advocated the extension of the pat
ent as he had previously resisted it. White
knew very we'll that he could get bill be-
fore Congress for his relief, and that General
Butler was the very man for his purpose
To cover up his tracks the astute Butler filed
a brief in a case of Whites in the Supreme
Court involving the same question, ga short
and Insignificant brief" it was styled by Mr..
Farnsworth,) for the purpose of proving,'if
necessary, that he had earned the two thou
sand dollars received from his new client
OF course the bill for Whites relief came up
before Congress, and in ignorance of the sug
gestive facts which we have here rapidly re-
cited, Congress passed the bill and it went to
the President in due course for his signature.
But the President, perhaps secretly informed
of the whole business, vetoed the bill and re-
turned it to Congress.
When the consideration of the veto was
maze, UeneraI DuIIeF tooA Iue HoOI Ill l"'ol
of passing the bill o"t Caesar, am mullms.-
General Farnsworth, with Big Bethel intre-
pidity charged the enemy, and laid Butler
bare before the world as a hireling lawyer and
Legislative corruptionist. He showed him up
as counsel on both sides Of the same case, and
had the rule read prohibiting a member from
voting on subject in which he is interested.
81 charge him with being on both sides of
this case on one side without fee, and then
on the other with a fee," calculated Farms
worth, in vehement voice and with violent
gesture. BY this time the whole House was