The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-04-05


family reminds us that, - nation, we
are becoming sacrilegiously inclined. We
no longer revere our honored dead as we
should. The youth Of America, from the very
first cradleful Of youth that America bore as
free republic, have accepted that story
of the hatchct and the cherry tree, and
have felt considerable pride In the fact that
the young George had pluck enough to cut
down cherry tree when he liked and was not
too much afraid of the old man to tell him Of
1t. But to link the revered -Washington's
name with the Posey scandal is revolving to
the young American estimate of our greatest
hero. We have special claim on the pater-
nifty of Washington, and the great republic
cannot admit that the Father Of his Country
was the father of anything else.
But the sacrilegious spirit of tho age does
not stop with the memory Of Washington.
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster have been
dreadfully maligned, and many Of our living
statesmen arc the objects either Of suspicion
or direct charges. We need not mention
Bowen. He can speak for himself. Even if
he cannot, three or four wives have spoken for
him already, and many places where he for
merly lived are yet to be canvassed. There
are numerous others, members Of Congress
especially, of whom we shall hear scandal as
soon as they make little more noise in
the world or excite the enmity OF some
colleague. It Is fact that many of
our Representatives and Senator'S spend
good deal Of the peoples time in
hunting up disastrous evidence Of this sort
against inconvenient personal enemies on the
same committee, not always for immediate
use, but as reserve ammunition in case
of any serious affront or opposition. It
cannot be said to be fair thing, of course, for
one member to disprovo another's assertion
that the Ku Klux outrages are all bosh by
intimating that his honorable colleague has
deserted his wife, or to demolish the attempts
of gentleman on the opposite side of the
House to fllbuster land grant out of exist
ence, by producing sworn afildavits showing
that the gentleman on the opposite side Of the
House has one or two more wives than the
Gentle law allows. 1t Is outside the province
of parliamentary assemblages, and is not fair,
hut it is done.
Some time ago two members Of the Recon-
which in the good old days Of chivalry would
have led to pistols and Bladensburg, two moist
bodies, dead or wounded, on the ground, or two
frightened bodies shaking hands in reconcilia-
ton over their smoking pistols unhurt and
there would have boon an end Of it. But it
is otherwise now. One of the parties to the
deadly quarrel we speak of Immediately put
detectives on the track of the other, had
him Swallowed until he was shown to be no
better than he should be- and then trium-
phantly waved documentary proofs of his
immor Atty over his head. Can there be a
more complete triumph than tbis-a more
crushing vindication ON one side or q more
overwhelming conviction on tue other? 1t
may well be supposed that the cornered
member of the committee, seeing the force Of
the argument at once, kept very shady and
followed the bid Of his leader very meekiy
after that; but he did not despair. He fought
the Devil with fire. He in turn had his enemy
Swallowed, and, it Is reported, found the same
derelictions on his part and shook similar
weighty documents in his face. Thus the
wager Of battle was made equal again, and
the fight now. goes on for moro documentary
evidence. Thus detectives and scan. mays
have become potent weapons of legislative
warfare, and the fate Of many an important
bill is likely to be settled by the preponderance
Of scandal heaped on its friends or enemies.
This style Of wirepulling will eventually
extend to lobbymen. 1t Is already used
with great success in the caucuses. When
Mr.. Butler, for instance, requests his friends
in caucus to support a certain bill, and
intimates to members who object that he
has copies of kilograms in his pocket which
would seriously affect their moral character,
what can they do but acquiesce9 If
polished aud suave lobbyman requests a rigid
Presbyterian member to vote for a certain
land grant bill or patent claim, and insnuates
at Che same time that he would be very
sorry indeed to let the Presbyte-
rians family know about that little
unorthodox scrape Of his, how can
the Presbyterian resist? The highwayman's
pistol and the money bags Of Erie are not such
potent arguments as these. The railroad cor
porations Of Pennsylvania and the immense
monopolies Of New York are weak persuaders
In comparison. There can be only one
remedy. Legislation must 60 to the deuce or
we must elect strictly moral men, who not
only have a certified character of that sort,
but who can be relied upon to keep moral.
BAD PLACE TO EMIGRATE FRoM-Thc tax
Office In this city into a Senatorial district in
Connecticut.