New-York tribune., 1872-02-26

with the rage and extreme toll OF battle. HE'S
the Osric Of debate; exceeding MS proootypo
In swell of chest and extrusion OF abdomen,
but not quite equal to him in clear logic ana
feathers. The Indiana DemOsthenes is SAID 10
Z" shake the arsenal and fulmine Over' the SEN
ate Chamber, from the cushions of his tripod
roaring recumbent like Zeus, when, from niS
Olympian couch, he commanded that lere oe
hung with anyils about her ankles from 'ne
foundations of heaven. The shrewd, lngenl-
ous Touchstone from Nevada may, for augh'
-. barangue his peers from tho tight
rope or the flying trapeze, or while dong the
bottle trick. These accOmpaniments would Dc
fit his accustomed usages of speech. and give
a new spice to the mirth which his appearance
is said always to excite.
Yet these various and not usually cOncordant
voices are all lifted on one side. They com
mand judgment and denOunce doom on any
body who wants anything investigated "There
ais no need Of investigation" they say in effect
Everything is perfectly lovely. If you go
"On investigating it will disturb any number
"of nice little arrangements that are going on
"as smoothly as possible. And then it Will
hurt the party. If you don't like the party,
"go out of it. But we object to meddlesome
enquiries and Investigations, and anybody
"whO insists on them is a Prussian, or q
puritan, or Democrat" These gentlemen
were entirely confident that there was nothing
in the administration of the New-YOrk Gus
tom-house which called for legislative inquiry.
1t was all right, they said-why damagei the
party by interfering with it Was MT Murphy
there with his hand on the helm-that rather
ignorant but shrewd and well-to-dO mariner
Who ever knew anything to go wrong where
he was-why overhaul his craft, and poke
sensitive Senatorial snouts here and there
among the rats and the bilge-water amid
ships7 Now they are equally confident that
the scandal about the French Arms has moth
ing in it. The CustOm-house inquiry did not
turn out exactly to their satisfaction.
They found there great many rats and q
great deal of most noisOme and unwholesome
bilge-water. 1t may possibly be that the
French Arms scandal will be equally fruitful
of unpleasant developments. Whether it be
or not these gentlemen are equally unwlse In
assigning mean motives to those who have
sought this inquiry, and they will find themselves
unpleasantly mistaken if they think that in the
present temper Of the country it is good poiicy
to stife inquiry into alleged abuses or misdeeds
of any sort. Do they think that they are
serving the cause of the Administration by
attempting to shelter from deserved condem-
nation and punishment tho Leets and Stock
ings and other unnamed and as yet but par
tally discovered ill-doers who swarm around all
Administrations, but who seem to have had
particularly good time around this one III so,
they are gravely in error.
The truest service which these eloquent
gentlemen could render to the President whose
rule they seem so desrous of perpetuating,
would be to facilitate inquiry into all alleged
evil practices, and to go furiously for the de-
linquents whomsoever And if they think that
with their toughest forensic lances they are
likely to search out serious seams IN
the armOr of the two tall knights
who uphold the battle on the other side, why,
unless the experience of COnliling on Tuesday
and Morton on Wednesday gave them some
hint of the difficulty of that process, they may
punch away. 1t takes up time which might
be better employed, and the assailed are
harmed as little as the assailants are bene-
flied. The mummery of reading out of the
"partyn the great chiefs who founded it, the
ablest in its ranks, is about as prepOsterOus as
if before Troy, Teucer the bowman and Pa
troclus the henchman had turned Achilles and
AgamemnOn out of their commands, and sent
them away stripped and unarmed to their
island kingdoms.