Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1872-01-25
CONGRESSIONAL.

The report of the civil service COM
topics of the week. Thursday was sig
nalized in the Senate by bloody battle
between the two great lawyers of the
Senate, Carpenter and Trumbull. The
announcement that Carpenter was to
speak on that question, drew large
crowds of intelligent auditors. and his
attack upon the report was closely re-
garded. His effort was able and an
honest impartial judge. setting aside
personal preference and prejudices could
not fail to note the fact that the leading
point of his argument was not ContrO-
verted by his perhaps more able OppO-
nent. 1t was eminently logical, and
based mainly upon principle. While
the argument of his opponent was based
more upon the ground of eXpediency.
He claimed that these rules were the re-
suit of mems yielding, in their desire to
crafty public voice, to the popular de
mand for civil service reform and that
in their desire to do 50 proposed to take
steps antagOnistic to the fundamental
principles of our government - steps
which promised unknown evils. and
! which the sober second thought of the
public, which is always right and often
the reverse of the first excited cry
would not tolerate He argued that this
word reform was being made a catch
1oord to draw the public with, and that
'permanency in office" which the
board labored to effect is mark
ed feature of the one man
power of monarchy from which the
founders of our government were es-
pecially guarded pernanency in office
was a feature of kingly rule, our fathers
had suffered from this perpetuity of
government, and so framed our govern
ment that it should all 90 back to the
people every four years. They had sui,
fered from executive rule, and therefore
they left their executive little power.
and conferred the greater power upon
the legislature which is more directly in
the hands of the peeple the board adj
mitted having gone to the utmost limit
of republican principles and cOnstitu-
tional authority in their endeavOrs to &C
cOmpESh this aim, and i'll the opinion of
many good men they had transcribed
both. But the strong point Of this ar
gument and that which his opponents
quietly left unanswered was the evil
tendency of the plan proposed in the ar
rOgation of power and the fearful stride
it makes toward Capitalization. A
mighty, one man, or seven men power
and that removed rs far as possible
from the people. Trumbull defended
the report with all of his characteristic
force of expression and power of mind.
He argued the enornity of existing evils.
the necessity of reform, and the expe-
diency of trying the plan proposed. and
with such eclat and effect did he pre-
sent these that the casual listener not
given to close discrimination might fail
to notice that the two vital points of
Carpenters argument. namely: Re
publicanism, and the Constitution. were
quietly evaded TrtmbuH was ready to
bury all objections in the grave of ex-
pediency. Carpenter held the sound
ness OF the constitution and danger of
violating it for the sake of flying from
known to unknown evils. Trumbull as
an honest, efficient and independent rea-
soner, has few equals ia the Senate.
Carpenter is considered his equal as a
! lawyer and is noted for his eloquence
and humor. He has a chronic spite
towards the public press, as if his stotn-
ach were yet overloaded with New
York Tribune and stolen treaty. and as
he seldom speaks without hurting def
ance at the reporters gallery he may
not always mean exact justice.
The fact that Dir. Medill, one of the