The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-12-17
"HONEsT JOHN" PATTERSON
What the Fress Say About h New
Senator.

washington Correspondence Boston POSI-
Mr.. ]. j. Patterson, the senator elect from
South Carolina, halls from Pennsylvania. he
was originally editor of the Harrisburg Tele.
graph, General Cameron's home organ. In
1864 he ran for Congress In the Nineteenth
District OF Pennsylvania and was defeated.
During the war he was Interested with Came.
ron In the mule and horse contracts. the 81.
posure of which resulted In Cameron's expul-
sion from Lincoln's Cabinet. About five years
ago he went to South Carolina and Joined
Governor Scott and the sRlng" that
%plundered that State and ruined It's credit.
Like Scott he managed TO make q large
sum of money and then became ambitious Of
political honOrs. Two or three weeks before
the senatorial election In South Carolina Pat
terson visited Harrisburg and was in consul
tation with General Cameron and his SOD,
Dan Cameron, and several other members OF
the Pennsylvania 'rlng." II Is stated by
prominent Pennsylvanians here, who appear
to be familiar with the facts and circum.
stances, that Cameron raised 8 large sum Of
money for his friend and protege, some say as
much as thirty thousand dollars, Tor the pur-
pose OF securing bis election to the Senate.
At all events, Patterson went to the State cap.
ital of South Carolina with some $50, 900, and
gave out that he intended to spend that
amount on bis election, of course among his
friends. Patterson's plethoric purse Tighten
ed Elliott and Sawyer, the other prominent
candidates, to such q degree that they did not
make any fight.
From the New York Nation, Repl
In South Carolina the Legislature, to call 1t
q Legislature, has been voting for q senator
to take the place Of Senator Sawyer. Elliott,
o colored man, and q representative elect,
man called Patterson. Patterson bought the
necessary number of votes, though whether
Scott or Elliott sold out the most of them, or
was the most sold out, Is not stated. Patter-
son has been arrested for bribery, rescued,
rearrested and put In jail, got out ON q writ of
habeas corpus, and at this writing is ready
for Washington. He would be q good mar
we recommend him to Aessrs. Edmunds,
Conkling, and Morton. Cameron already
knows him.
From the washington Chronicle, Rad.l
We have no personal knowledge of the
senator elect, or of his competitors, with .
single exception. We cannot, therefore, be
supposed TO have personal feeling in relation
to any of the parties. It Is In bHhalf OF the
character of the United States Senate and the
vital interests of the country we plead when
asking that honest mel OF all parties set
their faces as flint against the decentralization
and degradation that is coming upon the
country through the wholesale corruption
practIced In some of the Southern Leglsla-.
lures. When 1t comes to be openly boosted
weeks beforehand that such and such q man
has The means to buy bis way TO the highest
dignIties OF the land, and that bis emlesarles
are On the llne Of march provided with the
sinews OF war, confident Of success, In what
estimate will those bodies soon be held
whose members thus compass their success?
What safety IL there for liberty and public
virtue when 1t Is Entrusted to such hands? Is
there no sense Of shame, no qnlckenad appre-
heneion of impending danger that will serve
to place O check upon this incoming flood OF
corruption? Has the Senate of the United
States no duty to perform In this 1uncture!
Does 1t owe nothing TO Itself, to It's self-respect,
to the good name that made iC the glory Of
the country In other days? The stream can
not rise higher than the fountain. But to that
august body does the country look s also to
the House Of Representatives. strike q
blow when opportunity presents that will
leave no room TO doubt is Views of the at
tempt to reach q seat 10 the legislative coun-
ellis of the natlon'by bribery and unblushlng
IRON tho Now York sun.l
There has Just been an election In The Legis.
lature OF South Carolina 10 choose a successor
to the Hon. F.. A. Sawyer as senator of the
United States. Mr.. John ]. Patterson, OF
Pennsylvania, was the successful candidate,
receiving an overwhelming majority on the
frat ballot. Mr.. Patterson has long sustained
Intimate relations with the Legislature as al
active and successful lobby practitioner. He
ls known by bis colored friends as 'Eonest
John" a cognomen which he acquired from
his exceptional reputation as always sure to
pay what he agreed to pay for votes. 1t was
this noble trait In his character, coupled with
q liberal disbursement OF funds, which led
the mongrel assemblage In the Capitol of
South Carolina TO elect him to the United
States Senate, thus giving o new exempllf-
cation of the old adage that honesty 10 the
best policy" The same moral Ia to be drawn
from the story of one of his competitors, Mr..
Elliott, of whom 1t ls said that he advised bis
colored friends to take Patterson's money n
vote for himself. 1t Is cheering to know that
such. a disregard of the fret principles OF
honor In vote selling met Its Just reward In
the lgnominious defeat OF the candidate
making the unworthy proposal.