The Portland daily press., 1872-03-06
The Senate Crusade.

FROM the Boston AuVertl6er.
The report of the illness of Mr. Sumner will
nowhere cause greater regret than among his
own constituents. During the last three weeks
he has thrown all his strength into the discus
sion on the sale of arms to French agents. We
print elsewhere his closing argument on the
two main points to which he insisted upon be-
ing held, the first relating to international duty,
the second to alleged malfeasance on the part
of our officials. That he believed the Govern
ment had violated its neutral obligations, and
that some officers in the confidence of the Ad-
ministration had stolen large sums of money in
consequence of it, is no doubt true. But those
who read his speech will see on how faint a
shadow his belief rested, and what drafts it
must have made even on strong man to sus-
tain it. Mr. Sumner has been so long on the
winning side, and SO in the habit of being just-
fled by events, that in this case he has deceived
himself both in respect to the nature of his
charges and the value of his evidence. The
whole subject is now in the hands of indepen-
dent committees of the two Houses, where it
should have gone at the outset, and whose judg.
ment, it is to be presumed, will, if there is
cause for blame, place it where it belongs.
Fortunately this wretched quarrel, grounded
upon sick mans fancies, will not be longer al
lowed to overshadow the vastly greater issues
with which the country is confronted The
contest for the control of the Government in
the future has already begun. There are two
parties as well organized and as well defined as
were ever brought together at the opening of a
Presidential canvass. If the leaders of the
Democratic party have been less demonstrative
than formerly, it is because they have found
Republicans doing their work effectually. Why
have the opposition Senators been silent during
this long debate? Why was not the Question
contested on Mr.. Lynch's motion in the House
\ Why have the Democratic organs been satisfied
with reprinting the scandal with which the
Senate chamber has been flooded without call
ing up their own reserves? 1t is simply because
Republican Senators, VIGOROUSLY hostile to the
Administration, seized the moment most fortu-
nate for the opposition to make their assault,
and carried it forward with a degree of energy
which no Democrat could possibly approach.
New Hampshire is at this moment covered
with garbled sketches of the speeches of Mr.
Sumner and Mr.. Schurz-speeches made on a
motion for inquiry, and, so far as they touched
the integrity of the Government, refuted on the
spot; yet wherever the frank of a Democratic
Congressman. passive or aggressive, would be
appreciated, these speeches have been forward
ed by the ten thousand as the best materials at
their command.
Meanwhile, the President, the Secretary of
War, the head of the Bureau of Ordinance and
the subordinates through whom all this bust
ness must have been transacted are silent.
There is no national theatre gorgeously painted,
crowded with admiring auditors from pit to
dome. in the midst of which they may appear
to confound slanderers. They have defenders,
but no representatives in the Senate to answer
for them. Mr.. Morton, Mr.. Frelinghuysen,
Mr.. Harlan, Mr. Conkling, Mr.. Sherman and
others, acting on their own responsibility, have
ably and successfully repealed the assault; but
the Executive Department, the Government,
represented by the President and his Cabinet,
has not made its appearance 1t is not in his
power to do so; and it must trust for its vindi-
cation, not to the speeches of friendly Senators,
uot even to the reports of committees of either
House, but to its public record, and to the COM
minded people