The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1873-04-11

IL Dee0ne 81 The senate.
Deterioration IN every particular ex-
e~ps numbers seems to mark the career
ct Congress, and more especially of the
Senate Not only does it grow more
corrupt. and show less regard for itself,
and exhibit year by year less respect for
pub e oplnson- but N s1atesmanship and
mefe mental ability tne Senate steadily
Declines
Twenry-four new members were chosen
to- take their scala ON Tuesday last.
Was the opportunity seized to elevate
the intellectual and MORAL character of
the Senzfe2 BY no means but ON the
contrary the accessions rather lower the
standard IN both particulars.
Let US look to the Senate of Jackson's
second term by way Of comparison. The
number of States then was only twenty
AZ, whereas now it Is thirty-seven; and
consequently We are declared from in
atltItlnx comparisons In regard 10 States
admitted slnee Arkansas and Michigan
cHne into the Union In 1886.
A gsneratlon has since passed away,
but the ssatssmen who figured in Jack
sons tim~ are still remembered, and we
are not hkely to be mistaken In our esti-
mats of shsm- At that period the lead
ing Senators frOm New England were
Webster, John Davis, Sprague of Maine,
Niles of Connecticut, Phelps O. Yer
mont, and Robbins of Rhode Island.
New England Is ssilI ably represented in
the Senate bus il Is Idle to say that
Eaimnnds is equal To Phelps, on that
Hanlhn or Morrill, can compare with
SPrAgue, who Was among the ablest of
lawyers and most eloquent orators sent
from the Northern States to the Senate
while In solid quantities John Davis and
John NJ Niles, and IN classical attain
E7ents Robbins, would outweigh all the
rest If the present Senators east of the
II udsou-
To say the least, the contrast is quite
- wide IN the present and past Sena-
toriL representation from the Middle
States I'm the closing years of the Jack
sun epoch Wight ard Talmadge repre-
s<nted New York, Southland and the
elder FrslInghuysen New Jersy, Buch-
Allan and Dallas Pennsylvania, Clayton
and Bayard Delaware, while Samuel
S1Ith, An eminent merchant of Balti-
more. and who WAS longer IN Congress
than any other man, WAS Just closing .
highly useful career of swenty-six years
N the Senate. Undoubtedly these four
States aye respectfully represented now.
The average OF Conkllng and Fenton
viii compare pretty well with the aver
age of Wright and TaIlmadge, though
IN the STERLING qualities of sound iudg-
nl<nt, varied experience, and persuasive
debating powers, Wright was far supe-
nor to Conkllng- The Frelinghuysen of
1855 vxsfrIly esIualto the Frellnghuysen
OF to-day, while the contrast between the
superficial. dull Stockton and the saga
e1Ous. eloquent Southland could hardly be
greater
Except IN low, slippery intrigue, it
would be absurd to compare Cameron
EOv with Buchanan then Buchanan
WAS IN his npe maturity, the Democratic
leader with Wright In the Senate, and
mot the sImid Old man of February, 1861,
trembling In the presence o. the AFRO
gKut slave power, as We best remember
hmm Locking to Delaware, we may
perhaps allow the present Bayard to
stand for the Bayard of 1886 but Clay
ton who was subsequently, Secretary Of
State under PRESIDENT Taylor, would
SGA&1 tNIW4 s(OEc vi tklC kJUulS-
bzryx whom Delaware low sends to the
Senate
In the earlier days to which we are
referring the MOST distinguished Sena-
tors IN the Western States were Ewing
Of Ohio, Clay and Crittenden of Ken
tucxy, and Benton Of Missouri. In many
respects the country has seen NO SUI
p<rlors and few equals of these four
statesmen The conspicuous parts they
bore IN public affairs through o long
series of wears, and reaching nearly down |
10 our tInae, afDrd Us ample materials
s1r forming Just estimate Of their abili- !
t1exl Doubtless the four most distin- |
gursned Senator's from those Western |
States winch were ir the Union during |
JseksUus second term are Sherman and
Thurman of Ohio, Morton Of Indiana,
and Schurz of Missouri They are all |
mem of mark, and loom high in these
times. But would John
Sherman have dared To discuss q fnan-
clal question with Thomas Ewing
WoGh Thurman like to have taken a
init with BeEton7 Would no. Morton
have covered before the eagle eve of
CrIrsenden1 Would Schurz, eloquent !
and elevated a. he il, presume to conn
pnre himself with Clay? As to the
the other Senators from those States, /
there we're Inferior persons then as there
ARE Inferior persons now, and in Just |
Aboutthe same pruportions-the Logans,
the Prstts, the Chambers, Of their era
But IL - m the States which went into
the rebellion that the contrast becomes
the most striking-so striking rs to in
catre one To the opinion that their pres
emf Senatorial representation is . part Of
the retrlbutiou which Providence is in
Hic<ins upon them for plunging the
country INTO the late was. In Jackson's
IL - ILL.,