New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-03-22
Waute d-A Comic Statesman.

| The part that humOr plays in public life
and its importance as an implement and
means Of influence are apt to be over
| looked. 1t is q good thing to laugh. II re-
lakes the muscles. 1t lubricates the joints
| and hinges of the mind. 1t makes people
| good natured almost in spite of themselves.
| The light and airy shafts Of ridicule are
| oftentimes more effective than the heavy
artillery of argument. The rapier of wit,
when skillfully used, is more fatal than the
broadswOrd of reason. The disposition to
| look at everything in a serious light and
keep the mind keyed to the highest posi-
bic intensity of feeling is injurious if not
fatal, in the long run. In a body like Con-
gress, where there are SO many serious
minds and great interests at stake, such Q
clash of ambitions and personalities, a real
humorist is godsend.
1t is a pity that more of the present men,
bers have not q touch Of huMOr in their
composition. In the old days John P. Hale
used to keep the Senate good natured by
his unfailiug pleasantries. 1t was impossi-
bic for his bitterest opponents to hate him
who convulsed them with laughter almost
at will, and who parted their arguments
with a joke or witticiem which set the whole
chamber in roar. Thomas Corwin kept
the House merry through dreary and
mOnOtOnOus sessions by his exhaus.less,
fund OF wit and repartee. But the present
Senate has no comic statesman in it. 1t is
dull, dry, heavy, matter of fact. Its de-
bates are as mOnotOnOusIy stupid az the
sounds of hand-orgaD, and it's business is
as juiceless and flavOrless as the prod ncts of
turning-lathe. In the House. General
Butler might furnish fun enough TO keep the
whole body in good temper if he would
adopt Beau Brummel's recipe for tying his
cravat and give his whole mind to it. But
Butler is go much more than a wit and
wag, he does SO insist on having a hand
in rvt hivu hot iu
go dead in earnest about things he is inter-
ested in, that his sense of humOr is overlaid
by other elements, and he fails to see the
comic side of men, measures and things.
Mr.. Cox has all the elements of comic
statesman. He Is witty and humorous and
droll. He has quick sense of the Judi
crous aspects of things and telicitous way
OF presenting them. His mind is Quick,
keen and active, and his language dainty.
But his illusions too often smell of the
lamp. They suggest examining, and, what
Is worse, betray self-cOnsciOusness which
often neutralizes their happiest effects. He
seems too often to invite attention from his
humor to himself, and his speeches sound
and read as though he were saying, See
how witty can be on occasion" It is a
misfortune to wit when his auditors laugh
at HIM instead of laughing with him. If
he will but remember to keep himself in
his pocket the next time he trOts out one of
his Witty illusions he will find everybody
in q state of intense happifcation.
The comic statesman does not seem to
have put in an appearance. He is unques-
tiOnably ''the coming man."
Mr.. Phelps, of New Jersey, made an
amusing speech the other day, but it's
humOr is chiefly noticeable az shower
after six weeks drought. IL does not
take but few drops to tickle the ground
after such parching. But the comic
statesman is a necessity. Congress can not
manufacture one without the materials any
more than the Israelites could make bricks
without straw. There can not be a wit in
the House unless the people put him there.
And the necessity for such character in
that body is SO urgent that some of our con.
stituencies ought to send one as a national
duty. What better use could be mace of
Mark Twain, for instance, and the Rev.
Petroleum V. Nasty, than to sentence them
to Congress for term or two. True, it
would be heavy punishment for the poor
jokes they have unintentionally perpetrated
at the expense of a much suffering people;
but the fact that they did not mean any
harm should be taken into the account to
mitigate their punishment. If not them,
perhaps others. A comic statesman at any
rate.-Nec York Graphic.