The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1874-04-11
HIS MAJESTY SHOWS TEMPER.

, HIS MAJESTY SHOWS TEMPER.
} Washington dispatches for week or two
S past have mentioned the presence in that cit
I of delegation Of the Oppressed and down
trodden" white people and taxpayers o
! South Carolina, seeking relief at the hands o
!, the national government from the intolerabl
! robberies to which they are subjected by tn
2 negroes and carpct-baggers whom nationa
, bayonets have placed and kept in power II
that unhappy state. For week the com
{ mttee essayed TO have an audience" will
President Grant, and finally he consented t,
, receive" them. 1t is said the Presldcn
t felt rather kindly disposed towards the dele
cation, and only hesitated to talk with then
because he knew the subject OF the converse
ton must necessarily be disagrceablc. Now
+ it was not in the programme of the carpet
baggers that the President should see the
delegation at all, but when they found that an
interview was inevitable, it was decided thai
the President must be got into a proper frame
Of mind for it, Circumstances We're favor
able. At the taxpayers convention in South
Carolina which sent this delegation, speech
| had been made by a crack Drained idiot
named Gary, in which the President vas
coarsely abused. The convention promptly
rcbuked the speech and disavowed its senti
ments, but the carpet baggers took care to
have report Of it published in which the
speech, bad enough in itself, was further
grossley CARRIED. Now an hour before the
President vast meet this South Carolina dele.
CATION, Senator Patterson of that state Che
Pennsylvania gentleman who bought his seat
in thesenate Tor $4,000 and still resides in
Pennsylvania dropped in to see the President
and prepare him for the.interview by showing
him this speech Of the idiot Gary. The trick
worked TO a charm. When the delegation
appeared the Presidents countenance was
positively BLACK" and after Mr. Porter the
spokesman Of the delegation, had made his
speech to the President, setting forth in calm
and pathetic terms the shocking condition Of
the state, the President, with an evident strug,
gle between i'll suppressed anger and desire
to be dignifed, replied as follows:
GENTLEMEN: After listening 10 what has
been said, ] do not see that there is any
thing that can be done, either by the cxccu-
tive or by the legislative branch of the
national government, to better the condition
Of things which you have described. South
Carolina has now complete existence as a
sovereign state, and must make her own laws.
If those laws are oppressive TO her people, it
is very much TO be deplored But what is the
Of .la. lie IN, .ts 10,
tion worth considering. Whether o part Of
that cause is not due TO yourselves whether
it is not owing to the cxttemdviews which you
have held, whether your own action has not
consolidated the non.taXpaylng portion of
your community against you, are questions
which | leave for your own consideration.
| will say to you candidly There the presi-
dents manner hardened visiblyl that while |
have watched the proceedings Of your tax
payers convention with no little interest, a
portion Of my sympathy has been distracted
by the perusal of a certain speech delivered
during its deliberations, viler and more Sian
derous than anything | have ever witnessed
before even among nay worst enemies in the
north-a speech more bitter in its personality
and ialsehood than anything have ever seen, |
even IN the Neto York Sun. have never seen
3 speech equal TO il IN malignty, vileness, |
ldISily anu SIaHucE. Nncn MlnK OF IL, ] can |
scarcely restrain myself
The New York Tribane correspondent, who |
reports the interview at length, adds, that "as
this very painful and embarrassing interview
closed, Mr.. Porter ventured to suggest that it
was hardly just to hold whole community
who were seeking relief from intoierable OPP
preston responsible for the improper utter
ancc of single individual. But the remon. |
STRANGE was scarcely noticed by the president
and the delegation sadly and silently with
drew, panied and deeply mortified that the
respectful prayer OF the whole body Of suffer
ing taxpayers in one Of the old thirteen states |
OF the American union should have been pre-
scnted TO the president Of the United States
only TO be outweighcd in the balance by the |
foolish TRADE of crack.braned politician.'