The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1876-01-19
Current Notes.

typical young lady as looking at you with
an expression which said, "Slap-your-face-
fortwo-cents." Unhappily, the description
is tue. We have all met that young lady,
although we may not have the honor of her
acquaintance. She may be handsome. and
she doubtless is very smart; but she is not
very lovely.-Neao York Times.
Blaine is the Murat of debate; the bril-.
lancy and rapidity of his movements dazzle
and overpower his opponents. Even so skill
full parliamentarian as Randall, and so
Wordy man as Cox, seem to toll after
him in vain; they feel his blows but he is
already safely away before they can strike
back.-Neao York Euening Mail
The Chicago Tribune says it is due to the
four Republicans-Messrs. Blaine, Brstow,
Morton and Washburn-who have been men-
toned in connection with the next presi-
dency, to say that not one Of them has man.
ifested disposition to crowd himself forward
before the other three, or to engage in any
unseemly scuffie for the office, as has hap
pened in other Presidential campaigns. The
prospects, therefore, are favorable for the Sc
lection OF the best man.
The grandiloquent way in which Gen.
Banks replied the other day to Mr.. Blaine's
inquiry as to which side he meant by "our
side," reminds the Boston Ne,es of this 'Iittle
story" which is told of Banks's war expert
ence: One of his staff came rushing In one
morning while he was at breakfast, and
gasped, 1.-The rebels are advancing upon us
rapidly; our outposts have been attacked,
and our pickets driven in. What shall be
done?' The general sat serenely at the ta-
Dle, anu Will the wave OF ms manu- salu
grandly, "Repulse the enemy at once"
The Washington correspondent of the
Boston Herald has been studying the Presi-
dental question and comes to the conclusion
that the nomination on the Republican side
now lies between Mr.. Blaine and Senator
Morton, with very large possibility that
GOV. Hayes may come in as compromise
candidate. Senator Conkling, he thinks, is
only strong ''in the ability to derange the
plans OF those whom he deems his rivals.''
The correspondent adds: 'The two men to
whom the Democratic nomination to-day is
possible are Hendricks and Thurman"
The Washington correspondent of the New
York World says of Sunset Cox's reply to
Mr.. Blaine: '.Mr. Cox's speech like almost
all the speeches he ever made, was in some
parts more than equal and in others less than
equal TO the occasion. His wit, pungency,
and swiftness both puzzled and amused his
opponent, but did not stagger him. His hits
were merely black and blue. The laughter
and applause of the chamber scattered his re-
marks. Yet when the debate is examined
Mr.. Cox's speech is seen to have been as
superfuous as if he had stepped into West
minister Abbey last year and apostrophized
the Suliotes over the grave of Byron"
After torturing his victims for time, dur
ing which they stood in terrified suspense,
apparently not knowing what next this dread
full, merciless and audaciously sarcastic man
would do, but fearing the worst, Blaine care
lessly tossed them aside as if really not wor-
thy of any further attention by contemptu-
ously withdrawing his motion to reconsider.
This left the Democrats fiat on their backs,
with no way to help themselves. Blaine en-
joyed his triumph thoroughly. He has sue
ceeded in making himself terrible to and far
more feared by the Democrats than Ben But
Ter or Thad Stevens ever was. They will
move with the greatest circumspection here
after when the ex-speaker is around. .-Phil-
ddeLphia Times Special.
While the South sends to Congress the men
who prophecy, and because they prophecy
another civil war, it is no time for the North
to forget how much the last one cost us. We
have gone far enough. We have said, and
sincerely said, that what and all we wanted
was genuine obedience to the law, the same
by everybody, and everywhere, but we have
not said, and do not propose to say, what
ever Mr.. Banks may think about it, that the
rising generation shall not be taught the diff
fnrpnpa hpfWoQn allnOianoa fn 10 opdt
to the government. The North does not
start these questions save when Democrat
does it in Congress at the ;nstigation of the
South, but having been opened, we shall 90
back to first principles Jour
| nal.
After this heated discussion of an unpleas-
| ant subject, there came tableau which strik-
ingly illustrated the policy of the nation. One
after another of the members from the South
rose and said that they were in Union prisons
during the war. Some were there for civil
offences; others as prisoners of war; but all
were there as men who had engaged in an
attempt to destroy the Union. And now
these men rise in Congress of the Union on
an equal footing with every other member
No more effective illustration could be given
of the clemency and generosity of the nation.
1HdG simple IacI LOlu the story. Here were
men who themselves proclaimed that they
lain in the prisons provided for the enemies
of the Union and here they were now sitting
in the national councils. Prisoners of war to
the nation, they were now monuments of its
mercy.-Atbany Journal.
There seems to be some danger this year
that the House of Representatives may vote
for the proposed reduction. 1t is an act of
pure reckless demagoguism. No man thinks
who thinks at all-that our army is too
large. To guard the fortresses and stations
of our vast frontier, stretching from Maine
to the Rio Grande and from California to
Alaska, to furnish garrisons for the little
forts dotting the great wildernesses of the
West, which form the only solid fact the pion-
eers have to rely on amid the perils of Indian
treachery and Ring thievery, we have an ar
my of about 20, ,000-one man to 1000 Of our
population. 1t is proposed to disband half OF
this army, to throw away half the bones of
this skeleton. This little army is so small
that it is worked to death. Nearly every Off
Ger and soldier of it does double duty.-N. Y.
Tribune.