The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1876-12-22
WASHING ron LETTER.
Grant Msditates the Role OF Cromwell
Tho Piot besomias Transparent
The nosfs sud noras Disciossd.

Grant MeditNtes the Rola OF Cromwell
tho PIot Beromins Transparent
The nosfs aud Noras nisciossd.
Especial Correspondence to The HeraidJ
WAsuIseros, December II, ISL
Iopiue that you care very little now
days for the social and fashionable
frivolties OF the national capital at
least we care little for them here.
Every subject becomes contemplate
In presence OF the momentous polit-
ieal questions peerlDg above the horl.
zon OF the second century. Are ma
Jorities torule, or are the Office, holders
strong enough to declare their tenure
perpetual? No well.informed person
doubts II II were not for this class,
from the cabinet campaign minister
down 10 the postmaster who edits a
country newspaper, the country's de-
mand for u change would have been
respected and conceded, and that now,
instead OF anarchy and industrial par
alysis, the country would DO health.
filly engaged Ia merchandise aud Az.
ricullure. In talking with leading
Democrats, the most alarming aud
sickenlDg thing Is the hopelessness
with which they seem to regard all mp"
peals to tho constitution aud laws
This hopelessnesa Ia not expressed IN u
pronounced manner, but II Is new or
theless apparent. The Republicans
monkei the constitution aud the laws
In the plenitule Of their power; they
will not respect them now In their
desperate death struggle.
Thaddens Stephens said: 40 hell
with the constitution" and the prest-
dent OF the United States has, In the
last week, expressed his contempt for
the Supreme Court Of one OF the thlr-
teen original States In language coarser
but lot less emphatic, IL may be very
we'll for us AZ Democrats aud patriots
to fortify our oonscienoes and plumb
our souls with abstract right, precedent
aud constitutional law, but lot us at
the same time reallss that those who
have clutched the government look
upon the constitution as an efiete In
strument, and know no law but might.
In crises like this nothing concerning
the men whom fantastic fortune has
made tho arbiters OF our fate can DO
uninterestins. President Grant has
supplemented tho ignorance Of politics
OF which he boasts In his last message
with Ignorant and mediocre advisers.
Since Bristow and Jewell were kicked
out, there remains scarcely frst.rate
man Ia his cabinet. His constitutional
advisers are not statesmen; they are
simply partisans aud crouies. The
most influential among them are Mr..
Don Cameron, secretary OF War, aud
Mr. Chandler, secretary Of the Interior.
Or senators who have the confidence
OF the president, Mr.. Conkiing Ia the
only one who possesses any claims to
statesmanship; but his visits TO the
White House are few In comparison
TO those OF Patterson, ofScuth Carolina;
Spencer, Of Alabama, aud Boutwell,,
Of Massachusetts Senator Patterson,
who represents Chamberlain mot the
State ~ South Car0lina) ut the White
House, IL n native Of Pennsylvania,
and u protege, or rather puppet, Of the
the CamerOns. The influence of the
Camerons In national politics Is inn
meDse. Cameron pore superseded
Sumner, In shaping our foreign policy
IN the Senate. Aud Cameron as die
tated the Republican presidential
nomination. Among the Senators
who have come to the front In this
complication Is John Sherman, Of
Ohio. Heretofore he has not been
conspicuous for anything but thrift
aud stature. The average newspaper
reader knows little more VI him than
that he votes with his party, and has
become, In some way, enormously
wealthy. The name Is eminently re-
spectacle, and 30 IL the Senator. The
name is historic; II carries us back to
the heroic days Of the republic, aud
we vaguely associate him with the
New England statesman Of that
name. But let us not DO misled by
coincidence Of sound. II Hayes had
been elected, John Sherman would
have had opportunities greater, even
than he now has for putting money Ia
his purse. Sherman was tho first to
urge his nomination, and to him and
Cameron, Hayes ID chiefly indebted
tor his candidacy. When we study
these relations, we havea key to the
superservicesble partizanship Of the
INTRIGUING Senator In his report on
Louisiana, and the disgrAceful prosti-
tuition OF the army by the ambitious
young secretary OF war. know Sena-
TOR Sherman, but 1t 10 not easy to des-
cribe him, for he 10 "neither hot nor
cold" but negative and mediocre In
everything except averice aud amoi-
ton. His most marked characteristic
ID caution, he has offences At his back,
but he keeps between Thorn and the
observer.
There 10 little news here that you
Will not have received by telegraph
before this reaches you. The plot Is
becoming day by day more trans
parent. The hoofs aud horns are die