The daily gazette., 1876-04-10
THE RhLOIL OF THE BOOMERANG
From the CouIier-J ournal. louisville,
Ky. Aprl Ist.
:" Plantation lWanncrs.''

N.Y. hprll ISL.
Plantation lNanncrs.''
Mr.. Boutwell,, Of Massachusetts, is
what Mr.. Hosea Bigelow would call u
"dreffin smart man." and in his time,
has played many parts. But it is to |
be doubted whether he did not go be-
yond himself and "bite off more than
he could chaw" when he undertook to
lecture Mr.. Bayard, of Delaware, in
the art and science of senatorial de-
pertinent. There is something lrresis-
tibly funny in this under bred New
Englander's conceit. The anithesis, !.
however, is perfect; for if there be !
such thing as a princely American
gentleman, the Democratic statesman
has claim upon the character, and is
| fairly describable as one of the prince
liest.
But Mr.. Boutwell, did not stop with
an ill-tempered rebuke Of Mr.. Bayard.
He turned upon slavery and the slave
| drivers, and gave the Senate in his own
| person a Y Yankeefied conception of
"plantation manners" This was very
! good. The North used to send us our
overseers in the old regime, and their
manners of the worst. But they were
up to the full mark of the class from
which they, and the Republican lead
ers of the present day, were taken. In
deed, if slavery still existed, the men
who have been ruling the roost at
Washington would be cracking equal
ly venal lashes over the backs of cur
negroes.
The records of Congress show that
dignity and courtesy was the rule in
debate until the advent of the Repub-
lican party. From 1850 10 1860 the
tone changed and deepened and it
was the Republicans who made it vici-
Gus and vulgar. Still, there was a
sense of decOrum left until the South
disappeared from the scene, and the
men whose manners Mr.. Bautwell eX-
tolls occupied it all to Themselves
Then there was riot of plantation
manners" imported for the North to
the South, and back again, by the over
seer class. The restraining fear of per-
} sonal accountability being withdrawn,
/, the bad passions of bad men found
their vent. These low fellows INDUCED
themselves. They whacked each other
with adjective and adverb; smiled,
made up, fell out again, and went to it
as before. Fer fifteen years the pro-
ceedings have been full Of Shocking per-
sonal episodes. The spirit of unjusti-
fed and irresponsible insult has been
perpetual. 1t has become impossible
, for Republican IN either house to
speak upon any sectional topic and
speak like gentleman. The moment
enc of them touches upon such topics,
he brawls and bullies and shows him
self to be thoroughly mean and coarse.
This may be said OF the best of them.
AS to the worst nothing else could be
expected. Men who owe their origin
to the levelling influences of war are
o likely to be warlike when there is no
!. enemy in their front.
q Mr.. Boutwell, should have enriched
his lecture on manners by few illus-
' trati0ns from the men around about
% him. He should have compared the
noisy Gordon with the spotlesS Spen-
II Ger. He should have drawn a damag-
ing comparison in favor of puritan
manners between Maxey and Clayton.
o He should have shown up the turbu-
llence Of Stevenson, the redhanded ir-
reconcilability OF Ransom, the abusive
vehemence of Cooper, on the one
n hand, and the mildness of Morton, the
- amiability of Conkling, and the chaste
moderation of Logan on the other. lie
might have gone into the House and
pointed to the ruffianly Lamar and the
urbane, polished and courteous Blaine.
Zach Chandler is no longer in the
NJ Senate to stand as beautiful, living
" monument of the graces and virtues OF
a public career. The placid, patriotic
words of Butler, Bingham and a
tPemeroy are no longer to be heard
lcheering the heart, invigorating the
intellect and elevating the thought
and,purpose of debate. Butin their stead
such savages as Withers and Johnson,
of Virginia, Merimon, of North Caro-
lima, Norwood, of Georgia, Key, of
Tennessee, and Goldthwaite, of Ala
= bana, who keep the Senate hideous
~ by their bowling, communicating their
50 "plantation manners" to Thurman and
Il Herman. Our own McCreery keeps us
D. in perpetual fear lest he break out
some day in spite of the moderating
influence of Morton and the genial so.
ciety of Conkling.
Dir. Boutwell, Should either hold his
7. lecture back for revision or prepare
(. another. If he does not, Spencer
Or should. But, rather than miss the thing
sc that is wanted, why, we should be
lwilling to listen to Logan's views.