National Republican., 1876-01-27
], Proctor Knott,
From the Raleigh IN. C.) Sentinel. !

From the Raleigh IN. CD sentinel.I
The papers are gabbling over all the pros
and cons OF this individuals appointment as
chairman Of the Congressional Judiciary Com
mittee. We are not disposed to arise any
knotty points of order or policy against this
Knott on the Democratic legislative log We
simply propose to state one fact. J. Proctor
Knott's whole claim to national notoriety
rests upon two speeches made in Congress.
One was on the finances, the other on Duluth.
With his Duluth fanfaronade we have nothing
to do. But his widely unpublished and laughed
at financial spread-eagle was stolen Hteratha
ct reTbdtiIn ct piracuGtinI et every other atm,
from long and laboriously- prepared article
in the Lexington (Mo.) Caucasian, of a few
months before. 1t was written by the present
editor of the Sentinel, and contained many
curious calculations in regard to the national
debt-how many thousand miles beyond the
moon it would reach in one-dollar bills pasted
end to end-how many times it would girdle
the earth in twenty dollar gold pieces laid edge
to edge-how many miles above the clouds it
would tower in silver dollars piled fiat upon
each other-how many two-horse wagons 1t
would load in gold-and hundred other fam
tastic computations, based on weights and
measurements with which we had bothered
every jeweler Of our acquaintance for days.
Inc aTIlcle apptdTeu III the OducdStd1t OF Nlarcn
-, 1870, and was sent marked to many promi-
nent politicians, North and South, J. Proctor
Knott, of Kentucky, among the number. Dur
ing the session of Congress in the winter of
1S70-'7l he made himself famous as quaint
and comical fnancier by rising in his place and
declaiming that two-column editorial without
changing figure or acomma, every word. idea
and syllable ours. And we suppose 1t stands
recorded in the Congressional Globe OF that
day as his speech, while we have before US, at
this moment, the Caucasian of eight months
previous containing 1t. We denounced Mr..
Knott at the time as a brain pirate, q
thieying hummer, fattening on other
mems wits. 1t was, and is always, q crime
that admits Of no apology. 1t is base, shame
full, inexcusable-the most heinous form of
robbery. Steal an editors pocketbook, and,
If 1t is like most of them, you get worse than
trash-a batch of old hashery and washery
bills, tailors' duns and SIGH, and nothing more.
Steal his good name, and, in ninety nine cases
out Of a hundred, you take what he never
had and never cared or deserved to have.
Steal his wife, and, in multitudinous instances,
you do him an incalculable service-one for.
which he would gladly write you first-class
obituary, with all the poetic embellishments,
free of charge. But steal his brains, and YOU
leave him poor and wretched indeed-a de-
fenceless dove in world of keen-witted, swift
winged and sharp beaked vultures q sickly,
feeceless lamb in wilderness of wolves and
jackals. Orthodoxy teaches US that perdition
is bottomless; but we thought, and, after five
years calm reflection, still think, that, in the
performance we have detailed, Mr.. ]. Proctor
Knott, of Kentucky, demonstrated the falsity
Of the doctrlne-and struck bottom. And