The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-09
POOR PINCH.

We feel sorry for Pinchback. He has beer
90 long upon the ragged edge Of despair, 81
long hanging on with tightening grip to th'
skirts of the Senate Of the United States, h'
has become, as it were, so familiar to tht
lobby, 80 intimate with the ittle-great mer
who sit in the body of which he fondly hoped
some day to be member, that it seemed az Il
somehow he had become part and parcel o.
the august gathering, and if not . participant
in its proceedings, at least Q sort OF necessary
appendage-an animated bronze figure, 80 70
speak. which was intended, like the MIN
wheel of a coach, more for ornament tnan
use. II not q real Senator, he has been at
least in the company of the genuine article,
and has fed upon promises and lived upon
hope until the vote yesterday upon Edmunds'a
amendment gave him his quietus. Poor
Pinch he knows now how much faith to
place in the promises Of politicians, even
after they assume the Senatorial toga.
He knows now how sincerely his Radical
brethren love him and tho race he claims to
represent This vote has opened his eyes at
last to the utter hypocrisy Of those men in his
party who have led the negroes'to believe that
they were their only friends
The question now is, what will Pinch do !?
Will he accept meekly the situation: come
back, get into traces, and work smoothly and
quietly with the party, or will he prove recall
citrant, end come back prepared for war with
the administrations Of the State and General
Government?
We feel pretty sure as to what his impulse
will be: We know, versed As he is in profane
epithets, he would like to hire some one to
help do his swearing at everybody who has
helped to defeat him. But Pinch is cautious,
and generally remains on the side that has the
heaviest artillery. He would like to fight
Grant and Kellogg too, but he will be afraid
of both, and will hide his wrath as best he
may.
The trouble about Pinch was not his ante
cedents- bad as they were-nor his color
much as Morton and his clique in their hearts
despise everything about negro except his
vote-but his case was utterly hopeless from
the first. He had precisely the case of John
Ray, who was elected by the very Legislature
that elected him, and who was without much
hesitation rejected because he had not been
elected by the Legislature of the State OF Lou
isiana. When that action was taken upon
Rays case Pinchback should have in common
reason withdrawn gracefully from the contest,
but he calculated upon the extreme partisan
character of the Senate, and the result--32 to
29-shows he was not very far out of the way.
There never was the faintest doubt about
the illegality of the body which elected both
Ray and Pinchback, and none have de-
nounced it as . patent and shameful fraud in
more unsparing terms than the Radical Sem
ators themselves. Morton has placed on rec
ord the most scathing denunciation Of the in
famous act of Durell, by which the pretended
Legislature was enabled to meet at all.
We fear that the rejection Of Pinchback will
have no favorable effect upon the chances of
Mr.. Eustis, who was elected at the last ses-
sion Of the Legislature. While some Radical
Senators could not bring themselves to vote
for Pinchback. in view of their votes in the
past, and in view of the utterly illegal body
which elected him, there are few, if any, We
suspect, who could rise so far above party
and party demands as to vote for Democrat,
elected, as MI. Eustis was, by . Legislature
recognized by the people and the courts Of
the State. Apart from the partisan considers
items which we suspect will operate to exclude
Mr.. Eustis, the logic Of the situation requires
his admission.