The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1876-12-16
Letter from Washington.


W = {. q a u ( u
WAsmsGToS, Dec. 18th, 1876.
| opine that you care very little nowadays
for the social and fashionable frivolities of
the National Capital, at least We care little
for them here. Every subject becomes con-
temptible in presence of the mpmentous pc.
litical questions peering above the horizon OF
the second century, Are majorities to rule,
or are the Office holders strong enough to de-
clare their tenure perpetual? No well in
formed person doubts that If it were not for
this class, from the cabinet campaign minis
ter, down to the postmaster who edits a coun,
ty newspaper, sthe country's demand for a
change would have been respected and CON
coded, and that now, instead of anarchy and
industrial paralysis, the country would be
beautifully engaged in merchandise and agri-
culture. In talking with leading Democrats,
the most alarming and sickening thing is the
hopelessness with which they seem to regard
all appeals to the constitution and laws. This
hopelessness is not expressed in n pronounc-
ed manner, but it is nevertheless apparent.
The Republicans Knocked the constitution and
laws in the plenitude Of their power, they
will not respect them now in their desperate
death struggle. Thaddeus Stephens said: ''to
hell with the constitutions" and the President
Of the United States has in the last week ex-
pressed his contempt for the Supreme Court
fof one of the thirteen original States in Ian
guage coarser but not less emphatic. II may
be very well for US as Democrats and patriots
to fortify our consciences, and plumb our souls,
with abstract right, precedent, and constitu-
tional law, but let us at the same time realize
that those who have clutehed the government,
look upon the constitution as an effete instru-
ment, and know no law but might.
In crisar iifn this. nOfhin0 fha
men whom fantastic fortune has made the
arbiters of our fate can be uninteresting.
The President hassupplemented the ignorance
ofpolitics, of which he boasts in his last mes
sage, with ignorant and mediocre advisers.
Since Bristow aud Jewell we're kicked out
there remains scarcely first-rate man in his
cabinet. His constitutional advisers are not
statesmen they are simply partisans and GRO
MES. The most influential among them are
Mr.. Don Cameron secretary of war, and Mr..
Chandler secretary of the Interior. Of the
senators who have the confidence of the Pres
ident, Mr.. Conkling is the only one who has
claims to craftsmanship, but his visits to the
White House are few in comparison with those
of Patterson Of South Carolina, Spencer of
Alabama, and Boutwell, of Massachusetts.
Senator Patterson, who represents Chamber
lain mot South Carolina) at the White House
Is uutlNc Vi L eHubJlNuLlh anu pIutcBe' UT
rather puppet, of the Camerons. The influ-
ence Of the Camerons in national politics is
immense. Cameron pere superseded Sum,
ner in shaping our foreign policy in the Sen:
ate, and Cameron .fLs dictated the RepublI
can 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 and stature. The average
newspaper reader knows little more Of him
than that he votes with his party, and has
become, in some way, enormously wealthy.
The name is eminently respectable, and so is
the Senator. The name is historic it carries
us back to the heroic days of the Republic
and we vaguely associate him with the New
England statesman of that name. But let us
not be misled by coincidence of sound. If
Hayes had been elected John Sherman would
have had opportunities greater even than he
now has for putting money in his purse.
Sherman was the first to urge his nomination,
and to be and Cameron, Hayes is chiefly
indebted for his candidacy. When we study
these relations we have a key to the super
serviceable, partizanship Of the intriguing
Senator in his report on Louisiana, and the
disgraceful prostitution of the army by the
ambitious young secretary of war. | know
oCudtOi bub ~ 10 hOb cosy w We
scribe him, for he is .,Deither hot nor cold,'
hut negative and mediocre in every thing ex.
cept averice and ambition. His most marked
characteristic is caution, he has offences at
his back, but he keeps between them and the
observer.
There is little news here that you will not
have received by telegraph before this reaches
you. The plot is becoming day by day more
transparent, the hoofs and horns are disclosed
and the barbed tell is unfolding. Why has
the general distinguished for his raid on the
Louisiana Legislature, and by the "all Of us
approving dispatch Of Gen. Belknap, been
ordered to take charge Of this military de
partment, and why has Gen. Hancock been
banished to the Pacific slope? Does an,
one doubt that Grant meditates the role o
Cromwell with the British parliament, o.
Bonaparte with the council Of Eve hundred
But why cross the Atlantic for precedents
Has he not tried the experiment with success
two years ago in New Orleans, and two week.
| AGO in Columbia C. A. g.