The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-05
A CONGRESSMAN TO" TIE TO-"

A celebrated English poet exclaims.
s'Whene'er we take our walks abroad, how
many poor we seer If that poet had been
taking one Of his walks abroad in the City of
Washington last week, or perhaps the week
before, among the needy passers-by he might
have remarked poor Congressman looking
for cheap lodgings But not the highest flight
of poetic fancy, not the Imagination of Homer,
or Dante, or Milton, would have enabled him
to soar to the height of the consequences
which were to flow from that excursion.
Considering these consequences. it is crafty
ing to know that such being as poor Con-
gresham really exists. Popular opinion re-
CARDS those eminent public servitors as bloat-
ed with bonds and redolent of riches. The
average citizen. who reads the newspapers,
and recalls the memories of the Credit MobIier
and other similar methods of achieving wealth
according to the rule of "addition, divi-
sion and silence" would never think
of Congressman exploring the metropolis in
quest Of the s.raitened bed-chamber and the
exiguous boarding-houss table. But the
average citizen would, probably, neglect to
consider that the bene6ciaries of the Credit
Mobilier, and the experts in the golden rule
referred to were Republicans, whereas the
necessitous Congressman who was forced by
stress Of pecuniary deficiencies to 60 in search
of cheap abiding place happened to be a
Democrat. Thus it fell out that in the course
Of his inquiries, this needy and Democratic
Congressman applied for lodings at a house
where he met man named Mors. 1t was not
the pallida Mors, WHOSE impartial knock is
heard as we'll at the palace as at the
cottage-door, but it was q Mors destined to be
death to at least one shining Republican
reputation. To this person our Democratic
Congressman addressed himself, and with
more effect than he had anticipated.
We may presume that his inquiries had q
general, perhaps q direct relation to the
price of board. Assuming this to.'be true,
we are naturally surprised at the conspicuous
irrelevancy OF an answer which, instead of
giving the information required, simply ex-
pressed the deep desire Of the respondent to
find Congressman "to tie to-" A Con-
gresham "to tie to" was the one desire
which pervaded Mors's bosom. There it had
long lain perdu, and unqualified, because, We
may infer, that Mors had never contemplated
the potential existence of q Congressman to
whom he could "tie." But Mors must, like
most other persons, have been thinking Of
Republican Congressman, and he knew that
to such as they his tale would be an idle
story. Happily the Congressman whom
fate or fortune had brought to his door
was not q Republican - he was q
Democrat; he was poor, but honest,
he wanted cheap lodgings, but he was willing
that Mors should "tie to" him. And SO
the story was told, how Bslknap had sold his
appointments for money, and how shame
full traffic was carried on by the head of the
War Department. And then the revelation
was made to the Committee on Expenditures
of the War Department, and the charges
made by Mors were confirmed in all their dis
graceful enormlty by the man who had paid
the money and received the benefit.
There is something sadly ludicrous in these
circumstances. If it were not for the dis
grace reflected on the country by the shock.
ing exposure which has been made of cor
ruption and venality in high places, people
would be inclined to laugh at the strange
accident by which Belknap's guilt was brought
To light