The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1877-08-22
0ASHTNGTON CORRESPONDENCE.
WASHINGTON, !
August II, 1871

ing from three calamities, the war,
the labor strikes and John Sherman.
The FIRST is past, the second appears
to be near their end, but the last re-
mains, and the people are beginning
to cry in regard to it 30 Lord how
long" They are not yet fully aware,
it is true, of the malign influence
which that parsonage exerts upon
them and their interests, but like
sleepers afflicted with nightmare,
they are conscious of q something
evil and oppressive, which weighs
upon their faculties and fills them
with disquiet; and with the instinct
of self-preservation they struggle to
free themselves from the load. AS
to which of the Affections is in itself
the greatest, it might seem difficult
to decide, but the question is one to
which little time would bring its
own solution; for any long continu-
ance of the last of them would GER
tainly Cause recurrence of both the
others, since it is beyond the range
of moral possibility that the Ameri-
lean people could, for any considera-
BILE time, submit without resistance
to the present head of the Treasury
Department and his methods. To
suppose that they would do SO, is to
suppose them bereft of ali regard
alike for their own interests, and for
the honor of their government.
Displaying, as be does, at a time
when distress and suffering are al
most universal, the greatest alacrity
in putting into operation any engine
at his command for extorting money
from the people to pay to foreign
and other holders of our obligations
the payment of which they do not
desire, while, on the other hand, he
resorts to every paltry device which
unscrupulsus cunning can suggest, to
avoid paying any other demands,
however just, and however fully es-
tablished, not hesitating in doing so,
to disregard the most carefully con-
sidered opinions and decisions of the
law and accounting officers, the SOL
emn Judgment of the courts; the
plain requirements of the Statute
laws, and even his own express and
repeated promise, he hangs, like an
old man of the sea, upon the Govern
ment and Nation, depressing the one
ana Hdiscouraging the other.
And the motive for all this is as
base, as the acts themselves are
- wicked. Dir. Sherman has become
ambitious; and like another Father
Roden, he is willing to commit any
ct, however dishonest or unjust, or
Awever injurious or fatal to others,
y ich will in his opinion, further his
fish designs, though happily, he
none of the genius or courage
ich gave fearful interest to the
Zines Of the despicable, but pro-
fund and daring Jesuit. No, he has
male shallow mistake; made often
by shallow men before. He believes
the mass of the American people to
be, at heart, thieves; aad he per
suades himselfthat they will applaud
him for any extortion or injustice
provided he can thereby show dim
mutton of the annual expenditures,
or handsome reduction in what he,
and those like him, choose to call the
Nationa, debt; as If what the govern
ment owes upon its ordinary engage
ments; or for money or property
which it has wrongfully taken from
it's owners, is no part of its indebted
ness. He doubtless imagines that, be-
cause the extortions, which effect
all, are practiced under the forms of
law, he will not be held accountable
for them; and that the wrongs inaic-
ted on the comparatively few will be
overlooked or applauded by the many
who profit by them; while the whole
people will join in shouting his
praise for the economy of his expen-
ditures, and his success and reducing
the National debt. He dreams that,
for this, they will be induced to
make him President.
Once again he is mistaken. The
people of the country are neither 80
simple, nor 30 selfish, as he believes
them to be. They are both keen
sighted and just; they are quick to
detect impostors, they despise all
sham, and they hate all oppression
and injustice, though practiced IN
their names and ostensibly for their
interest. Let Mr.. Sherman look
back on the history of the country
and point, if be can, to one man who
has ever won and kept the favor of
its people by the means be has cho-
sen to adopt. On the contrary,
those to whom the people have given
their lasting confidence, and on
whom they have hestnWed their