Middletown transcript., 1877-04-14
washington Letter.
wAgHINarON, D. q, April II, ls77

nothing, the machinery WaslneXpensiEe,
and the gas TO be immeasurably supe-
rior to any ether gas We all remem-
Der the enthusiastic Professor. His
theory was beautiful one, and be felt
great pride IN it. The failure came
only when he attempted to reduce it to
practice. He entered bis laboratory
one day to complete bis experiments as
fine specimen Of manhood as there was
in New England, and full Of faith He
left it soon after through a window, a
mere wreck of man and without q
particle Of faith. The one discovered
weakness ID his process was that it in
volved the immediate destruction Of the
material Of the machinery aud Of the
manufacturer What other diabolical
defects may have been hidden under
the seeming innocence Of the invention
it remains for posterity to find out; the
one that appeared was SO sudden and
effectual in its operation that the Pro-
fessor never looked further In the
like manner the collapse of our unelected
President in carrying out the Southern
portion Of his policy promises to be sud-
den enough and complete enough to
prevent his developing any Of the noti-
ceable points in it. Day by day the
evidence accumulates here that nearly
the solid vote Of bis own party is against
him. The commercial centres wish to
support him 10 the desperate fear that
business anarchy would follow further
political turmoil but outside Of such
points The indications are all the other
way.
Most voters Of the Republican party
believe in sustaining Chamberlain and
Packard, or in any other means Of af-
fiicting the South, and in them is a
mighty foundation for an opposition.
The veteran Republican leaders have
been sligbted and snubbed BY Hayes.
and therein is ground enough for their
opposition. For one relying not only
upon indications from the press in the
North, but upon information from indi-
viduaIs inside and outside Of politics, |
have no hesitation in saying that in re-
ality Hayes has no party in the North.
While organized opposition may not
appear before Congress meets in June,
and then may not exhibit its strength
for the reason that the members Of Con-
gress we're elected before the present
issue arose, and it is already apparent
that at least one vital point has been over
looked by the President, and that, so
far as party support is concerned, be
win come out Of the present experiment
with far less faith than be went into it,
But it is likely that organized opposi-
ton will await even the meeting Of Con-
gress. An hour Of turmoil in the State
House of South Carolina or Louisiana
would arouse feeling among the vast
majority Of Republicans North that they
have not known for years The present
position Of Chamberlain, and he whole
course Of Packard-both able men, and
both with supporters among the most
able or northern republicans-show that
If anything is needed to "fre the Re
publican heart" they are ready to fur
nish it. It is certainly 10 their power
to do 50.
If it is asked what the Democrats
shall do. the answer is plain. They
are an enormous majority of the whole
people. They are well organized. They
have the House Of Representatives.
They must simply see that the peace is
kept. and that the Republican explo-
sion, when il comes. does no unnecss-
sary damage to the country at large.
A word ought to be said about the
apparent reduction Of $4,000, 900 in
the public debt in March The reduc-
tion was only apparent The debt rep
resented by adjudicated but unpaid
claims against the government was en-
ormously increased. The amount Of
ascertained and undenied Indebtedness
of the government in this term is very
large, and is growing larger, the object
being to present good showing Of ap-
parent reduction. In a word that S14,-
900, 900 is largely made up Of cash held
10 the Treasury. which should have been
paid to government creditors, and thus
have gone into circulation. To Illus
trate this. it is only necessary to sup
pose that Secretary Sherman pay none
Of the bills Of the government for the
next six or seven years. but retain all |
the appropriated money 10 the Treasury |
At the end Of that time he would hold |
an amount equal to the whole debt, or.
IS be ipgeniously puts it, the debt would
be redeemed" its whole amount Col.
Forney wrote from Europe Of gentle
nan there who just managed to keep out
# debt from year to year, but always |
lad to borrow money to do it RENO.