The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1877-03-17
Letter from Washington.
Correspondence of the Democratic Advocate

WASHINGTON. March 18th, 1877.
The snubbing, eoaxing, cooling, policy OF
the new administration is all the rage just
now. II has proved perfect liver regulator
and soothing syrup; even the carpet baggers
cry for it. The chief cause Of its precocious
popularity is that it comes after Grant ANY
thing to beat Grant, seems to be the text Of
the present administration, and, with this
sound prologue, the presidential theme be.
comes wonderfully plain and simple. The
policy consists chiefly in reversing things.
But almost any administration will beat
Grants, because in Grant we had reached the
bottom. At the end of the first century OF
our national pilgrimage we may sing
Through many term It's ours To 60
With many a retrOspectiOn curst
But with this splAce lis 10 know,
What eer betides we've seen the worst"
No doubt but the fact that affairs were des
perately at their worst, and must of necessity
improve, will 60 far toward reconciling the
country to the fraudulent tenure of the pres.
ent executive. Gov. Hayes is in many re.
spects the antithesis Of Gen. Grant He is q
better man, better gentleman, and an in.
comparably better statesman. The new cab.
met is, in many features, the moral aud pc.
litcal autpode of the old. Where would it
be possible to find sharper contrasts than are
presented in Key and Tyner; in the erudite
Schurz and the ignorant, vulgar, and dishon.
est Chandler; in the commonplace Fish and
the brilliant Evarts. From moral point Of
view the two Secretaries of State are equally
unloyely, and the man who voluntarily Joined
hands with Wells and Chandler to steal the
presidency, may not stand up in the temple
and thank God that he is better than the pub.
lican who has sat for eight years among the
legal advisers Of Gen. Grant. But il is not
only in the executive and the cabinet that the
new is an improvement upon the old. The
wife and family Of Mr.. Hayes present several
points Of advantageous contrast with the do.
nestle circle of the recent administration.
Mrs. Hayes is, perhaps, not the intellectual
superior of Mrs Grant, who was an estimable
woman, and had not her influence been
counteracted by nature and bad associations,
she would have done even more than she did
to redeem the maladmiuistration Of her hus.
band. But Mrs. Hayes has had the adyan.
tage of long familiarity with the usages and
customs Of good society; she has acquired, TO
the perfection of second nature, the little
ciyillties, graces, and bieafaiSdHee, which, to
use an elegant figure, are the axle greese OF
the selfish polite world. Social intercourse
at the capital has always the appearance and
smoothuess Of oiled gudgeons, but the fault
of the lubricating material has been that it
smelled. Ii has been made odorous by Bah.
cock, Belknap, Boss Shepard, Dick Harring.
ton, Landaulet Williams, Parson Newman,
and some females whom, since they were
once women, | will not mention by name.
Apropos of Parson Newman, who has been
the pastor and beneficiary Of the ex president,
it is said that he called upon Mr.. Hayes and
urged him to accept the pew formerly occu.
pied by Gen. Grant But the present execu.
tive declined saying, automatically, that he
would hesitate to usurp the pew of the ex
president who was still in the city. To this
the Rev. Newman replied: Gen. Grant can
have the Vice Presidents pew But, on
Sunday, Governor and Mrs. Hayes walked to
the Foundry Methodist church on the corner
Of l4th and G. street, two squares from the
White House, where, il is said, Mrs. HAYES
sang in loud and clear voice. Of course
the humiliation and chagrin of DIR. Newman
and his congregation is only tqualed By that
OF Blaine and Cameron. Let them all resign,
abdieate IN favor Of their sons, their country
honesty, and common decency.
The resignation Of the imbecile lachrymose
old senatorial fraud who has for years made
the second state Of the union contemptible in
the Senate, was very general surprise, and
has been the subject of more comment than
any thing that has occurred since the nomina,
ton of the new Cabinet. 1t is now quite
evident that the resignation was entirely in
the interest Of his son Don, for whom the old
schemer is ambitious, and who is not without
ambition Of his own. The concentrated in.
huence Of Pennsylvania was brought to secure
Don Cameron's retention in the Cabinet, but.
IN spite OF his great political strength, and the
fact that he was eo.eqnal and co.eyiI with
Wells, Chandler, and Bradley, in the rape Of
the Presidency, he was compelled to surrender
the sword of his father. But the old man L
able to console his darling sonny. He wraps
him IN his own desecrated senatorial toga,
and the heir comes into the succession through
the action ola corrupt subservient legislature
as naturally as Alphonso might have sccceed.
ed Isabella, had Spain been free State Of
the "Glorious Republic instead Of an effete
despotism. Let give Pennsylvania another
Centennial, right of and rehallow the me
orV of the fnundera :,