Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1877-05-25
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
Correspondence Of the Bulletin.
WASuJNGTON. Nav 10 1871


correspondence Of the Bulletin.
WASHINGTON, May 10, 1877.
So quiet have political matters be-
ZONE that now the President and
Cabinet can take time to leave the
city,. In his assisting last week in
The opening ceremonies of the Ma
tional Exhibition at Philadelphia, and
this week participating in New York
in the dinner festivities of the annu-
al banquet given by the Chamber of
Commerce, he shows us full indica-
ton that the cares of State rest light
ly now upon him, and that the in
tense application to them during the
first two months of Presidency now
gives away to certain degree of
personal enjoyment and association
with the people. 1t is but right that
the President should share in the GER
emonies of the people on public oc-
casions. Such is the course of the
Kings and Princes in Europe, and
there can certainly be no sound rea-
son for coping our President up in
the White House under the specious
plea that the public veal demands
his constant presence here just as 1t
did that of Mr.. Lincoln during the
war. While it is not advisable for
the President to remove himself and
family from the White House for
months, yet good can only result
from his presence en- great public
festivals or ceremonies throughout
the country. The people elect the
President, and have right to see
him in their midst, while he has no
right to make himself exclusive, and
to demand that the people must jour
ney to the White House if they de-
sire to pay him their respects. We
are glad to note that General Grant
has been the recipient of high hon
ors wherever he has gone-quite as
many, if not more than those extend
ed Mr.. Hayes, and thus disproving
the oft repeated assertion that the
ex-office-holder Is summarily forgot
ten. We have a warm admiration
for General Grant, though we have
in the past widely differed from him
on many points, and have freely and
strongly condemned his course there
in. But the fact remains that he has
been a true patriot, meaning and
having at heart only the best inter-
ests of his country, and that his er-
rors have been those of Judgment,
not willful obstinate dereliction. He
was drawn into the San Domingo
swindle by friends in whom he had
the most implicit confidence. He put
and kept Columbus Delano into his
Cabinet, believing him to be an hon
orable man. Above deceit himself
and with hand untarnished by cor
ruption or dishonor, he never could
realize how Mr.. Delano had made
political life merely a stepping stone
to personal emoluments from his
light house swindle in 1862, at the
time he brought the only tarnish
which ever dimmed the lustre upon
the name of that statesman Tom
Corwin, down to the Indian Rings in
1875, for which he was so unceremo-
niously kicked out of office by Gen
eral Grant, and that too in the face
of the assertion that he-the Presi-
dent-would dismiss no man while
under fire. General Grant chung
tenaciously to his friends, and 1t re-
quired overwhelming evidences of
unworthiness to compel him to aban-
don them. But now that he has
ceased to make history for US, and is
again with the people as citizen,
where no civil act Is open to public
criticism, the good he has done, the
purity of his intentions, and the in
tense love of his country which actu-
ated his public acts, should compel
all parties to forego carplng upon
criticism and do him honor as ex-
President.
Mrs. Sartoris had her boy christen-
ed recently in one of our Episcopal
Churches, and has left us, perhaps,
forever. She has no intentions now
of returning soon, and is preparing
for a permanent residence IN her
English home. She and her mother,
Mrs. Grant, have won golden opin-
ions from all who ever met them in
the past public life of the President,
and none has ever met them but now
extends the heartfelt wish for a safe
and pleasant voyage.
FRED. DOUGLASS.
All our papers have joined in the
hue and cry against this distinguish
ed colored man. Immense petitions
have been presented to the President
praying for Douglass removal. But
the offender deems it as he says ga
tempest in a teapot" and does little
but call public attention to the fact
that the same lecture was delivered
here a few years ago, and then elici-
ted many compliments from the pa
pers that are SO roundiy abusing him.
At that time he was only a nigger,"
and people could afford to laugh at
his criticism or spleen, But now he
is United States Marshal, and the
same words become rank offence.
This we presume is natural, but we
opine that in few days more the
terment will have subsidized, and the
people will admit that his lecture had
many truths in it. Thomas Jefferson
our large cities as ul-
GERS upon the body polite, and in SO
far as size permits, no observing per-
son can deny that Washington has
its full share of the evils which cons
in all cities. But we hardly
like to have a negro tell us of our
and we must throw
stone at his glass house by saying
that while the colored citizens COM
pose only one-third of our popula
ton, they furnish one-half of the
criminal calendars Of our courts.
SILVER.
The glut of this precious metal on
the Pacific coast gives our Postal
much annoyance, mas
much as it causes great difficulty in
payments to contractors who
carry the mails. The people buy
their stamps with silver, but refuse
TO receive it in return, and demand