The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-07-19
LETTER FROM SENATOR HOWE.

To Louis 4. Proctor, Esq:
have heard from your interrogatorios pro-
pounded through the EUoeing Wisconsin of
the ODD inst. After much reelection 1 have
concluded to respond.
1t was my earnest desire to avoid all partici-
patton in the personal chickering's whichin these
last years have disgraced the Republican party
in Wisconsin. 1 have borne very much without
remonstrance.
1t pleased certain newspapers to advertise me
as having opposed the confirmation of Mr..
Schurz to be Secretary of the Interior; which
was not true and which they could not have
known if it had been true.
Ex-Gov. Washburn saw fit to draw upon my
private correspondence to enliycn his public
discussions.
Another newspaper is considerate enough to
taunt me with having been 'scooped by my
colleague In the matter of an appointment to
the Surveyor Generalsl1ip for Dakota. Others
exclaimed against my temeEity il voting FOR the
Electoral Commission.
Others with beastly satisfaction ruminated
upon the calumny that / was procuring public
employment for friends that my son might
share in the profits. Others. descending still
lower, soiled their cpittmns by displaying in
loaded lines the vulgar and sktilhing hint that
was involved in some unknown difficulty With
treasury female I was silent under all this.
Descending still lower, Mr.. Carpenter, with
that affiuence of dash and that poverty of
judgment, for which he is 50 conspicliotls,
waltzed clear up to the footlights to announce
that he hid 6nlS obeYed the constitution in
voting for an increase of salary; but that had
outraged law and decency by taking the salary
after it was voted. Even to this arralSnmGut
| have made no reply.
But you summon me by name before your
itidgfl1etit sert You read me homily upon
my duties as Senator. You Convict me of GER
tain offenses which you invent, and, withott
asking me if l have anything to say in my de-
fense, you proceed to pass Judgment upon me.
I do not reply to you because you are more
offensive than Others yUt af5 IN fact less so.
But you are more direct and more Imperative.
You address me by name and you demand to
know, among other things, who sent me to
Washington?
for that would not be polite, although quite
true 1t is enotlgh for Your purposes to know
that 1 went to Washington. 1t would neither
aggfavate nor lessen my offense whether was
sent by one portion of the people or another.
But to be quite candid with you, as l ought to
be with my friend, | was not sent at all. J
went; not without request, indeed, and net with
btit reluctance, but without command from
anyone OF iny oiTn volitioh, alone; and at my
own cost
l tried to avoid going. The very smallest
concession the part of Milwaukee claims
wt}u1d have relieved me from the thankless
journey. Bit all Concession was refused:
You venture to ask if L was hot g h1trr'ed
off to Washington by - the Postmaster at Mad
ison?' If you We're venerable for years and re-
nowned for wisdom, you might possibly engen-
der a suspicion Iii some crcdulouS brain by even
50 stiipid q question 6s that. But you are
neither and you can't afford TO draw upon
yourself the derision Of million Of people who
reside in this State, and who have known me
fot ltlng time. and have known that l am not
a satellite to any of cut Political lunllnarles,
but as apt as most men TO move II my own
light and act upon my own convictions. 1ouf
memory, see, goes back to time when was
yotinSet than am now, and when you confess
was not i'll the sateiiit5 btiainesS; but chose to
be covered by a cloud, > rather thai shtih by
borrowed and a bad light
But even if [ was reduced to vassalage. as
you suggest, don't you think it rather late TO
inculcate the notion that ii is Mr.. Keyes whose
livsry wear?
You do not inqiiire what considerations
moved me to go to Washington aid so ] viii
not state them. But don't tiattcr yourself
that ] do not know what they were and could
hot state tiiem to the satisfaction of unbiased
minds.
But you assume that the purpose for Which
went was to bully the President out Of a de-
cision he had already made.
l know nothing unlawful in asking the Presi-
dent to reconsider a decision he has already
|
gated. But, iii point of fact, the President had
not decided the question OH which went to
Washington. OF that l took pains to he ns-
| sured upon inquiries made both In Milwaukee
| 5tla Washington: And repeat to you If any
one had decided thosb qi'estions. it was not
the President. AS for bull-doZing the Presi-
| dent, only two men know whether | attempted
that not. One is the President and one my
| self. These fulminations l shall send to the
President. He will know whether you are hon
estly applauding him, or dishonesty calumni-
| atng me. Ii you and your allies can abide
his judgment on that point, I can.
| But You remind me that am Senator. and
therefore ought not to have iaterfered. Well,
tsi allow me to remind you, You are al editor.
l al, nitssa, and so are you. May not Senator
| as propefly express an opinion or state an arsu-
| mint IN favor of tie location of a pension
! agency as an editor? Is thsrt anything in the
decalogue, in the constitution of the United
| States. or even in the ordinances of Milwaukee.
! which forbids a Senator TO express an opinion
as to the location of an agency to pay pensions
| But you remind me l was 8 chosen to represent
the whole State" Well, if so. you chose the
wrong man. | am not sufficiently multifarious
for that. Perhaps the Eoepinq Wisconsin corld
do it, but [ cannot
On some questions the whole State is not
agreed Doyou mean that Senator may speak
when ''t the whole State is agreed, but must
| be still when she is not? On what questions,
then, should l speak? Do you want an eftigy
| for Senator, or a man?
You urge me to initiate the example of the
great Senator Silas Wright, and have nothing
to do with appointments. You did not know
Silas Wright, l fancy, nor did you ever know
any Senator who i'll sixteen years service had
so little to do with appointments as have
1 most heartily wish 1 could have nothing to
do with them. But do you seriously think the
time has come when can safely say will have
nothing to do with them? Can L properly re-
ply to all these letters now on my table; some
from the heads of departments, some from my
|
| l will have nothing to do with appointments
Would that have been proper and satisfactory
reply to make to your friend who visited me
| but few weeks since to urge your appoint
ment to the Collectorship in Milwaukee? HaC
| l not better wait until our politics become &
little more evangelical before assume that po
| sition?
cite me to Walker and DooIittle and Carpenter
as melancholy examples of Senators who have
defeated their own elections by dabblDg III ap
pointments, and you threaten me with theil
fate.
Have you not read political history little
carelessly? 1 know Mr.. Walker after one re
election was defeated-but L suppose it wa
not because he dabbled in appointments, bu
because he dGbbled III Democracy, and tn
State wanted no more of that.
| 1 know after reelection Doolittle wa
defeated-but | supposed 1t was because h'
espoused wrong measures and not because h
supported wrong men.
know Mr.. Carpenter was defeated Wlthou
reelection. Precisely how much his dabbliD:
in appointments had to do with ii, L don
know But it did not turn your stomach, if
remember, or forfeit your support.
know perfectly well that L too shall be re
tired from the Senate whenever it shall sui
the good pleasure of the great people who SIX
teen We 4rs ago put me there, and have sine
sustai ned me with a steadfastness unparalelle'
in American politics. All that is PLAIN enough
even to one not gifted with your renarkabi
provision. But because d man Is destined t
be hung some years hence, that does not au
thorize the boys in the neighborhood to ston
the victim until the hanging comes on. Yo
aa,1lt HIT Shall sIlhnlii To the tiIll