The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-02-28
Prom cur regular correspondent
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER,
THE PASSAGE OF THE MILITARY
ACADEMY BILL.
The Presentation Of a Picture to Gen.
gress-The 0ratOry of Garfield and
Stephens 0ra8Ory In General.
THE PASSAGE OF THESILVER BILL.
The ROand of Entertainments.
wAsmNoros, D. G. Feh. eslh. Is.

WAsuSaToN, D. c, Feb. 18th, 1875
Although the West Point appropri-
alton bill has been passed in the House,
and will doubtless be passed in the
Senate, Its discussion elected the fact
that there Is a growing opposition to
that military hatchery. in its present
form, and, it may very reasona bly, be
inferred, that the day is not far dis
tant when congress will be sent to
Washington commissioned to alter
and amend that instit ltion, and the
overhauling will then be none The less
severe because of the long past post
ponement of the process.
The Vice-President of the late con-
federacy and Mr.. Hewitt of New
York have been the congressional
stars during the week, or, at least, in
theatrical parlance, they arc the only
members that have made a decided
hit" The occasion of Mr. Stephens
speech .ras the presentation of a life
size oil painting of Mr.. Lincoln and his
cabinet, to congress The picture
painted by Carpenter and bought aud
presented by Mrs. Thompson of New
York, is about on a par with the other
daubs of the capital, and if it were
not Il present would deserve severe
criticism. 1t is called the signing of
the Emancipation proclamation, but it
would suit just as well for any other
occasion where the late President and
his cabinet might have been stfliy
grouped around table to have their
/ photograph taken. The picture, which
covers about ten square feet of canvas,
was elevated over the Speakers desk
/ draped in the stars and stripes. 1t
/ was the intention to have the senate
/ come in in a body; but, when the
/ speaker announced the senate of the
/ United States, only about half the SEN
ators entered. Senator Edmunds of
Vermont said that he could not give
/ the encouragement Of his presence to
poor art exhibition, and many Demo
cratic senators staid away because they
did not sympathize with the subject.
Among those conspicuously absent
were senators Thurman, Bayard, Ea-
/ ton, Gordon, Voorhees, and others.
Mr.. Garfelds speech on the occasion
was elaborate and carefully written,
but it fell shSrt of the eloquence it
aimed at-words, words, words; meta
phors and rhetorical conceits, but no
enthusiasm. HIS political experience
and the habit of his mind seem to have
taken away all the enthusiasm that was
in him though it is questionable if
nature ever formed him for exalted
flights. But it must be admitted that
1t is mare difficult for an orator to
please to-day than it has ever been be-
fore, and the ambitious sophomore
that is even now training, a la Demos
themes and Cicero, to sway listening
senates, had better turn his attention
to something else, or he will find him.
self as superhuous as the editors fresh
ly graduated from Yale and Harvard,
or the warrior from the military hatch
cry on the Hudson. The press has
killed both oratory and di plomacy,
and, though they still lag they are
none the less superfluous. The terse
printed editorial has driven the hus-
tings and the forum and the pull
pit into the background-frst, by
the greater force, conciseness, and ac-
curacy of statement, and, by second
making critics of laymen, placing
them on a level of intelligence with,
and frequently upon plane above,
those who assume the aOle Of Oraclea.
Mr.. Stephens sat during the speech of
Mr.. Garfield moving his emaciaten
hands nervously. When the time
came for him to speak, he without at
tempting to arise from the little three
wheeled chair in which he sits, bowed
to the speaker, and then propeiling
his chair into the upper space in front
| of the speakers stand, faced the house
He was listened to with almost breath
less attention, for there was that in his
historic personality, and the historic
occasion, greater than the eloquence
of words. AS his weak voice strug-
gled to fill the hall of the House of
Representatives and reach the ears of
generals, statesmen, and politicians
whose names are a part of the history
of the greatest conflict of this hemis-
phere-the mind was carried back to
the time when the then old, but now
still boyish looking politician, was q
power in this hall, and prominent as a
probable candidate for the presidency
twenty years ago. His words were no
more remarkable than those of Mr..
Garfield; indeed they were not so APP
propriate for the occasion, consisting
in great part of the words that he had
used in speech thirteen years ago in
Georgia at the end of the war.
In the senate, the silver bill has
again occupied the week, and speeches
have been read TO empty floors and
galleries by senators Sargent, Jones,
Dawes, Merriman, and others; but
now that the bill has been passed, the
senate will be ready for debate upon
the appropriation bills.
As Lent approaches, social enter
tainmenta are reaching their climax of
frequency, and extreme of late hours.
a round of hops at hotels, germans,
official and unofficial, receptions, lee
lures, operas, and temperance revivals
by Murphy, furnish amusements for
every variety of taste The young
debutante Of either sex who started
fresh two months ago now waltz like
machinery, an6 ilirt with all the latest
improvements.