The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-12-05
ShOddy Agitated at Washing,
ton.

Society at Washington Is said TO be
seriously agitated from centre TO cir
cumference, because Mr.. Blanche K.
Bruce. the colored Senator from Miss
issippi. has taken his bride 70 the cap
ital. fresh from a tour in Europe, ex-
pecting that she Will be received with
the civility which is uniformly ex-
tended 10 the wives of all Senators.
OF lat. years, and especially during
the era of GrantiSIn. when shoddy
ruled supreme. official distinctions
have been asserted with as much pres
tension as at any inferior Court of
Europe, with nothing but musty ira
ditions and the ancient forms of ETH
| quette to fall back upon.
Polite usage always recognized Ger
tain social rules at Washington re-
lating to the executive. the judicial.
and the legislative branches of the
Government, without the necessity of
any assertion by the incumbents. If
they were not respected, the omission
was ascribed to accident or to igno-
rance of the customs. Judges of the
Supreme Court, members of the Cabi-
net. Senators. and Representatives
were considered above any little con-
test for precedence or any eXactlon of
| Difference from station alone. But the
vulgar set who swarmed about the
White House in Grant time, and who
sought to establish a sort of shoddy
court, We're not content with this sim
pie and proper practice. They must
have ranks and classes broadly defined.
and they would have created orders
by law had they dared go that far.
All the officials. from a Secretary
| down to a chief clerk, We're regularly
classified, and all the accepted OBJ
~servanceS of ceTemOnlouS life were
magnified and enforced SO as to be-
come absolutely ridiculous in the ewes
of well bred people. According to
custom, the families Of Senators re-
ceive the first Wis is from the families
of members of the Cabinet, of mem
bers Of the House of Representatives,,
and of other official persons.
This usage was affirmed dogmati-
cally as a right by the Senatorial class.
and was regularly incorporated in the
shoddy code. When the system was
in full blast, Pinchback appeared from
Louisiana as a colored claimant for a
seat in the Senate. The Republicans
welcomed him as a man and a broth
or, admitted the principle upon which
his claim rested, and recognized as
valid the Legislature which had elect
Vo nm. DUO tIltIt Us Always some
secret obstacle in the way of his adj
mission. They kept him hanging bv
the eyelids for three years, and then
dismissed him, with some sixteen
thousand dollars from the contingent
fund TO soothe his wounded spirit.
The real opposition to Pinchback
came from the ladies of the shoddy
court, wives OF members Of the Cabi-
net and others, who would have been
obliged to call on Mrs. Pinch. or to
offend the colOred voters, whom their
husbands and the Administration were
c~ultivating ~assiduously. Pinchback
himself was recognized as a power
among his race, and every care was
taken 80 treat him accordingly but
when the question came of inviting
both MIR. and Mrs. Pinch to dinner or
to a ball, at the Secretary of States
table or house, all the race prejudiced
revived as In dRte-6elium days. and it
was decided In the boudoir, and not at
the Capitol, that Pinch should stay out
of the Senate.
The same social influences prevailed
In the rejection of Landaulet Williams
when Grant nominated him for Chief
Justice. In that position Mrs Lam
dauiet would have had precedence So
1iois oNSOiuluS 10 lIlGlT own cOU0,
over the pretentious DANES of the
Cabinet and other aspiring leaders in
court circles. The lady herself was
not disincliued to maintain all the an
thorlty of any office held by her nus
band, as her associates had discovered
while be was Acknowledgement. A
boudolr council was held, at which it
was decided for these reasons and for
others that were conveniently alleged,
that Williams must be rejected for
Chief Justice or be withdrawn from
the Senate The latter alternative
was adopted reluctantly by Grant,
who had personal motives for adher-
ing to a nomination which Mrs. Will
liams had procured. From that day
forward her star declined, for her
enemies had triumphed. Here, how-
ever, the color line was not in qles-
ton, though the power that overthrow
her was the same which put down
Mrs. Pinch.
The case Of Bruce differs from that
OF Plnchback in this material respect,
that n is an actual Senator. While
the other sought to be admitted as a
Senator and failed. Both arc mulat-
toes, sharp in the worlds WAYS, train
ed III politics. and regular ~Turveydrops
in development. In England or
France or Germany or Russia. the
color of a Senator. were he as black as
ebOney, would make no difference in
his social recognition. But at Wash>
mgton. where they affect equali Y,
ana profess immense concern about
the rights of the colored voter. eSpe-
clally II he refuses to vote the Repub-
llcan ticket, a woolly. head makes all
the difference IN the world, even when
Its wearer occupies a seat in the Sen>
ate. and is entitled TO superior social
recognition.