The daily gazette., 1879-03-08
SECOND EDITION
From Washington.

Republican Leaders in Search ef a
Pidtfoym-Jef Ddpis as a National
Issue-1he jeff Davis Debate in the
Senate-Republicdn Senator'S ehoto-
TO Poor Adrdntdge-Fdsts that
Might haze been Substituted for De-
nuncidtiO1.
Special to the N. Y. Herald.
WASHINGTON, March 7, 1879.
The republican party here In WASH
ington is united, undoubtedly, but it is
so anxiOusly looked about for some sub
ject to be united on that it has jumped
with quite ludicrous sagerness at poor
Jefferson Davis as the more available
platform. The debate in the Senate oD
excluding his name from the list of PEN
sioners for services rendered in the
Mexican war is boasted Of here by the
extreme republicans as an immense VIC
tory and almost in itself insuring the
election of a republican President next
year. 1t should be understood that Gen.
eEdl LJuIcIub W biC AIlCaIb
of Pensions bill was adopted bo a vote of
SO to ~, eight republican Senators voting
with the majority and two democrats,
Messrs. Herman and Randolph, in the
negative. If the eight republicans had
voted against it it must have failed in
the Senate, and il was not passed by a
party vote at all. Then came Mr.. Hoa-'s
amendment to exclude Jefferson Davis,
the debate on which has been made the
occasion of so much partisan noise. 1t
must be said that, contrary to the boasts
sent out from here to partisan journals,
the republicans did not figure well in
this discu sion. They viliied Davis as
the head of great TREASON, and they did
30 knowing that Davis name is peculiar
ly odious TO Northern men. They CON-
pelled Southern Senators to reply, and
their replies were in the main moderate,
and in some cases very effective. Gener-
al Shields pertinsntly remarked that to
single out Mr.. Davis for exclusion was
to elevate and distinguish him, aud was
therefore unwise.
Mr.. Lamar caused letter from Mr..
Davis to be read, in which he asked that
in case motion to exclude him should
be offered, his fri ends should not oppose
l., as he needed no pension and did not
stand in the way of many poor men who
did. For the rest, the Southern Senators,
being men and not dogs, ranged them
selves on the side of Davis. They would
poor creatures il they would done less,
for they were engaged in the same rebel
lion with him, had been guilty with him
and could hardly remain silent when he
was attacked. They can never under
stand what the republican Senator so well
known and so meanly take advantage
of that Jefferson Davis is the object of a
peculiar bitter and lasting dislike to
Northern people. But even if they did
know this they were compelled as men
to speak when they heard him denounced d
on the other side. When they spoke they
naturally went to some length in their
eulogy as the other had gone in their
denunciation, and they gave the rspub-
licans fair opportunity which they en-
tirely failed to avail themselves Of.
The Southern men spoke of Davis as
statesman and an able man, and it is
Surprising that some republican Senator
, had not the wit, on this, to substitute
truth for denunciation and to give All
accurate character Of Davis. The truth
about him is that he was in Mexico a
gallant soldier; that be was, with the
exception of Mr.. Calhoun, the ablest
and most enlightened Secretary of War
the country ever had previous to the re-
belion; but that as statesman, in any
true or large sense, he was always, and
remains, an utter and pitiful failure, and
so far as craftsmanship goes all the
Southern men who were with him origi-
majors of the rebellion must fall with
him. The attempt to dissolve the
| Union, and the intention to do SO in the
interest of slavery, was as unstatesman-
like and blundering proceeding as
history records, because it is the part of
statesman to measure forces, to foresee
difficulties, to provide against the ruin
GUS loss of the people he assumes to rule
and guide, and to lay his plans in suct
way chat they will be made happy aud
not miserable.
If the republican Senators had had il
their minds anything higher than a de
sire to stir up bad blood and sectiona
hostility this is what they might very
well have said. And they would have
found a very large part of the Southern
whites heartily agreeing with them, fol
Mr.. Davis is disliked almost as generally
l., ,b. south os in the Orth