The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1879-06-26
LETTER FROM WAsHINGTOE.
FROM OUR REGULAR CORRESPONDENT.

j
WASHINGTON, d. c., June I, 1879.
To THE EDITOR OF THE NEW NORTHWEST:
The anticipated nomination of Secre-
tary McCrary for the judgeship made
vacant by the resignation of Judge
Dillon, was sent to the Senate early in
the week. When the report was first
started that this result might be ex-
pected, there were several denials, and
the President is said to have professed
ignorance Of il; but the confirmation
has come even sooner than was antiei-
pated. So itseems that President Hayes
must have given up his sentimental
dream Of an unbroken Cabinet from the
beginning to the end of his term. There
is considerable speculation as to who
will be Mr.. McCrary's successor in the
War office. Wayne McVeagh, of Penn
sylvania, has been mentioned very con-
iidently by some who profess to have
the ear Of the Administration; so also
has Hon. John Hancock, Of Texas. An
insane Ohio man said that Attorney
General Devens would be promoted to
the seeretaryship and Stanley Matthews
given charge of the Department OF JUS
tiee. But this is unlikely, especially as
the Senate would hardly confirm him.
Some Of the more radical Republicans
insist that the new Secretary should
come from the Northwest
Quite likely the appointment of Mr..
Hancock would be far from satisfactory
to the Presidents party, and hardly
think it is seriously contemplated. His
Excellency is not as much of cOncili-
ator as he was once supposed to be. Mr..
Hancock is a Democrat, and was a mem
ber of the Forty-fourth Congress, where
he made a record for ability and broad
liberality. But he was defeated for re-
nomination, and among Republicans
the charge is made that it was because
of his record as a Union general in the
late war. At the election for members
of the Forty-sixth Congress he was
again a candidate, and this time received
the nomination Of his party, but was
defeated at the polls is said by the
Democrats themselves. The talk Of his
probable appointment to the vacancy
about to occur in the Cabinet arises
from the fact that he is now here at the
bidding of the President, and that he is
known to have great influence at the
White House.
No city in the Republic, not even
New York, so swarms with adventur-
esses as Washington, which has for
years been the chosen field of the bold,
dangerous, wholly unprincipled tribe.
They can be counted by hundreds; are
Of every sort and degree. They are in
the Departments, at the hotels, at the
boarding houses everywhere that a
man can be found, seduced or frightened.
Their missions are multifariOus, and
their movements mysterious. They
are seeking positions; they are lobby
lists; they have, or their friends have,
claims. They need personal, political,
pecuniary assistance-indeed, all kinds,
except the moral kind. Most of them
are black They are so crafty
and treacherous that public men of rep
utation or means are afraid OF and al
ways on the alert against them. The /
late Salmon p. Chase would never, dur
ing his official life at the capital, see a |
woman he did not know Intimately, ex-
eept in the presence of witnesses.
Many Congressman, Senators, and other |
oflice-hOlders, have also made it a rule |
to receive no visits from women alone. |
Senator Chandler, though not noted for |
ielicacy, is particularly careful on this I
point. So is Ben Butler, despite his
audaeity aud reeklessness. These and /
other public men refuse to see women /
at their rooms, or houses, or anywhere,
without third persons. The experience
Of others, il not their own, has made
them wary and apprehensive. There
are, doubtless, many men not afraid of
any man. We question if there be any /
man not afraid of women. If there be, |
he has surely never been in Washing |
ton. When woman exercises equal !
political privileges, these adventuresses
will be suppressed. Dom PEDRO.