Litchfield enquirer., 1879-05-01
Shower or Tempest !?

Io enu III sunsiilue aILer DfleI pOlltlcal snow CT, or whether it is to lead to a veritable DC litical tempest. In spite of the high key i which the debates have been pitched, we in cline strongly to the shower theory. We no tice that the Solid South in Congress seems il no hurry to take up the dictatorial attitude at tributed to it by excited Republicanism The wild talk from that side comes, we ob serve, from the Border, and Northern wing o the party. The Democrats from the heart ot old Secessiondom seem in no such belligerent humor. Those of us who are old enough tc have seen appreciatingly the Southern spiri, of the old slave-holding South must also rec. ognize the comparative modesty of their recent utterances. No doubt they are earnest in their endeavors to remove what they regard as the stigma of subjection involved in test oaths and in the possible presence of soldiers, or of | federal supervisors, at the polls. The old spirit of defiance to all national authority which marked the last years of the Old Union can nowhere be recognized. On the contrary, we think we notice an uneasy consciousness
  men, that the extra session is great political blunder, sure to result to their disadvantage, and which they heartily wish we'll over with out any explosion.
 The Republicans are really the defiant party, to our thinking. Recognizing the blunder their adversaries have made, they are taunting them, with shrewd precipitance of speech, into making the consequences of their blunder of an extra session irreparable. Even such conservative Republicans as Senator Hoar and Dawes of Massachusetts show their readiness to join in another crusade against the South. should Democratic Congress be SO rash as to attempt to break down the constitutional pow CT of conservative President. An Indepen- dent correspondent of the Springfield Repub- lican at Washington reports as follows:
 What struck me most was the prevailing tene among republicans of alarm and hostility toward the southern democrats Everyone of republican proclivities in Congress or out had much to say about the danger from the solid South. set myself with good deal of care to learn the grounds of their apprehensiveness. Ot the measures now before Congress, the sub
  allty hardly more than what the republicans have expressed themselves as willing to con- cede The same is unqualIfedly tue of the repeal of the jurors test oath attached to the Legislative appropriation bill The only seri- ous point of difference is as to the abolition of the federal supervIsorshp of elections. My own predilection is in favor of continuing the federal supervisorships. The practical ar gument for 1t seems a very strong one Though Tn the South it has utterly failed to secure fair elections, it has unquestionably pu- rlhed to an immense extent the elections in New York city. On the eve of a presidential election, in which New York is likely to be the pivot, l think that it would be a great mis- take to weaken the safe guards of the ballot, and that the democrats in urging it, under whatever plea of constitutional states rights, or occasional abuse, lay themselves justly open to suspicion.
 This correspondent is strongly impressed, however, with the belief to which we have so often given expression that the Democracy will not dare to refuse supplies for the ordna- " necessities of government in case of pres- idential veto. We notice, however, that, in a leading editorial, the Republican goes SO far as to excuse in advance, a refusal of Congress to grant any supplies to the administration should it decline to yield to their dictatien. We differ from the Republicans view on this point, in toto. Neither branch of an Ameri can Congress has right to interfere with the independence of any other branch in regard to legislation. Suppose, for instance, that the President should refuse to sign bill, to which hf hos If oh neglects to pass some other bill which he strongly favors? Would any House and Sen ate submit for moment to such an arrogant interference with their independence? Yet would not the principle involved be precisely that of tacking extraneous legislation to the supply bills ?
 We imagine that the correspondent of the Republican prognosticates shrewdly, when he predicts some sort of ''H NJ. s. Pinafore" ending for this absurd extra session.
 Conqress--we're never known to quail
 At the fury of gale,
 And will never vote this President,
 Never, never, a solitary cent.
 Hdyss.-What never?
 Co"gTe&s-No, never.
 Hdycs.-Mhar! never |?
 Congress Well, hardly ever.
 We have several times debated the morality of the spy system in prosecutions for sales of liquors. It has been decided in Massachusetts that liquor dealer may be convicted on a sale made to detective who applied to him for the very purpose of obtaining evidence against him; and, further, that the detective does not make himself a party to the crime by such an application. It appears that, in Eng land, different, and it seems to us a juster view, was taken. A policeman, dressed in tradesman's clothes, pretended to be drunk. Two villagers, tempted by his apparent uncon- scieusness, took his watch. He arrested them on the spot on charge of theft. On trial at the Kuntsford Sessions the men were acquit- ted and the over-zealous policeman received severe censure from both the chairman and the jury as having been the cause of the ''rob, bery."
 A Waterbury Irish boy made 15 cts, recent | ly, by trick which ran pretty close to the disputed moral boundary line. He had bought a new pair of shoes and had the old and thor oughly worthless pair done up in bundle | WHICH pIOpOoCO tO lCdtc III COurculCu gutter. A countryman going by, seeing the boy picking them up, as he thought, said ''Here, boy, that is my bundle I just drop ped them." The lad gave them up, and the countryman gave the boy fifteen cents.
 A recent Sun declares that the New York and New England R. R. Co.,, have awarded g contract for completion of their road from Waterbury to Brewster's on the Harlem, and that they expect to run through trains between New York and Boston before the close of the year. That paper makes the following further statement regarding the continuation of theil road to New York:
 It is understood that from Brewster's the New York, Boston and Montreal railroad will under a new name, the New York and North ern railroad, construct the road their charter provides for to New York, using the road nov graded, that runs through .Yonkers The con tract for this work has been awarded it is I'll mored among railroad men, to Lewis Roberts