New-York tribune., 1879-06-03
THE HEROIC ATTITUDE or SAMUEL cox

The situation is redeemed. Samuel COX
stalks larger than human upon the scene;
the atmosphere becomes suf'used with pre-
ternatural glow one impressive figure steps
out under the calcium light from the shrink
ing crowd of timOrOus actors, and the occasion
is lifted at once to the level of the great
historic epochs. Samuel Cox will not
back down. He will stay in Washington until
his term expires sooner than vote dollar for
the enforcement of the infamous election laws.
He is reported TO have made this statement
at the meeting of the joint caucus committee
on Saturday. He had in some measure pre-
pared Us for the announcement in his great
speech which was delivered on the 18th of
April, and withheld from The Record for correc-
ton until the 3Oth of May. Therein he
said: "For myself, and speaking for my
" constituents, who have been outraged, |
"would leave no vestge of that legislation,
"not one scintilla, not even the supervising
" observers with their er-parte examinations
" and power to arrest. Let us cut them all
cup, the whole of the system, by the roots
"every fibre of it Until it is thus eradi-
"cated, let us obey the traditions and laws of
"legislatiye freedom and withhold supplies
"till our land Is free from these tyran-
"nes. We tempOrize only when we
"leave remnant of this monstrous sys-
/" TEN. We detract from the rights of
" the States over this subject when we allow
"even hired Federal witnesses, selected by
Federal Courts or Supervisors, to stand around
" with their badges of Federal authority at
"poling paces.n SO il will be seen that he
was very much in earnest about it as long ago
as the 18th of April. He was for Withholding
supplies until the whole system should be cut
up by the roots. He wouldn't have even
Federal witness permitted to be around at poll
ing places. He continues in that determina-
ton. And he now says that sooner than con-
sent to the retention of these laws he will
stay in Washington till his term expires.
All, what a man that Samuel Cox is How
n great occasion like this does somehow
sort Of as it were, transfgure him. Here is
everybody else in the party ready and anxious
to back down and get out of the dilemma,
and he just steps into the public eye like
warm einder, with the remark that rather than
yield an inch or grant dollar for the enforce
ment of the election laws, he would stay
in Washington till his term expired. What
he would do after his term expired he leaves
lis to imagine. We can only conjecture that
it would be something pretty dreadful. In
his present frame of mind we are quite
certain that it would be hazardous
to leave him alone with the Govern
ment, with the election laws unrepealed
For he seems to us to be exasperated
to that degree, and we know him to be a
man of such reckless bravery when exas-
perated, that it is about five to one that
he would put dynamite under the po-
litical fabric and sit down on it, blow
ing all we hold dear into smithereens
in less than an hour and half. For
he is very bad man when you get him
roused When he runs for Speaker, as he
sometimes does. the way people stand out of
his track as he whirls through the country is
a sight to look at. He sort OF overawes and
intimidates everybody. But we have rarely seen
him so impressive as now. Other statesmen
proposed at the beginning of the session to
stay until the election laws should be
repealed but since the vetOes they have
subsidized. Those two "Inpromptu and eifu-
"Sive men, Senator Beck and Representative
Blackburn, of Kentucky, the "vOluntary
"vIdettes who " seek glory on the skirmsh
"line," were, early in the session, very loud
in their proclamation of this purpose !;
but within the past fortnight Mr..
Henry Wa.terson has explained that "all
" that they say and all that they do is to be
taken with the technical allowance which
"candor always extends to impulse and has
pledged for them, "when the issue of
"manly sacrifice is reached very
"much more of the manly quality than
'can be found IN any Ola podridd of all
:" the villanies that congregate in the persons
" of Hayes, Blaine and Edmunds.' We don't
pretend to understand this, but it sounds like
covering a retreat. Others in the same way
have abandoned the field. but Samuel Cox
remains defiant.
We call attention therefore TO the heroic