The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-23
RETIRING SENATORS.
SEVENTEEN FAMILIAR FACES TO
LEAVE THE SENATE CHAMBER,


SEVENTEEN FAMILIAR FACES To
LEAVE THE SENATE CHAMBER.
Personnel and Conspicuous Character.
fstics OF the Outgoing statesmen.
Correspondence If the Philadelphia Record
WASHINGTON, Feb. THE Senate will be a
changed body after the fourth of March; al
least seventeen familiar faces will then be
missed from the Senate chamber, and one is
hanging by the gills. The mortuary list Is a
doleful one; twenty-four senatorial terms
ended, twenty-four experienced solons willing
to wear the toga longer for their country
good, and only seven thus far able to pull
through sixteen rejected, one ia doubt and
Que bulldpzed out of the Senate. Assuredly,
the whirligig OF politics is past all guessing.
For the sixteen thus far slain ten are Re-
publcans, to wit: Spencer, Dorsey, Sargent,
Ohaffee, Conover, Oglesby, Matthews, Mitch
Gratis, as follows: Armstrong, Barnum. Den
mis-, Eustis, Merrmon and McCreery. men,
ton Armstrong In the list, although Gen.
Shields now holds the seat, because the cleo
ton of Shields to the small fragment of a ses-
| sion was a personal compliment to Shields,
and only emphasizes the defeat OF Arm
| strong.
/ OF the seven re-elect quartette are Re
publicans-C onkling, Don Cameron. Jones of
| Nevada and Morrill,: and duet-GOrdOn and
| Voorhees-are Democrats. The doubtful one
| is Wadleigb, and the dulldozed one Is, OF
i course, poor, old ChristaDcy, who, since he
attempted the role OF an Independent Repub-
| lican and was SO unfortunate as to whip Zach.
| Chandler and marry young treasury clerk.
has been beset by more tibulattOns, public
| and private, than ought to fail to the lot OF q
man of his years. character and learning.
/ Reviewing the list of those who are sure to
| go, there Is more cause for congratulattOn
| than regret, aside from the political bias
which one may have on the subject. The
| loss of the four et-baggers-Spencer,D Dor
| sey Conoper and Patterson-is the country's
gain beyond the peradventure OF doubt.
| they all have their good points, but the ag-
| gregate of their individuality was not the
| right sort from which to make good Sena-
tors. Patterson was the only dtstingne. look
ing man la the lot. His abundant, flowing
| hair has an intellectual, natural wave, after
the manner Of Matt. Carpenters. 1t was
handsome and impressive when it was chest
nut. 1t Is more handsome and more impress
| sive now that 1t Is irOn-gray. Then, again,
| Patterson has an imperial way Of tossing his
| head that is very effective. He is one OF the
nervous, wiry class OF men, of medium
| height and slender build AS a senatorial
orator Patterson has been a failure. His
voice is harsh and high-pitched; his method
| bombastic and jerky, and even Logan can
hardly equal his ability to mangle the king s
English. Pattersons strong point Is his au-
dacty. He has the ''cheek" of blind mule.
| He is a skllful politician Of the cOarser sort,
|
science. He is Pennsylvania product, be-
ing born at Waterloo, in that State, Is forty
nine, aud has been an editor, banker, rail-
road man and political Spectator. The adj
ministration will say goodbye to him gladly,
/ for he has been a constant thorn in its flesh,
| cursing it openly, In season and out of season,
| Ia the presence Of any who cared to hear.
q tcoNovER $3.50 -w:s
| is one of the most inolrensive men who ever
| turned up in the halls of Legislation. He is a
Jerseyman by birth, a doctor by profession
| and Senator by the grace OF God and the
| ignorance of the colored vote. He entered the
Senate at thirty three. and qui's 1t at thirty
nine Nothing but the anomalous condition
of the South after the war could ever have
made him Senator. He could never be mis-
| taken for great man. From the top of his
| bald head down the low forehead, the droOp-
| attitude, the sliding gait, every look and ges-
| ture is deprecatory of himself Not that
| Conover is without spirit. He has plenty OF
| 1t, and good, social qualities, too, but he Is
out OF place, and his appearance indicates
that he knows 1t. Unlike Patterson, he has
never aped ability or boosted a power he
had not. He has been content to answer
roll call when his party needed him, and
for the rest, he has been oftener in the So
ciety of his boon companions than in the
Senate chamber He has never made
but one speech of importance In the Senate.
That was when his party undertook to revile
him after having failed in vigorous attempt
to bulldoze him into voting for the admis sion
OF the Republican claimant, Corbin, and
against the seating Of the Democratic Sena-
tor. Butler, from South Carolina. For some
reason, not known to themselves, both Pat
terson and Conover refused to follow the die
tates of their party that time, and they stood
! BY their colors manfully. On that OCCASION
when Patterson made an illiterate harangue,
| Conoyer delivered a speech which was a
masterpiece of sarcastic arraignment, and
which laid bare the sore spots OF his party 50
vigorously that those who had sought to lord
| it over him were glad TO cry quits, and leave
| the mild-mannered apothecary alone. Ii the
speech was original, Conover has more power
| as writer, than he Is given credit for. Its
| trenchant power was In such contrast to the
man. and SO ill-fitted the Indifferent delivery,
as to. cause suspicion that O greater than
Conoyer was its author, in which case Como
ner showed more sense than Patterson.
SPENCER AND DORSEY
are men of q stronger type, and they have
done infinitely more mischief than Patterson
and Conover. Both are short, thick-set,
mpaty men, of coarse fibre and low tastes.
| Dorsey is the ableSt man OF the quartette.
| He Is a stolid-looking man and hard
worker As he sits in the Senate. his bearded
chin sinks toward his breast. and his white
| face seems devoid OF even shade of intel
| lectuality, but he is man Of much business
| capacity. Indeed, he Is all business. He
| went into politics as matter of business.
AS chairman Of the Senate committee on the
District OF Columbia he has moulded all
the business of the District, and bis
departure will be regretted by the District
ring. Dorsey is only thirty-seven and entered
the Senate at thirty-one. He Is Vermonter
by birth, but spent his boyhood in OHIO
served in the Union army during the war
was an employee of the Sandusky Tool Com.
pany, went to Arkansas as the president OF
the Arkansas Central Railroad Company and
got into politics in that State. He will be
heard from again.
Spencer looks like Western bar-keeper
His face is round, red and jolly. His hair is
auburn, curly ami slick. His abdomen is al
dermanic, and, altogether, he has well-fed
dandified, devil-may look and bonhomit
way with him which is quite taking. Spen
Ger doesn't make any pretensions to morality
He is fond OF women, wine and wassail, ano
is willing everybody should know it. More
than once he has outraged the feelings OF thu
dashing member of the dem-monde a seat In
the Senators gallery; put it was his right,