Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1881-06-21
RANDOM SHOTS.
NEW ORLEANS, June 10, 1881.

your enterprising journal in my mind
more often, doubtless, than you have
supposed from my long silence. But
so great is the lethargy Of selfshness
that those persons and things that
c0me to rs and minister to Our graft
fcation and pleasure without our
seeking actively, quite frequently are
received with apparent indifference
as if they beloRged to as, as matter OF
right. suppose it must have been
this disposition Of frail humanity
from which the old saying that "bless-
ings brighten as they take their
fight" was deduced. In the present
case ! trust, my dear friend, you will
do me the justice to believe it is APP
parent and not real. The disagreed
bic necessity Of work forces us to
sometimes neglect our friends. This,
I am sure, you will admit, since other
wise, | should have had the pleasure
ofseeing you down here among your
numerous friends. You seem to be
but an honr or two from us now, and
when we can he whirled to our Capt.
tai, by rail, in that time, am afraid
your fine arguments about the health
full influences of rural districts on the
powerful brains of State Legislators,
by which you "stole away" our G api-
tai before the Convention, will have
lost much of its force and beauty,
The great progress and enterprise of
your little city, however, "pleads in
triumphant tones" in favor of the
talking off" of the aforesaid Capitol,
and New Orleans can bear up under
our loss, in consideration of your
eternal gain
The summer heat is upon lis III ear.
nest, aud but for the sweet c0nsola-
ton Of observing that many of our
friends are worse off than we are, it
would be intolerable. We can bear
heat and overfiows, we can be bereft
OF our Legislature and conventions
and political banners; because our
Railroads are beginning to stretch
their iron arms over our State the
grain of the North and West is pour
Ing in like "golden sands" and be-
cause we have at least one honest and
capable representative in the United
States Senate while the great Empire
State, that has so often nearly crush
ed ont our existence has entirely with
drawn from that arena.
The stalwart Conkling doesn't seem
to have taken much by his motion. 1t
is n fine thing to play the autocrat,
but when the lackies refuse to parade,
down comes the autocrat. There is,
however, a great deal of fighting
power IN Roscoe, and my judgment is
he has hard blows in reserve for the
sanity Garfield and his friends. How
ever it may turn out, whether Mr..
Conkling be returned to the Senate or
not, he never will WELD the power
that he has welded in the past. More
than that. There is little doubt that
much of the innate rottenness Of the
Republican party, will be disclosed
for public criticism by the war of fac
tons now active in that happy family.
The efforts of q few second class men
like Frye, Davis and others in the late
session of the Senate, to stir up i'll
blood towards the South most sig
ually failed. The manly and spir-
tied manner in which our friend Jonas
overwhelmed Mr.. Dawes, and the cool,
dispassionate and statesmanlike ut
terances of jones of Florida, in which
they both rebuked with becoming,
dignifed and patriotic conservatism,
the shallow inventions and sectional
Trades Of fading stnlrartism, was the
pivotal point of political significance
in the late session. From that time
public sentiment, even III the North,
has been drifting away from Radical
moorings, and we have every reason
to belive that the next National Cam
paign will develop a broader senti-
ment of federation, and demand bet
ter government, rather than party
plunder.
am in receipt of your kind invita-