The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-12-17
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular Correspor dent1

The official and domestic life of the,
President of the United States is once.
more resumed in the historic White
House. the National Sphinx having
deserted the Gray House on the Hill
for it, and the people once more
crowd the broad halls of the Presi.
dents House-a place that all Amer.
leans seem to regard as always, of
right, open to- them. There is less of
domesticity about the Presidents
House than ever before since An.
drew Jackson's Administration but
there is perhaps, also, more elegance
than has been seen for some time.
Here, as everywhere, President
Arthur's message was commented on
flyorably as a comprehensive, strong.
state paper, full of points, and mark.
ing the symmetrical invidualism of
its author. If not SO brilliant as
some others, General Arthur is a
well balanced and we'll equipped
man, remarkably intelligent in at.
fairs, finished and of unusual train.
ing in politics and business. The.
Presidents pointed and earnest rec.
concentrations to Congress about
polygamy in the Western Territories
bring to mind the fact that while the
Republican party has destroyed hu.
man slavery from the face of the
earth, it has shamefully neglected to
pay proper attention to that other
"tiWn relic Ofbarbarism," polygamy;
TO root out and annihilate which,
was one of the declared prime pur-
poses of its organization.
There is strong sentiment here
in the aggregation of National politics
about the Capital, in favor of reor-
ganization. in the near future, of the
Republican party in the South "from
the ground Nd" The native element
of Republicanism South has found
recognition in the organization of the
House in The selection of a worthy
member Of the historic Brownlow
family, Of East Tennessee, for one of
its officers. The placing of that sterl.
ing, original, soldier Republican,
Colonel Houck. at the head of the
Committee on Privileges and Elec-
tions-as | understand he is to be
placed-is cheering promise of the
revolution that is to be made in the
matter of elections in the long out
ragged, oppressed and swindled South.
The three notable cases of the "Sh0e-
string District" of Mississippi, the
Charleston South Carolina, district,
and that Of Huntsville, Alabama,
where the little rebel cavalry general,
Joe Wheeler, used to SO disturb
Rosecrans' and Thomas railroad
communications, will be made err
amples OF, to prove that the eouNNry
has turned over new leaf" These
cases will be pressed on the attention
of the world rs sample cases of the
systematic plan by which the "Solid
South" has attained its despicable'
solidity.
Among the new members who
stood up to be sworn in for the pres
ent Congress, comes one from the far
off Pacific coast of California, General
W.. S. Rosecrans, the old commander
of the Army Of the Cumberland, who
impressed new life into it at Muir
freesbOrO and led it in gi' y and
triumph from Stone River to Chat
tanooga. When | used to see him
lodging about the army at Murfrees-
boro, and when / last saw him at
Bridgeport. Alabama, where he and
Fighting Joe Hooker" met General
Grant, General Rosecreans was fash
ing with brunette vigor. His hair
was as dark as a midnight picket
line in a pine ticket ; his cheeks were
rosy" and his eyes cleaned like
the flash of sabre or bayonet. But
the other day as he walked down the
aisle from the Democratic side of the
House, and came to the Speakers
desk at the head of his State delega.
ton, though his martial form and
fine Roman nose were familiar. his
hair and beard were whitened, and
he looked an old man. He shows
that he has been broken down and
sonred since the days of the ill-starred
"Storms of Chickamauga."
Gallery visitors at the Capitol in
looking down on the green-carpeted
House wherein the risky solons dis
port themselves, crane their necks tG
get good look at old Aleck Steph-
ems. He looks like grassshopper
and wheels himself about constantly
in the arc-area in front of the Speak
er's perch-back wards and forward
like a craw-fish or crab. This little
drie6-up fragment of Democracy
evidently rather enjoys the notice he
attracts. He weighs about 20 pounds;
but the small, decrepid frame con-