The Penn's Grove record., 1882-02-18
WASHINGTON LETTER.

II is clear that the enemies OF Mr..
Blaine have not yet succeed in putting
him a. a disadvantage. The spectacle
Of a retiring Secretary of State hurting
open letters at the President accusing
him OF vacililation and laundering in
the foreign policy Of the Nation is sur
~ticiently novel to attract attention. Mr..
Blaine's position is not only plausible
but calculated to be popular if the pub
lie mind becomes interested in the sub
jet. 1t is a fact that our foreign pol
icy has deteriorated TO a farce. We
have had none since the days Of that
harmless jelley-Fish, whose nstion of
American dignity was confined to the
proper adjustment of letters OF passport,
and who had no conception Of the
growth and power and force Of the Uni
ted States in the diplomacy Of the
world,
The advent Of Mr.. Blaine on the
scene in the high capacity OF diplomat
was notice served that the spinal col
m Of the Government was about to
be stiffoned. and it wa, stiffeIed with a
vigor which recalled the palmy days OF
Jay and Webster and Buchanan. Some
people suppose it is the proper policy of
a powerful :a:ion to wink AT all man
ner of indignities to which ten cen.
government propose to subject it and
its representatives, and that conserva-
ism means nothing more OF less than an
adject willingness to be peaceful at any
cost. BY publishing the taxi of his
dispatch proposing a peace congress of
American powers, and by his letter to
Presid ont Arthur. Mr.. Blaine has
toppled down a structure Of misrepre-
%sentation, the rearing Of which cost its
authors several weeks of laborious falsi
ication. l am not going to champion
the side of the ex-Secrctary but l can
Soc through the attacks that have
been made upon his diplomatic career.
The business Of belittleing and malign
ing of the ablest ard most popular
statesmen of u time is at best y peor
one, bit it becomes what inssram g
men call "sxtra-hazardouso when it is
practiced upon a man Of Mr.. Dlaine's
fighting capacity.
Some of the bills for the Yorktown
celebration are beginning to turn up,
and like nearly all bills for entertain
ments Of that sort they are quite cur
ious. One Of the items regarded as re-
markable is . charge of twenty-five
dollars for water furnished AN official
party from Washington. 1t is said to
be the first time a party of that sort
has used water. Water, however, was
not all that was drunk, for there are
several charges for wines, amounting
to thousands of dollars, and other
charges for things called entertain
ments, Under which disguise y great
deal OF wine was paid for. 1t was the
boast of n who attended at the Gov
eminent expense that the boat on
which he travelled was literally swim
ming in champagne. 1t is, even at this
late day, rather q comfort to know that
somebody had some fun at Yorktown,
even though the Government has to pay
the bill. About the time the affair
came off it wasn't safe 20 say Yorktown
to anybody around Washington, the
disappointed visitors wera 30 mad.
Tho railway corporations are getting
some attention just now in Congress.
Firing has commenced all along lines.
The Northern Pacific is in the Jaws of
the Judiciary Committee, tho Kansas
Pacific has been bombardsd with shst
aud shell by John Anderson Of this First
Kansas District with an array OF facts
and figures to startls Congress, and the
Ways and means Committee, and tried
to choke n piece Of robbery for the
Reading Railroad down the throat of
the House, was defeated by the crush
ing voteo log 10 As. All these facts,
occurring with q few days, are con-
vincisg proof that Congress has some
notion Of protecting the Governments
interests from the land pirates who
have settled on the public domain.
Monopoly will experience a few paraly-
tic shocks within the next ninety days.
Bear this in mind.
1t is interesting on receiving days to
see the streams OF callers on their
rounds in u politics-fashionabie soel-
ETY.. Since the first winter of tho Hayes
administration the Cabinet has not
taken 20 prominent = place in official
society as it had done for many years
priorto that time, 10 have the Cabinet
families bad SO many calls to return.
The number of callers each cabinet
lady" receives on her day has fallen off
from nine hundred TO four OF five hun
dred. No bostest Can more than greet
her visitors as they pass in and ont on
those days. One of the Cabinet ladies
who has done her best to visit, as well
as to attend 10 home and other duties,
mentions that she now has ovrr Ave
hundred u%nreturned calls. Speaker
Kiefer's wife has, / think, had more
calls on each reception day she had
than any other lady now in official So
ciety here. As the Speaker lives at a
hotel in the Central part of the city it
is always convenient, even in bad wealth
er, for ladies 20 call on Wednesday to
8 q his vie aud size has taken pain
10 make her receptions very agreeable.
She seems likely to retrieve 10y the
make up VI her social committees some
OF the popularity her husband apparer t