The Washington critic., 1885-08-04
TOPICS OF THE DAY.
ITEMS OF CURRENT INTEREST
FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.
Gen. Grant and ADnexation-H0w
Paper Money In Printed - The
''3Oe" McdaIs-CarIisIe and Morri-
son Agnin-Auditor Day and Civil
Service Reform.

son Agntn-hu0ltOr Day and Civil
Service Reform.
The fact was never very generally
known at the time, says the correspond
ent OF the New York Euenihg Post, and
Is probably now quite forgotten, that
when General Grant was President
there was an effort made to induce hi II
to seize the British provinces. On the
evening before the Presidential election
of 1868, General John a. Rawlns, who
afterward became Secretary of War,
made speech 10 his old friends at
Galena, Illinois, In the course of which
he enthusiastically indorsed the Monroe
doctrine, and expressed the hope that
Stephen A. Douglas aspirations for an
ocean. bound republic might be realized.
General Rawlins was then spoken of
as "ono to whose wise head and un-
selfish heart General Grant owes all he
has," Filled with this idea of manifest
destiny, which had gathered to his mind
additional lustre by the happy termina.
tion of the War of the Rebellion, Gen
era Rawlius, when made n member Of
President Grants Cabinet, at once
took the advanced position that the
only reparation that England could
of the Alabama claims was
the cession to the United States of the
Canadas. And from all classes Of reo-
pie he gathered moral courage and sup
port. Iugersol), Beecher, Republicans,
'unreconstructed rebels, Northern and
Southern Dcmocrats, original Union
men of the South, believed the time
had come when The principle Of mani
fest destiny should and could be safely
asserted. The question was kept up
permost in the Cabinet councils by Sec
retary Rawlins, aud i'm the camps of the
outside agitalors by Roger S. Pryor,
ex. .L'cutenant-Governor Reynolds OF
Missouri, now candidate for Minister
to Spain, and others Time passed on,
and IL was not until the summer OF 1871
that it became known how he intended
to settle the Alabama claims. In his
quiet, modest way he informed General
Rawlns that he could not see his way
clear to the assertion of a claim for
Canada as compensation for damages
Inflicted upon our shipping by Con-
federate private' rs fitted out in English
ports, and marauding under English
protection.
Nv
The true story Of the 1906" Grant
medals is thus told by Chauncey |. Fill
ley OF st. Louis "All there Is about
them is: Orc morning after the con.
veDiion OF 1850, Senator Don Cameron
aud myself went out for a stroll on
State street, in Chicago. While we
were seated on a dry goods box some
where along the street, he suggested
the idea OF some perpetuatlOn OF the
fight which had been so united and per-
sistent, and had become so famous
through the SO votes and The 30G, and
then started to make n large design of
q medal on the box. | took his idea
and before we left enlarged upon it.
He placed the whole matter in my
hands and said he would, as he did, pay
the whole expense. That Is all there
is of the medal business"
Nv
Speaker Carlisle said, during his re-
cent visit to the city, that he had re-
ceived probably | 1000 letters from busi-
ness men throughout the country since
the adjournment of Congress, asking
that Colonel Morrison of Illinois be
again appointed chairman Of the Ways
and Means Committee in the event Of
Mr.. Carlisle succeeding himself in his
present position. When asked by the
gentleman to whom he communicated
this intelligence II he should comply
with ttcge requests, Mr.. Carlisle Is said
to have answered that 1t would be man
ifcstly indelicatc Tor him TO say what he
would do, inasmuch as that would pre-
suppose his re. election, and Of that he
was by no means certain. The Speak
er's friends, however, affirm that
Colonel Morrison will again be made
chairman of the Ways and Means Com.
mittcc ii he desires the place. The re-
latio" between him and Mr.. Carlisle,
says Western correspondent, are as
cordial as ever, and there will be no
member Of the Forty, ninth Congress
whom he will so delight to honor with
the best chairmanship in his gift as the
gentleman from Illinois. There are
reasons for saying, however, that
Colonel Morrison is really averse to ac-
cepting the position, and If he does do
it it will be more in compliance with
Speaker Carlsle's wishes than from any
desire Of his own.
X.
According to the Washington cor
respondent of the Brooklyn Times,
when Auditor Day notified seven chiefs
OF division in lis office the other day
that their designations were desired, he
was asked why he took this step and
whether these men who were removed
were incompetent, and replied: "No,
but they are Republicans. "Can you
fill their places with better men?" was
asked. Eyes, | think | can" he re-
piled, "and with better Democrats" :"
"What will you do with those who
have handed in their designations? ="
"Thcy will probably be reduced to
lower grade clerkships, as they are good
men and it would be unwise to let
them go entirely" "Then, do you
intend to keep these places as rewards
Cor political iriends?" "Well,' was
the reply, that is question on which
there may be a difference of opinion. |