The morning times., 1897-02-04
THE WEATHER TODAY
he wAssr RpRIsED AND GRIEvED

Il was surprised, and grieved. On read
ing the editorial in The Times advocating
the confirmation of Henry r Davis as
United States District Attorney OF this
CITY. AMI tbls c,iItuliai. l.. I.I ny ,iiniCn
liable to do The Times good deal OF
injury among the Democrats of this dis
trict; for tie person who wrote the ar
ticIe is certainly mistaken in saying that
the rank and file among Tie Democrats
of this District are for Tie confirmation
of Davis. They are not for tac confirEa-
ton or DAVIS. but, on the contrary, not
only the rank and file, from what | hear
and know. hut the leaders well, cf the
party In this District. and WHO voted for
Bryan at the last election, are bitterly
opposed to lis Confirmation. and believe
that il would he simply outrageous for Il
man who put in hIs time during the LAST
Campaign deuuunciuE Bryan and those who
supported MIN as anarchists. regulators
ana Traitors To ROW he continued o.. United
tsite> ltf~rriet Attorney us a reward 1Or
his treason. It does seem L. uIe that II
he is To bc rewarded, that reward should
come from the RcputiirgHs, Ia whose in
terUst tire trpaSuu Wa, cUIas4Ittt,t. and
not from those whom he Is-rt 10 hetrdy INTO
the hands OF the enemy
II write this letter IN confidence. but /
do hope tina; The Times paper that the
Democrats have been looking To for some
Sort OF falE treatment WuI not continue
10 advocate this Confirmation. tits safe
10 say that SUCH confirmation VIII not be
made by the Senate; and the effort Of
The Times IN It. behsIl VIII certainly mill
tate against its usefulness among the
Democrats IN this Distnc,, and in Vir-
gina ana Maryland, and other States, who
read it
In reply TO this criticism what shaIl We
say?
Can we do more than ask if it is not
natural that Fhe T.lues -!.euId take pride
in Mr. Davis, and, even in his bad political
STATE, rejoice with .iiln a II MS good political
Iuek2
Has it, indeed. come to this, that one
may not be proud OF ones own crearion?-
for may it not be said, with becoming
modcs5E ga ear part, ri1at "c he.WeI IL
make Henry Davis the great man he is?
and, practically, although the voice was
that of President Clrv,lan.l, bespoke Tor
him the nomination for United States Dis
trfct Attorney, over which he is evidently
as proud a. a Toy his first pair OF
boots-as proud, indeed, as ever Secretary
ThurDer was wtfile wearing his hair in good
form and his most attractive smile on
his Observation-Disclosures face?
Was il rot this self s;inie II enry Davis to
whom we once afforded an opportunity to
air his Knowledge Of the Gresham law and
thingx?-to glitter like gold in an apparent
argument on behalf of the geld cause, and
to shine a Bttle in an attempted explaha-
ton Of the Indianapolis treason to the
Democratic party, in which treason he
acted his part as We'll as he could?
Was it rot, in fact, this man with whom
we ran aniuck N the late Iolitical cam
pafgn? Was it not he who put his little
lance at rest and shattered 1t on our
silver shield? And must we low, after he
has had his wounds dressed 10y Surgeon
Cleveland, tear fom them the soothing
bandages of executive favor and make
them bleed afresh, thus oidng him up
again before the world as a martyr in the
cause of sound money and as a victim Of
the savagery Of the silver men?
No, We VIII not; ana cur Democratic
friends must permit US to sympathize with
Davis, and be clivalric in our conduct to-
ward him.
We know, and we know fun wel, how
ineXcusably bad Henry Davis has been
politically; and we know, too, bow wicked
he is even now. We know that he was one
of the most demoralized and demoraIizing
of the Democrats who followed the burly
Gen. Palmer, whenthat hard fighter. whose
hand has been at one time and another
against all parties, deserted Democracy
and rode into the Republican camp
CRYING: I'm the name Of Mckinley amenl''
And we know, too, that even now suave
and plausible as be is, Henry Davis is
Showing the political shells about, hiding
the little joker in the usual manner of the
country fair shuff1eboard manipulation.
We know, also, that his political conduct
being considered deserves defeat, not
confirmation, at the hands of all the Demo
cratic Senators who did not cuckoo them
selves out OF the party by going into the
indianapolis convention; and, if we were
put upon the stand, we would be com PEELED
TO say so. But does it follow that because
we believe Mr.. Davis nomination should
not be confirmed by the Senate we
should stifle all our chivalric impulses and
voluntarily say so? We think rot; and we
believe that our surprised and griered
correspondent, and all other Democrats.
will agree with us in this conclusion. Intbis
belief, and upon kindly impulse, we
suppressed our strong propensity to al
ways tell all the truth: and, having done
this, we wrote about Mr.. Davis what has
surprised and grieved our correspondent;
and by what we then wrote we stand and
shall continue TO stand
Far be il from Us to use any weapon