Year: 1869

The Whiskcy Ring a National Lesis-
By turns we find every man in the United


States Senate who is at all noteworthy for


ability or breadth of view on national questions


''ruled out" as the phraseis is. Seven men, the


country remembers, were in minority on the
great question of impeachment, and, though


they were men of probity and sound judgment,


they were bitterly assailed for venturing to
differ with the power that was in the majority.


On the question now up we see repetition OF
the disgraceful fact. The. debate on the


Tenure Of Office law has shown that some OF
the strongest men in the Senate are in favor


Of repeal. Here are Morton and Sherman,


two men with more force in them than an ave-


rage twenty of their ''fellows" (not counting


Corbett, who is not fellow, boldly advocat-
ing the repeal. and behold there is desire to


send them to the same limbo to which it was


proposed to send Fessenden and Grimes.


Now, what is that power in the Senate that is


offended and is strong enough to threaten
vengeance when it cannot control the voice
of the real intellectual leaders in that body?
Is 1t the republican party? What would


there be left of the republican party If it were


put on one side, and on the other were put all


the men who opposed impeachment and those


who are now for the repeal Of the Civil Tenure
bill? No, it is not party; it is the whiskey


ring. Morton is right in saying that the


caucus of Monday night was an attempt to


coerce by party machinery" but it is the


whiskey ring that puts the machinery In


motion. If you fancy such creature as


Conkling leading the drill that rules out Morton


and Sherman on any ground Of principle or


craftsmanship yon will have before you very


ridiculous image; but If you fancy him doing


the same thing in the interests of the whiskey
ring the thing appears at once much more req


sonable; for, viewing things from the standpoint


Of the ring, principles and statesmanship are not
Seen, and Conkiihg may be the equal Of any


body. Plumber being the object, and votes,


not arguments the means, the fellow who can
say aye when the question is called may be the
| peer of the best intellect of the earth. Nay,


the little man is the greater in these cases for
exactly as man has less intellectual scope he is
frmer in the faith that to ''put money in your
purse" is the whole end and aim of life.


Here, then, is food for thought, in the fact
that the whiskey ring, or the ring pure and
simple as an institution, whatever be the basis
of plunder, is assuming to itself the govern


ment of this country. People suppose that


they, divided on points of principle, send
Senators and Representatives to uphold their


respective views in the law; but it is not so.
The simple truth is that when the people
suppose they elect Senator the whiskey


ring designate an agent; and this agent,


supposititiously Senator, goes to Washington
to do the bidding, not of the people, but of


the ring. Having gone thus far in this
career, whirling on in it as we are hour by
hour, where will we stop? We are on


broad gauge of corruption here with our


municipal rings and our Erie rings, and con-


be; but this is little to the proportions corrup-
| ton assumes on a national scale. With the
ring principle taking the place Of everything


else in the government, with our vast ma
chinery completely in the hands Of men who


sink all differences of principle in their agree


ment to secure the plumber, what must be the
| fate Of our cherished unity and freedom?


THE SITUATION IN MEXICO. BY special cor
| respondence from Mexico, dated in Monterey
| on the 2Sth Of February, we are informed that


the entire country was wrapt in flame Of


revolutionary agitation. The people were dis


gusted with and sick Of Ne Cabinet plumbers