Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1885 — HE’LL DO! [ARTICLE]

HE’LL DO!

Minister Phelps* Sagacious Admonitions to a New Congressman. The Middlebnry (Vt.) correspondent of the Boston Oloht sends that paper the following letter, written in Deoember, 1883, by Mr. Edward J. Phelps, our new Minister to England, to Mr. John W. Stewart, who represents the First Vermont District in Congress: 1. Always vote in favor of a motion to adjourn, and if the period of adjonrument is in question vote for the longest time and the earliest day. 2. Vote steadily against all other propositions whatsoever. There is already legislation enough for the next 500 years. No honest man wants any more. Even unconstitutional bills for the further enlargement of the negro should form no exception to this rule. 3. Make no speeches. Nobody attends to Congressional oratory when delivered; when printed nobody rends it, and it is a nuisance to the mails. I have had more than four millions of such speeches sent me and never read one in my life. 4. Do not allow yourself to be drawn into aspersions upon the memory of Guy Fawkes. He has been much censured by men. History will in the end do him justice. Before you have been long in Congress you will perceive that one such man nowadays, with better luck, might do the country more servioe than a hundred Presidential candidates or Christian statesmen. 5. Do not be seen much in public in the company of Republicans. Outside of New England they are not as a rule savory. Some associations will be tolerated, though known to exist, when decently veiled, but there is no excuse for parading them in public.

6. Practice rigid economy. The experience of the average Congressman shows that it is possible by judicious frugally to save about $100,01)6 each session out of the salary. Thus, the truest patriot in standing by his country makes his country stand by him.

7. Cultivate assiduously all newspaper correspondents. All there is of public life is what the papers say, and they will say anything that is made worth their while. 8. Do not become a candidate for the Presidency. The idea that the country is anxious to elect you to that office is chimerical, nor has the country anything to do with it except to vote as it is told. 9. In case of doubt, take the trick. Keep your nostrils open, your mouth shut, your head cool and your feet warm. Avoid Congressional whisky, Bob Ingersoll, the game of poker and the courts of the District of Columbia.

10. Beware of statesmen with great moral ideas. You will find immoral ideas more honest as well as more interesting. 11. Whatever happens do not relinquish hope. As Cicero observes, Nil deeperandum—do not despair. You have onoe been a respected member of the Addison County bar; resolve to regain that position. Live for the future and live down the present.

Secretary Bayard and the Colored Man. For several weeks past the Republican papers have been circulating all sorts of stories concerning the treatment of the colored race by Secretary Bayard, and his hostile attitude toward prominent colored men. No longer ago than Thursday the reckless Washington correspondent of a Cincinnati paper raked all these stories together aud sent them to the paper as a special dispatch. It waß all headed up in sensational garb and gush, as if somo new { mints had been discovered. The headines, however, were all that was new about it; the remainder was the same old swash that has been circulating in the Republican organs for weeks. An intelligent colored man of New York City (Oswald R. Smith) had his attention called to the matter several days ago, and, being a prominent colored Democrat, he resolved to wr te to Secretary Bayard, which he did, as follows:

New Yon n , April 7. Hon. Thomas F. Bayard, Secretary of State : Leak Sib —l send you the inclosed with regrets, and would be pleased if you would honor mo with a reply as to whether there is any truth in this statement. lam and have been a faithful worker among the very best of many people, and was very faithful in my efforts in Mr. Cleveland’s behalf at the loss of my personal and valuable friends, who, since Mr. Cleveland’s election, fail to recognize me in any way. Still, I am proud to say, I am an admirer of Mr. Cleveland, and was very proud of you as his flrst choice In the Cabinet. 1 have denied the truth of tho statement, and it is very important that I receive an early acknowledgment of this letter, as I have promised satisfactory proofs. Very truly yours, Oswald R. Smith.

Among the matters that Mr. Smith called the Secretary’s attention to, more especially, was one alleging that while he was a Senator, Mr. Bayard took special pains to avoid any social or personal recognition of his fellow-Senator, B. K. Bruce, and that in other ways he displayed his dislike for the race. The letter was written from New York on the 7th of April, and on the 9th Mr. Bayard answered promptly as follows: Washington, D. C., April 0. To Oswald R. Smith, New York City: Dear Sib: I have your letter of the 7th inst., Inclosing a cutting from the lrtxh World, which purports to be an extract from the correspondence of the Cleveland Leader, and is entitled “Bayard and the Negro.” Your inquiry as to the truth of the statements contained in this article la eminently proper and just, and I readily answer that the affeired correspondence does not contain one word of truth, but It is a tissue of mar levolence and silly falsehood from beginning to end. It Is vain, however, for a man in public station to expect immunity from the assaults of tho class who insert such slanders, or the profligate press which gives them currency. Yours respectfully, T. F. Bayard. The fact is, the ammunition in the Republican arsenal is running quite low. We may expect, however, at irregular intervals, harmless pyrotechnic displays of the kind referred to in the opening paragraph of the foregoing.