Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 2, Number 14, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 August 1858 — Democratic Simplicity at the Seat of Government. [ARTICLE]

Democratic Simplicity at the Seat of Government.

A Washington correspondent of the Philadelphia Ledger, a paper in the pay of the Administration, and therefore reliable on matters relating to its employers, gives the following sketch of Democratic simplicity and economy among the high priests of the party at Washington. Its perusal will be particularly interesting to the rank and file of the “hard fisted” party out here in Hoosierdom. Read it: “The present Cabinet has been more remarkable than any of its predecessors, for a liberal and hospitable style of living. It ! is true that most of them are wealthy men, but it does not always follow that official men live in a manner commensurate with their i wealth. Fortheyearendingwiththeapring, not one of the members of the Cabinet expended less than fifteen thousand dollars, and two or three of them expended each twenty-five thousand. It is true that their entertainmerts, equipage, &c., were unusually frequent and of an expensive kind. Their example was followed by some wealthy citizens, foreign minsters and Senators—particularly Douglas and Gwin—and thus fashionable and public life, during the season prior to Lent, was, in this city, a perpetual carnival. “The scale of expenditure in families in Washington has always been higher than in any other city, as I may assert from my own knowledge, and were a head of department to consult the most rigid economy he could not pay rent, and live here with a family, at the present salary of eight thousand dollars a year, nor anything like it. As to the heads of bureaux, whose salaries have remained at three thousand dollars, as fixed some forty' years ago, they cannot live in a decent and comfortable manner without drawing upon their private resources, if they are lucky enough to have any. “The demands of hospitality, not to say of fashion and taste, have, in fine, raised thq scale of official expenditure here to such an extent that, hereafter, none but rich men can accept a place in the Cabinet, without subjecting themselves to much inconvenience, or disparaging comparison. To the three qualifications pronounced by Jefferson to be sufficient, another must be added—that is wealth. So the President’s inquiry must be—‘ls he wealthy, is he honest, is he capable, is he faithful to the constitution!’” Mark, it was “their example,” that is, the example of those rich Democratic leaders and office holders, that has caused such “progress” in Democratic ostentation and extravagance at the seat of Government. What will the plain Democracy of Indiana think of their servants who expend “from fifteen to twenty-five thousand dollars a year ’ in the debaucheries and corruptions of “high life in Washington!” It is no marvel that the enormous sum of one hundred millions of dollars per annum does not suffice to meet the current expenses of Buchanan s Adtnin:st ration,when such outrageous extavagance characterizes the leading men of the party.— lndianapolis Journal. J he editor of the Dubuque Express and Herald has received specimens of socalled gold from Audubon countv, lowa, which turns out to be simply sulphate of co qier, glittering something like gold, but utterly worthless. The man on whose farm they were found is willing to sell for one thousand dollars an acte. We believe verv small quantities of gold have been found in Iowa; but it is very likely that most of the alleged discoveries in that State are of a piece with those in Audubon county. reported gold discoveries on Frazer’s fiver seem to be - * fully confirmed. There is a general stampede from California and other Pacific settlements, and soon there will be a formidable p'ody of adventurers in the new diggings, which are on British soil. Between digging gold and fighting the Indians, there is likely to befplenty <>: demand for any unemployed men on that side of the mountains. Hon. William F. Gordon, formerly for several years a prominent and much respected member of Congress from the Albennarle district of Virginia, died at his residence in that county on the the 21st s ult. He was standing conversing with his eon, when, feeling faint, he requested to be*laid down, which was done, and he immediately expired. In Benton, Yates county. New York, a few days since, a man named Waldron shot two young men, while a party were serenading his newly married son-in-law with tin horns. One of the wounded, named Gage, has since died. It is said that both he and his companion were mere spectators of the proceeding*. Waldron has been arrested. fcj*We have thd authority of the New York Sunday Allas for saying that the notorious Mrs. Cunningham, (supposed murderess of Dr. Burdell,) has been recently married to John J. Eckel, (her supposed accomplice,) and that they are now living together in that city. Peterson, a married man, and M iss Huldah Atwood, both residents of Truro, Massachusetts, eloped from that place to Boston, early last week, and are bound to California. Peterson leaves a wife and four children. The girl is eighteen years of age and called quite pretty. British Steamer Styx which made such a fuss in the Cuban waters, took a Spanish slaver as a prize, with forty sand dollars in doubloons on boaixl. T+ie. share of commander Vazey wa« one-third of this, which accounts tor Uw zeal in looking far other pirates. hundred and fifty-three sacks of new wheat, in two lots, were sold in the st, Louis market, on the sth ult. at the fancy price of two dollars and twenty-five cents per bushel. It was from Mississippi and Tennessee. Democratic party and ths antiDemocratic party are both growing prodig-iously-—the latter growing big and the forme? little.— Louisville Journal. Ot>-Harvard College, at the ment oh Wednesday, conferred the degree of Doctor of Laws upon Governor Banlt* ' ftnd Lord Napier.