The Olivia Letters: Being Some History of Washington City for Forty Years as Told by the Letters of a Newspaper CorrespondentBriggs, Emily Edson
History
The Olivia Letters: Being Some History of Washington City for Forty Years as Told by the Letters of a Newspaper Correspondent
Briggs, Emily Edson
United States -- Politics and government -- 1865-1933; Washington (D.C.) -- History
The fourth day of the trial of the great impeachment case is
made memorable by the speech of Benjamin F. Butler. Whilst he
was completing his tower of brilliancy and logic, the lightning
was playing with the beginning of it, and when he had finished
the great cities of the Union were as wise as we who sat within
the sound of his voice. The struggle to obtain tickets equalled,
if it did not exceed, the opening day of the trial, and the same
elegant, aristocratic crowd filled the galleries, the women, as
usual, outnumbering the men. The only really odious thing connected
with the trial is the ticket system. Suppose a crowd does gather
in the Capitol, the most perfect order prevails, and there are so
many police on duty that it is very easy to protect the Senate and
push back the waves of humanity. The grocer’s wife, the humblest
citizen, has just as much right to hear the impeachment trial as
the wife or the friend of a Congressman; and when the galleries are
properly filled, what hinders the police from meeting the late comers
and turning their unwilling footsteps away? Anything that smacks
of aristocracy or exclusiveness should instantly be put under the
feet of every American citizen. It is the masses who are the real
aristocracy, because they are the source of all power; and the moment
our public servants dare to draw lines that in any way interfere with
this great, good-natured maelstrom, the least of this mass can put a
stone in a sling which will do as good execution as the pebble of the
immortal David.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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