Danger in the Dark - ZseZse

262 DANGER IN THE DARK.'
Nashville, or elsewhere, berated as heathenish ~ Did
political demagogues in any part of the country lift
up their hands in holy horror ~ But when it comes
to giving an expression of popular sentiment in a
similar manner, against a Romish priest, who makes
his appearance in our midst with his hands stained
with the blood of patriots; whose only offensewas,
a brave struggle for liberty, the people must be denounced
as persecutors, outlaws, and vile calumniators-and
tha~ in the Senate of the United StatesI
Bedini, not forgetting the advice of Dupin, his
dead cousin, turned his steps toward the Capitol;
and sure enough, he found the would-be presidents
all eager to "pitch in "-each hoping to get a feather
for his cap.
The day following Bedini's arrival at Washington
City, a certain northern Senator, (not the lean Cassius,
whom a Oeesarmight fear) was proceeding pompously
toward the Capitol, wrapped in deep meditation, as
well as a thick skin, and a superfluity of flesh and
blood, for though lean of brain, sure his belly was
fat! Thus he soliloquised:
"Now's my time to gather plumes; this Bedini
affair will furnish me an excuse for saying something
to please Catholics; and Protestants will justify me,
if I only succeed in convincing them that the fellow
is really persecuted. It goes somewhat against the
grain-I've got to stretch what little conscience I have
left - for this Bedini, without any doubt, deserves
to be hanged' he looks the villain - and his own