Anecdotes of public men; by John W. Forney.

138 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN.
the reply. They came to another,'Whose house is that?''Mine, too, stranger.' To a third,'And whose house is that?''That's mine, too, stranger; but don't suppose that I am so
darned poor as to own all the land about here.'
"What more do you want? Why, you are in the habit of
discussing Federal politics; and permit me to say to you, very
honestly and very openly, that, next to brandy, next to cardplaying, next to horse-racing, the thing that has done Virginia
more harm than any other in the course of her past history has
been her insatiable appetite for Federal politics. [Cheers and
laughter.] She has given all her great men to the Union. Her
Washington, her Jefferson, her Madison, her Marshall, her galaxy of great men, she has given to the Union. When and where
have her best sons been at work, devoting their best energies
to her service at home? Richmond, instead of attending to
Richmond's business, has been too much in the habit of attending to the affairs of Washington City, when there are plenty
there, God knows, to attend to them themselves. [Laughter.]
If you want my opinions upon Federal politics, though, I shall
not skulk them.
"The most prominent subject is that of the foreign war. It
is said that this Administration is a'do-nothing Administration.' To its honor I can claim of every fair-minded man of
you-to its honor I can claim that it is at least preserving our
neutrality in the foreign war. [Loud and prolonged cheers.] I
concur with them in that policy; and here let me say that, so
far as I am concerned, my sentiments are utterly opposed to
any filibustering in any part of the world. [Cheers.]
" There is a Know-Nothing member elect from Massachusetts to the Congress of the United States. There is a United
States Senator elect of the Know-Nothings who confesses the
accusation which I make, that the new party of Know-Nothings
was formed especially for the sake of abolitionism. [Cheers
and hisses.] And there is a Know-Nothing governor, one of