as the fame of the
Lieutenant-General of the Radicals.

This _Governor_ Kellogg is the Senator recently seated, of whom mention
has been made, and, if a lesser quantity than zero be conceivable, with
a worse title to the office than he had to that of Governor of
Louisiana. So far as known, he is a commonplace rogue; but his party has
always rallied to his support, as the "Tenth Legion" to its eagles.
Indeed, it is difficult to understand the qualities or objects that
enlist the devotion and compel the worship of humanity. Travelers in the
Orient tell of majestic fanes, whose mighty walls and countless columns
are rich with elaborate carvings. Hall succeeds hall, each more
beautifully wrought than the other, until the innermost, the holy of
holies, is reached, and there is found enshrined--a shriveled ape.

The sole exception referred to in the case of the drunken Federal Judge
was a lawyer of small repute, who had been Democratic in his political
tendencies. Languishing in obscurity, he saw and seized his opportunity,
and rushed into print in defense of the Judge and in commendation of the
President for upholding such judicial action. It is of record that this
lawyer, in the society of some men of letters, declared Dante to be the
author of the Decameron; but one may be ignorant of the Italian poets
and thoroughly read in French memoirs. During the war of the Spanish
succession, the Duke of Vendome, filthiest of generals, not excepting
Suvaroff, commanded the French army in Italy. To negotiate protection
for their States, the Italian princes sent agents to Vendome; but the
agents sent by the Duke of Parma were so insulted by the bestialities of
the French commander as to go back to their master without negotiating,
and no decent man would consent to return. A starving little abbe
volunteered for the service, and, possessing a special aptitude for
baseness, succeeded in his mission. Thus Alberoni, afterward Cardinal
and Prime Minister of Spain, got his foot on the first rung of the
ladder of fame. The details of the story are too gross to repeat, and
the Memoirs of the Duke of St. Simon must be consulted for them; but
our lawyer assuredly had read them. Many may imitate Homer, however
feebly; one genius originated his epics.

Having entered on this lofty career, our Alberoni stuck to it with the
tenacity of a ferret in pursuit of rabbits, and was rewarded, though not
at the time nor to the extent he had reason to expec