104 State Legislation 



offensive, not to say abusive, in its nature, they did 

 not question for a moment. It was felt that some 

 equivalent and equally strong term by which to ca 1 

 Tammany's proposed counter-address must be four 

 immediately; but, as the Latin vocabulary of it 

 members was limited, it was some time before a 

 suitable term was forthcoming. Finally, by a happy 

 inspiration, some gentleman of classical education 

 remembered the phrase ipse dixit; it was at once felt 

 to be the very phrase required by the peculiar exi- 

 gencies of the case, and next day the reply appeared, 

 setting forth with well-satisfied gravity that, in re- 

 sponse to the County Democracy's "ultimatum'' 

 Tammany herewith produced her "ipse dixit." 



Public servants of higher grade than aldermen or 

 Assemblymen sometimes give words a wider mean- 

 ing than would be found in the dictionary. In many 

 parts of the United States, owing to a curious series 

 of historical associations (which, by the way, it 

 would be interesting to trace), anything foreign and 

 un-English is called "Dutch," and it was in this 

 sense that a member of a recent Congress used the 

 term when, in speaking in favor of a tariff on works 

 of art, he told of the reluctance with which he saw 

 the productions of native artists exposed to compe- 

 tition "with Dutch daubs from Italy"; a sentence 

 pleasing alike from its alliteration and from its bold 

 disregard of geographic trivialities. 



Often an orator of this sort will have his atten- 

 tion attracted by some high-sounding word, which 

 he has not before seen, and which he treasures up 



