Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-04-28

'o'eu "lh MN, IN oroer 10 tesuiy their disgust,
re-considered their vote and laid the bill on the
table. THIS accounts for his :smanner. well
might it have been 80 subdued'' But hear the
writer" General Hayne, of South Carolina,
and Woodbury. of New Hampshire, seem to be in
spired The first rose to the sublime in oratory.
and the second gave every sentence he uttered
point and force, which excited great applause. -
Reader! What would stranger, unacquainted
with the obsequiousness and depravty of some
of our countrymen, who had read the speech of the
above named gentleman, think of the state of
public taste in this country? What idea could
they suppose we entertained of the &c sublime -
But mayhap the writer when he committed this
tapsas fngua, was thinking of that species of
profound sublimity called Bathos. We advise
him to look at Scriblerus on this subject and tell
US whether he has not confounded the TERMS
What would the great Longinus, (who had so
much difficulty in culins out, from the writings of
the most celebrated authors the world has ever
produced, examples of true sublimlty,) have Civ
en-, had this gentleman lived in that age of COM
parative darkness! Ofortunate America How
Insignificant must appear the orator of Tusculum,
Demosthenes and Pericles, and the whole host of
old forgotten worthless, when compared with thy
son, Robert y Hayne! What could literature
have sent to the great critic of Palmyra that could
have WED with his essay at the aforesaid Dinner!
! But turning to the gentleman of ''p0int'' and
'sforce"-this is the great Peter, the rock on
which the patriotic Thomas Benton has built his
faith. How admirable was the comparison! how
exact the resemblance!-the one being as re-
markable for piety, and wisdom, and virtue, as
the other for wickedness, and ignorance, and
/ vice. But Benton is no doubt more acute than
the generality of mankind in his perception of re-
: semblances. One extreme not unfrequently sug-
gests its opposite. Was it thus. that the name
of his honorable friend from New Hampshire
called to his mind that of the great Peer? May
be the writer, whose language we have quoted,
has fallen into Benton's error, and mistaken
obtuseness for ''poim," and WeaknesS for
force" This being so, we heartily concur in
the justice of his remarks. One more example,
and leave this writer to his glory. Speaking
of one of the Maryland Senators, he says: ''Old
General Sam. Smith, of Baltimore, also gave US
speech, full of good humor and good feeling,
which kept the table in roar for some time.''-
What refined company must it not have been,
when we find their risible faculties excited by
the following felicitous attempt at pleasantly!
:. Some fifty sixty years past, frequented 81
mlar meetings. At that time, the wine was
something better than we have at this day, or
had better zest for it. The toast was given; if
good one. it was called bumper toast, and all
drank fairly. In little time, hilarity was the
order of the day. The song. the joke, the tale,
some real wit, and many bad attempts at wit,
passed Oft the day merrilv." So much for Sena-
tor Smith, and his happy faculty which was
- wont to set the table on a roar"
Thus, Sir, have given you some idea of the
disgusting strain in which the celebration of Mr..
JEFFERsoN's Birthday has been represented to
the public. Nothing is 50 gross, that there will
not be found those to receive and admire; and
that which is most extravagant, appears to an
swer more efectually the ends of the present
office-seekers, who have become identified with
the reigning dynasty, and who must rise or fall
with them. No effort, however base. is suffered
to pass unnoticed. The notorious scavenger is
always on the alert, collecting whatever is cal
culated to promote the ends of party, without re-
gard to its character, or the source from whence
it has been derived. From the columns of his
immaculate journal, have dragged to light the
veracious epistle from which | have made the
above extracts. At present go no farther
Yours, sc.
-ssse9caDs
We are sorry to see that respectable and ably
conducted paper, the Charlottesville Advocate,
pouring out the walls Of its wrath upon the great
est man of our country-HENRY CLAY. We can
Toll tho Advocate that If there is confidence to be