Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1834-06-12
A GLANCE AT THE SENATE.
From the Knickerbocker.

ferent body from the one we have just left The
senators seem older than the representatives;
but so many of these bald seniors exchange grey
heads for black ones that it is difficult to deter
mine They sit with their hats off-that's bet
ter They hustle about less--thatis more agreea-
BILE, if you would hear speaker. "Show me
the lons," said to my cicerone "Where is
Pan Buren,, where is Cldy and Webster, and
Calhoun" My first query was answered by
pointing to the Vice Presidents chair Ishould
have much to say Of Mr.. Van Buren,; but they
have elevated him to high Office, which, like
all Offices, has its drawbacks, and its dsadvan.
tages. "He cannot figure" said my guide, in
debate, his mouth is shut, unless opened to say
sthe ayes have it, or sthe memorial is REFERRED
or something of the like" His manner is calm
and bland, and he presides with ease and digni-
ty. And there he sits, with no opportunity for
dispay--thumping with his mallet, when the
galleries are out of ORDER having occasion on
ly to remark now and then, the question is SO
and so,' &c. The newspapers talk Of his
shrinking covering, blushing. This is all the
veriest romance in the world. He lives in the
Senate like an embodied abstraction. He takes
Clay's jibes, and Webster's thrusts, as the ghost
| of Creusa received the embraces of HneaS. He
| heeds them not. He leans back his head--pes
| one leg upon another--and sits as if he were a
| pleasant sculptured image, destined for that
niche all his life.
The massive forehead those prodigous eyes,:
| those heavy shoulders: that iron built frame,
point out at Webster. How like Satan himself
he can look, and what malicious smile! He
talks as if he were telling plain story; not en-
thusiastic, but concise and clear. His arm
comes up, as il lifted by spring. He speaks
| like one from the grave-So' solemn and so Sc
we're. Anon the lion is aroused What voicet
! The sentences leap into life--with we'll timed
metaphor, skilfully interwoven--all perfectly
wrought out. Yet Webster is a man of no ina
! ginaton He has well disciplined taste; and
| give him clue to figure, and he will trace it
out with force and beauty.
| That slender-buit man, apparently about fifty
years OF age, in blue coat, with bright buttons,
| a frizzly head, and an eye like a hawk erect
and earnest, with mouth partly open-that is
| Calhoun. He is not an orator-yet few COM
| mand so much attention. more. His voice
| is bad. His gesticulation is without grace. He
| is jealous and enthusiastic, but without being
frantic. His apparent candor earnestness and
sincerity, command attention. His voice strug-
giles in his throat, and you almost understand the
thoughts swelling there; and they soon rush out
as fast as words can convey them. He speaks
in debate, as d farmer in earnest would talk to
his boys, or merchant to his clerks. He steps
about, stands here and there, looks at this man
and that-and ifa man looks inquirnglv at him,
he asks, l am right, am not2'-' But as was
saying this conservative principle.-'It hurts
me to talk to-day; Tve got cold &C. This is
much the manner Of Mr.. Calhoun. If an idea
comes into his head, out it comes without re-
gard to rhetorical polish. Mr.. Cahoun's power
is in colloquy-animated conversation. Men
are willing to listen to man who talks well,
whose defamation might be insufferabe. Cal
houn links words together, bites off the last sy-
lakeland oftentimes eats up, as it were, whole
sentences in the rapdity of his enunciation.
That tall, wcl-formed man, with wide
mouth, and countenance indicating every
change of thought within, is Clay. He has been
so often described, that shall dwell upon him
briefly here. Nature made him an orator to
figure in free government. In despotism
his. head would have reached the block, for his
impudence, before he was thirty! He is good
at every thing: Mill tetigit, quod non ornarit
have never heard such voice 1t is equally
distinct and clear, whether at its highest key or
lowest whispef-rich musical, captivating. His
action is the spontaneous offspring of the pass
ing thought He gesticulates all oper. The
nodding of his head hung on long neck, his
arms, hands, fingers, feet, and even his specta-
cles and pocket handkerchief, aid him in de-
bate He steps forward and Backward and
from the right to the left, with effect Every
feature speaks. The whole body has its story
to tell.
That is Forsyth with his arms a-kinbo, head
thrown back, spectacles on, laughing at what
somebody has to say, who is speaking over the
way. l cannot describe his figure, but it is a
handsome one. He is all ease and composure;
is never thrown off his guard. He is ever rea-
dy; and the less prepared, the better for the
fight. He eudes with the utmost skill all man
ner of weapons. No member of Congress is
better at the accommodating and skirmishing of
debate.
That tail, red-headed man, with large man
ly figure, and full face is Preston, the new
member from South Carolina He looks as if
he had long lived under the rays of Southern
sun. Preston is SUI generis. He talks poetry
all in rich array, and gorgeous sentences
When there is storm in the Senate, they hang
him out as rainbow; and although the rough
clouds often darken his gittering hues, before
the storm is hushed, yet tempers are cooled, and
spirits are softened, by the dazzling arch, and
the rich interlacing of it bow. His is unpreme-
ditated eloquence. He does not, like Sheridan,
mark in his oratons, the place to introduce
Good God! Mr.. Speaker The incidents Of
debate suggest all his fine sentences His ges-
lures are admirable. No American orator is
more graceful-few have more art and yet few
understand so well the ars celare artem. Such
a man was necessary in the Senate All the
kinds of eloquence that Cicero describes, are