The native American., 1838-02-10

ments, will bear the reader to scene SO sihgu-
lar, that l know he will pardon me, when let
him into its history.
Several years ago, there Ball given at ga
rusis Saloon, in honor of some great occasion
the 22d of February, believe, and splendid sup
per was spread in the lower hall OF the Assembly
House.
Seated at the head of one Of the tables, was a
gentleman of great legal eminence, who received
an intoxicated insult from stranger. In mo-
ment the offended gentleman shivered heavy cut
decanter over the head of the inebriate which
gashed his forehead severely. The blood ran in
black and heavy drops from the wound, and the
man fell back, as | thought, dead, in the arms OF
his friends. The scene was changed immediate.
ly-the laugh and toast were hushed, and vio-
lent and deadly denunciations heard among the
crowd. happened to turn my eyes towards the
main entrance, and they fell upon object which
shall not easily pass away from my mind.
Livid, as corpse, stood Daniel Webster on
the step descending from the door. He had deliv-
cred speech at public dinner at Fuller's Tav
|ern, and had but just entered, holding glass of
wine in his hand. was struck with his singular
aspect-never before had imagined such an eye
SO pale, yet composed a face. Was it the sight
of blood that thus affected him! But so it was,
he stood amid all that confusion and uproar, rigid
as statue, while the bumper which he held in
his hand did not vihrate the variation Of hair.
| had seen Mr.. Webster in other scenes-in the
Senate Chamber-when the battle was raging
around him. | had seen him proudly, almost
disdainfully advance to the combat, and had
watched his demeanor; but his remarkable coun-
tenance had never worn the weird expression that
it did upon this occasion. 1t haunts me to this
hour, and as write by my midnight lamp,
gather my breath quickly, lest that countenance
should be glaring by my side.
i Calm as summer morn, while storms and
empests are gathering in the atmosphere, shroud-
ed in his own peculiar temperament and blessed
with philosophy which smiles at frowns and
boots at human hate, sits the Hon. Silas Wright
Of New York. For two or three sessions, Mr.
i Wright was entirely out of my good books
There was something SO provokingly good ma
tured in his composition, that could not take to
/ him. | none of that bitterness and sarcasm
which should have distinguished so prominent
man, and which is his most potent weapon in po-
ihcal warfare. No man possessed that quality
to greater degree than the Hon. John Forsyth
When he was in the Senate during the great me-
mortal year, when yard-sticks were used to mea-
sure popular feeling, that distinguished Southern
er paid back with interest the warm assaults of his
adversaries. There was an aptness, a fitness and
whitening irony about Mr.. Forsyth, that made
him feared. But with Mr.. Wright, though he
takes decided interest in vital questions he new
er permits his feelings to display the extent of that
interest. He has arsenal of arms and maya
zine OF ammunition stored away in his powerful
Fl mind; but he never darts the into the heart of
his foe, or blows up his entrenchments with the
other. He permits other Senators to vex their
i lungs and spoil their tempers, while he, with his
sunny face and beaming eye, holds perfect domin-
| ion himself, and thus obtains dominion over
others.
He is always prepared for an attack, which he
parties with skill; and have frequently seen him
terribly assailed, but with quietude that must
have been the envy Of the whole Senate, he mere
y turned upon his foe, and in his quaint and sa-
gacious- way, has repelled their arguments with
ingenuity, and warded off their rhetoric with
shrug
/ Mr.. Wright has the consistency of sef-opnon
strongly developed. When once his acute mind
has mastered subject it adheres nfexibly to
its convictions. Devoted to the administration of
Mr.. Van Buren, he yields him warm and well
come support. Profound as Politician, he per-
mits no eye to discover the changes produced by
the shifting of circumstances on his mind Con
fdent in his ever-ready genius, he allows the
current of events to flow, and while he scrutinizes
every ripple, casual observer would suppose
that he was perfectly indifferent to IT'S complexion
But he is seer i'll the transactions of men--no-
thing escapes his vigilant eye. The very shadows
that creep to and fro between men who stand high
in public estimation, the minions of his will.
With great natural ability, equal in its original
conformation to that of any other living statesman
of our country, Mr. Wright lacks that broad phi
losophical cast of mind which is the acquisition
Of long and ardent application-won by searching
among the archives of other nations for their the
cries and plans, their failures and their triumphs.
He stands on the bright side of time, little con-
corning himself with the records of past king
doms and consequently as he does not study their
causes of success or failure, he never can assume
that proud station where his natural force of gen
us might contribute to elevate him.
In person, Sas Wright is about six feet in
height, and Of rather robust form; his face is oval
and intelligent; his forehead prominent and COM
pact, strictly in keeping with his mental faculties.
Ills voice is not good, it being crossed with an
unfortunate twang which breaks the force of his
elocuton; but after listening to him two or three
times, you lose the nasal defect in the deliberate