The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1847-02-11
]. H0LCOMB, Editor & Publisher.

like discharge Of artillery. The costly ar
tlcle of use has not been replaced, and wher
the House ssts at night, the room is Lighted
by placing candle ON every members desk
A somewhat singular effect is thus produced
+ The hall looks something like vast marke
place on Saturday night, whilst the tumul
It OF tongues does not by any means tend to dis
pei the illusion. Galleries and Hobbies arc
wrapt in gloom, and the dim obscurity of the
0 vast dome is spread over all like a mighty
9 pail. All this, however, helps to heighten the
effect Of the specific illumination to which
0 each countcnance on the floor is subjected
The sickly glare Of candlelight beaming upon
] a human face distorted by passion certainly
+ does not sweeten the expression ; and on this
! occasion the fact was verified in two hundred
f and fifty instances. 1t was indeed one of the
most interesting studies of the human v.sane,
under the peculiar effect of candlelight on a
comprehensive scale, that | have ever been
favored with, except in the case of a Scottish
Presbyterian Synod, engaged at midnight in
a fierce discussion anent the duty of the civil
magistrate to punish hereSy with the sword :;
in which case | must admit the glare appear
led still more unearthly, and the general ex-
Ipression still farther removed from the an
gelic.
A noisy, spluttering, diminutive member
from some obscure Northern districtwho with
hideous grimaces, had been speaking in sort
OF dunlb-show for the last ten minutes nobody
paying the least attention to him, and his poor,
meagre, pecyish little bit of a voice being ut
tery lost in the buzz of angry and excited
conversation throughout the House, the GAL
lerles Ginning in with their hoarse roar, had
! just taken his seat, when there was an instan-
taneOus and absolute cessation of the mingled
noises which had pervaded the hall moment
before, whilst a subdued muTmur on the floor,
and sudden uprising and shuffling of feet
IN the galleries sgnihed the occurrence of
something unusual. l naturally turned my
attention in the direction of those around me,
towards the side of the House where the Old
Man Eloquent SITS and found, to my great
qualification that he had arisen, and was about
to address the Chair. The old man leaned
forward, with both hands upon his desk, and
seemed to be more feeble than | had former
| ~ supposed. A great many of the members
had lett their seats land stood crowding around,
whilst the gallerey to the left of the Speak
eass chair, set apart for the shorthand wri-
tiers, not far from which the old mans desk
| is placed, was so thronged with eager audi
tors, who had intruded themselves there in
their anxiety to see and hear, that the re.
porters were squeezed up against one of the
I massive columns, and there, with note books
in their hands, obliged to make what shift
they could to discharge their honorable du-
| ties. 1t was good subject for picture
They may place one less appropriate in either
of the vacant panels of the Rotunda! The
circling crowd Of the stalwart, stern-faced
men, all agitated by strong interest and emo
tion-the striking figure of the venerable
speaker in the midst. strongly illumined by
the light which seemed concentrated upon it
the fair forms bending anxiously downward
from their elevated position over the Speak
er's chair, listening anxiously; the throng
which filed the large circular gallery seen
still further in the distance; the figures slow
ly moving to and fro in the Hobbies and in the
dim recesses of the room, (pubhc claimants
and office seekers, almost goaded to despert-
ton in finding their dreams vet unfu!ied at
the eleventh hour, and now dead to every
thing but their own bad fortune, fitting about
like conspirators in the growing darkness,an
scowling upon the scene as ifit had something
to do with their blasted expcctatons,) the
Speaker, not without an impressive dignity,
leaning back in his chair, but with face turn
ed in manifest respect towards the aged ora
tor and the assistant clerks, half dead with
the incessant application of the last week,
gladly pausing in their labors, and listening
too, but all looking; rostrums, desks, lamps,
and officials as if they belonged to some
other scene, so entirely did the interest and
business Of the hour seem concentrated i'm
mediately around the old man the massive
and noble architecture of the hall, rendered
yet more sombre and impressive by the I'M
certain light-all made up spectacle of ex-
citing interest and grandeur.
The old man commenced in low and
some what broken voice, but he seemed soon
to gather strength as he proceeded, and in a
few minutes the indignant tones rang out
sharp and clear, as pealing bell on frosty
morning, and were heard distinctly in the
most distant parts of the room. With what
bitter emphasis he dealt forth denuncations,
which must, / an sure, have cut somewhere
as two-edgcd sword The effect upon the
features ofone Of his auditors can not forget
This was tall dark-Visaged man, a member,
standing on the outside of the circle coil ,ced
around the speaker My attention had been
arrested by the fixed fierceness of the gaze
with which he regarded the old man from the
moment he took up his position on the out
skirts Of the attentive crowd. His counte-
nance grew darker every moment, and as the
speaker became keener and keener in his
merciless sarcasms, it assumed all expression
so positively demoniac that was shocked and
startled. A cloak properly arranged, and the
glittering of poinard, would have made the
picture complete. But too soon, loud and
heavy, the hammer fell, and the old man, cut
short in the middle Of an imprisoned appeal,
instantly sunk into his chair, in a sudden and
nervous manner, which struck me very disa-
greeably, and somehow conveyed an unpleas-
ant impression, as if the speaker had felt him
snlf shn rL,l,. ralul- ed for