The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1850-06-13
A SCENE In THE SENATE.
MEssRs. DAWSON AND HALE.

MESSRS. DAWSON AND HALE.
Mr.. Hale is one of The best tempered and most
humorous members of the Senate; and withal,
distinguished for his boldness, readiness, and
independence. No one more studiously avoids
offensive personalities hut he has rendered him.
self obnoxious to many by the ardor with which
he defends the cause Of freedom, the prOmptness
with which he exposes every insidious assault
upon its interests, and the frequency Of his refer
ence to the sentiment and viii of constituencies
represented by Northern Senators about to yield
to the demands of the Slave Power.
Besides, he is entirely destitute of superstitous
reverence for great men, being as apt to dissent
from Mr.. Webster, or oppose Mr. Clay, or to
make merry with the Inconsistencies of General
Cass, as if they were ordinary flesh and blood.
Such freedom and irreverence could not be
suffered to go unrebuked. The sensibilties Of
Senators who had been annoyed by his constant
efforts to save freedom from being wounded by
professed friends the feelings of leading men,"
whose leadership he had rejected, demanded the
coudigu punishment of the culprit. Last Satur-
day was the time chosen for his public bumilia-
ten, ~ ~, n.s~soo Of Georgia appeared % ~
executioner.
The subject under discussion was the boundary
of Texas. MIR Davis of Mississippi denied the
power of Congress to reduce the boundaries of
sovereign State, and denounced the attempt to
purchase the soil of Texas and turn it over to the
Federal Government, as an attempt which, If
successful would result in the conversion of
slave soil into free soil. This placed Mr. Foote,
a supporter of the project, in dangerous position,
and he rose to protest against the construction
given to the proposition by his colleague. Evil
IDENTIFY thinking Of his constituents alone, he be-
came vehement in his defamation, declaring that
the bill, if passed, would be death-blow to the
monster Free Soi-would cover it with infamy-
indeed, that by the votes of the Senate already
upon amendments, the Wilmot Proviso had been
killed and buried out of sight and hearing Mr..
Hale, ever ready to expose the true bearings Of
the measure before the Senate, in q few humorous
but piquant remarks, called the attention of
Northern Senators inclined in favor of the bill
to the exposition of its nature and effects given
by one who was, in fact, its originator. He in
dulged in no personalities, no invective; his
remarks were pointed, but 30 humorous as to
excite general, almost unrestrained laughter
among the members
The time, however, had come for his public
arraignment Mr.. Dawson arose with clerical
solemnity the Senate was stilled; every Senator
was in his place; the leading men settled them
I The speech of Mr. Dawson bore every mark Of
elaborate preparation. He commenced by ex-
pressing his profound grief that the Senator from
New Hampshire should take advantage of any
unguarded expression of brother Senator, with
a view to excite sectional feeling 1t was not
Senatoral-it was not patriotic And then he
expatiated upon patriotism, nationality magma
nmity justice; insiuuating, not asserting, that
in all these attributes the Senator from New
Hampshire was sadly deficient He seemed to
pity him; to feel mortified rather than angry
with his petty sectionalism, his cunning appeals
to prejudice and passion but he consoled himself
with few reflections on his own high attributes.
For himself, he meekly claimed unspotted purity,
all-embracing patriotism, the most exalted human
ity, and magnanimity unquestionablc.
And was he not magnanimous2 In the first
place, he was sustained by the united Southern
delegation, with, perhaps, single exception !;
then he had, we presume the cordial sympathies
of the Northern Senators of both parties with
the exception of Messrs. Seward Baldwin, Cor
win, Chase, and Iamlin. With legion to back
him, with upturned faces all around him prompt
to greet with smiles his feeblest witticism with
Clay by his side to cry, hear him, hear him -
with Badger in front to interject assent and with
Cass just beyond, with his heavy countenance
almost kindling with delight, it was very magnan-
imous for that Senator, without notice, without
prete1t to undertake, in speech prepared before
hand, with documents and papers furnished him
| by some scsvenger in politics. the public arraign-
| ment and condemnation of Senator, standing
almost alone, with no party to rally in his defence,
and totally unapprized of the attack about to be
made. 1t was magnanimous act Mr. Dawson-a
beautiful illustration of Georgia chivalry.
After pronOuncng a high-wrought culogium
upon himself, he alluded with touching eloquence
to the fraties of other Senator'S, not actuated by
the same exalted motives. Why, at this hour of
peril, throw obstacles in the way Of an amicable
settlement of our controversies When gray
headed patriots were taxing their energies to save
| the noblest fabric of Government the world had
ever seen; when Northern men, with generous
disregard Of SELF were laying their prejudices and
pride on the altar Of the country-why should
they be stgmatized as enemies to free DOM traitors
to the interests Of their particular sectioni Al
Webster and Clay looked unuttersble things, and
Hale Of course was supposed to feel sef.reproach
for the irreverence he had manifested for their
joint wisdom and works
Mr.. Dawson proceeded to impeach, in the most
courteous manner, the purity of Mr. Hale's mo-
tives; not formally, but by implication. lie
INDUCED in dark inuendoes about former ..sts and
opinions in the history of that Senator, ringing
the changes on inconsistency, sudden conversion,
selfaggrandzement, and the like, till he had
raised curiosity to its utmost, and predisposed
the Senate for development which should cover
the New Hampshire Senator with. confusion of
face And then he read manuscript copy Of
letter written by the Rev. George Storrs in 1888,
about certain abolition meeting held in Dover,
New Hampshire, at which Mr.. Hale stood forth
as the champion of the anti-abolition party. Next
he held up newspaper, "a copy Of the Dover
G"ret,e Of the same year) In which was an article
falsely ascribed to Mr.. Hale, ridculing the Adolf
tionists, and inviting popular vengeance against
that British emissary, George Thompson He
disclamed anything personally offensive to thl
New Hampshire Senator. Oh, mol that Scnato|
had the hest heart in the world, If IL were at li
eriy to act in obedience to the dictates of his own
Judgment. Mr.. Webster and his friends laughh
at this, as . most folcitous stroke No, M