New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1851-12-09
w..,,,.,.n and III. New Congress.
rauerai COnsspordeIee II The N. Y Tribune ,e,,
w.saIscros, Dec. 4, 1871

.,n.a;,o vears Washington IN the rt~e'S ''aiu'
- the session p Tadmor to
DE bnt washington IN the !" - "o'A - -
-, !. far less changed RON us FORMER %"
g. arc any OF us Who 'oser'e H. oohe i''o''
mo. h.re nassed si.ce first made its acq1alh''
-. In, thew hs.e left few traces mere ne
.,n.rn,ecen. distances are filed up or shortened
ors sIo,,,v the Presidential Mansion is s'iii as
mposingly, eligibly situated aS ou' "'O, 60
,ookine. and as inwardly attractive 70 oui se''
orda,v magnates as ever; the ciihh Oh MANNERS
an ,ublic ediices in process OF construction
:. .,,ll incessant, and is the main feature OF IN
aos,rial activity here presented; the same crowd
~ unfortunate b0rers for places under the new
CLERK. DoorkeepeI &c, Of the House is here
pushing. elboving and entreating as eYer-the
crowd saw. is the same though the ndlvldu-
.ls composiig il are mainly changed with each
successive Congress; there Is the same preva-
l.nce of hiph living and low thinking as for
nerly: the same swarm OF insolent and rapa-
eious hackmen about the doors Of the Hotels,
though their importance has been sensloly
curtailed by the introduction of Onnlbuses, Cthe
single novelty find in Washington, and most
welcome addition to its facilities for iocomotlon)
TINE. the buildings of the Smithsonian Institute
are here, but they are located out Of the range OF
observation, so that suspect three-fourths Of the
strangers visiting the Metropolis go away pro-
foundly ignorant OF their position if not OF their
very existence. Literature and Science have
few votaries here, but no public consideration
they aye not part of the life and mental aliment
Of the Federal City. Politics and Jobs-to Sc
cure places whereby fat living may be made
with little labor, or to secure Contracts whereby
fortunes may be realized out OF the labor OF 9TH
ers-these are chief ends Of existence and effort
in Washington. And thus : liberal Admins
tration or Congress, in the dialect Of the Me-
tropolis, is one which disburses money lavishly
e,pecially at this point This local sentiment
exerts an unacknowledged but potent influence
over the toings Of Congress; and thus we VIII
messed at the last Session an appropriation made
without debate or serious objection TO commence
the erection of wings to the Capitol which viii
eust at least Three Millions of Dollars and are
utterly unneeded while bill appropriatng some
Two Millions 10 all to the improvement of Rivers
and Harbors throughout the country-a measure
which, if adopted would have saved the lives
Of at least one hundred navigators each year,
and add hundreds of thousands to the market
value of the Produce annually exchanged for
Merchandise by our Farmers-was fought with
desperation for weeks and to the last sands OF
the late Session, and finally defeated by the
most disTeputable shifts and lodges. Washing
ton is right here her citizens are all interested
in the expenditure of money at this point and
arc able to make their interests felt and re-
spected but the settlers on INSTRUCTED rivers,
the backwoods pioneers whose produce brings
them next TO nothing because of the cost Of
sending it TO market, and the seamen on our
Great Lakes constantly exposed to wreck and
death for want of sufficient and accessible har.
bors--these are all far away, and their power,
like that Of the magnet, is in inverse proportion
TO the square of their respective distances. |
tear this must continue.
But about Congress. We who begin to grow
old are apt to mistake the dnness of our vision
for the daIkening of Nature. We fancy that
the world about us is feeling the approaches
Of decrepitude. Perhaps 1t Is this which
gives me the impression that Congress 10
falling off in intellectual force, and that
lower grade OF ability is now current than
was formerly required. | know well that
the wisdom of our ancestors is pretcnse and
eant-that to-day has Patriots as unsefsh,
Statesmen as sagacious, and Orators as effective
as those of former days; know, too, TINT block
heads and demagogues always did and must
abound IN representative assemblies and ! am
not so unreasonable as to expect this single
Congress TO embody an equal amount OF talent
with all the seven or eight preceding Congresses
of whose deliberations have been more or less
coeni2ant. Yet when recall the Senate as
first saw it--with CLAY, WEBSTER, CALHOUN,
FoRsyrH, BENTON, McDusFIg, WRIGHT, Ew-
INC, PolNDExTER, &c. on Its benches, and ask
whether the present body is at all equal in force
and dignity 10 that, cannot answer IN the atfir
native Yet in the interim some six or eight
States have been added to the Union, increasing
its area by third and its Senators by at least 4
dozen, while its population has been swellcd 10y
hardly less than ten millions. In spite of all.
has not the Senate fallen of and why S.opld
IT have fallen of There are able and good men
IN it to-day-seme glorious relics OF the giant
race OF old, and some new members of signal
ability and promise but, regardedas whole, the
Senate has de,eriorated. Either the highest Or
der of mind now prefers other paths To that OF
Politics, or the People prefer men who court
their favor TO those who deserve and would honor
IT, Isl no; SO When. prior TO 1850, was there
ever Senate whereof Foote could have been
leader
The HOVSE Just assembled is an unusually
raw one. think more new members have this
week astonished their own hkeneSseS in tAe
mirror by appearing in the character OF National
Legislators than ever before Yet among the
Members new to Washington I observe many
who are capable of mingling instructively in the
debates, OF more useiully discharging their du