The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-12-23
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
-fR70AY MORNING.. DlcEMBER IS 1858, VA
CONGRESSIONAL spEECnIFICATl0N'


American Congress. Even residents oil hri.
tain accustomed 10 delberative poo'eS' "n"
prumbling over the brief and business like
debates of their own Parliament, are appalled,
and thunder.struck by the Niagara o' yer
bos;.v which roaY-s and reverberates through
.be American Capitol. They are unable TO
s,,r-oc;a,a in It's most liberal sense that free
dom of speech with which Republican Gnu
yens. and. above all, Republican representa-
t;ves are invested. The idea OF freedom Oh
.nna,l % entertained and practlced IN the
halls of Congress implies the liberty t" tax
every body TO death. Some OF the remarks "a
Carlyle in one of his spicy pamphlets uPo"
representative bodies, might apply Win DC
mich truth and force to the Congress Oh 'ne
Unit. d States SIS to the Parliament al Nrea'
Rr;fa;n .NYhat. asks Carlyle, rs the good
Of men collected, with tac etorf, to debate
m thp benches of st. Stephens, now when
there is a 7.a,ea newspaper Not the dis
cussion of queS;ions; only the ultimate voting
of them Ia very briefpro cess, should thlhh!i
REQUIRES 10 so ON, or can veritably go on IN
III Stephen's now. The honorable gentle
man is ofteneSt very wearisomo IN IT. Ste
nhen's now his and his CONSTITUENCIES dye
or No is all we want Of the honorable gen
tIeman there all we are ever like to get OF
him there-could ii but be had without ad-
mixtures! If your Lordship will reflect on it,
YOU viii find il an obsolete function, this de
batting one OF his; useless in these new times,
as a set of post boys would be, along the line
of the Great Western Railway. Loving my
life and time which is the stuff of life, read
no Parliamentary Debates, rarely any Par
liamentary Speech; but | am told there Is
not once in the seven years, the smallest
CLEAN of new intelligence thrown on any
matter, earthly or divine, by an honorable
gentleman on his legs in Parliament Moth
ing offered you but wearisome, dreary, thrice
boiled colewort "A bad article at first, and
served and again in Newspapers and Period
zeal and other Literatures, till even the inte-
rior animals would recoil from it. Honorable
gentlemen have complained to myself that
under the sky there was not such a bore
What is or can be the use of this, Your Lord
ship e.
What would this grumbler say ii COMPEL
ed to be perforated by the huge augurs OF the
American Congress! But we have al ad-
vantage which the Britons cannot boast
They ere unable on their smaI island, to es-
cape from theinfiiclion Of Parliamentary elO-
quence, unless they jump into the ocean; we
have boundleSs coRtinlHt and can fly to the
shades Of vast wilderness for refuge
Moreover, nobody needs what Congressional
orators say. Whilst they imagine that the
ears of The whole American People are
drinking in with rapture the stream OF their
yerbosity, not one man III q million in the
Republic knows or cares what they are talk
ing about. Even in the excited and critical
period Of sectional agitation, which was set
tled-by the Compromise, when Congressional
orators were blowing the Union to fragments
with gunpowder speeches, the people of both
sections remained as calm as a summer 5 NOR
ming, pursuing without doubt or distrust, the
eventenor oftheir way, yetresolutely prepared
TO interfere whenever the riotous assemblage
at Washington should proceed from Harmless:
words to single act which would endangeI
the peace and union of the Republic.
This is young and vigorous country an(
can therefore affordto endure CongressiOna
iargon. But we sometimes wish thatthe rep
resentatives in the deliberatiye bodies of the
United States could attain to the wisdom 0,
speaking rarely and speaking well. Domen
who have arrived at years of distinction, re.
quire to be informed that eloquence and dec
- a.
most of the representatives of the people can
better serve their country by action than
speech
We do not undelrate the power and the
value of genuine eloquence. But it is rare
that we see the smallest spark of it in the
debates OF Congress. Efforts at display in
deed are innumerable,-the American Eagle
is regularly saddltd and ridden to theseventh
heaven by aspiring declaimers, but eioquence
that divine gift, when do we hear it! True
eloquence," said Duniel Webster, does not
consist in speech. Itcannot be brought from
far. Labor and learning may toll for it, but
they will toll in vain. Words and phrases
may be marshalled in every way, but thew
cannot compass Ii. Ii must exist in the man
in the subject and in the occasion Affected
passion, intense expression, the pomp OF de-
cIamatiOn, all may aspire after it thew can
not reach it, 1t comes, if it come at all like
the outbreaking Of q fountain from the earth
or the bursting forth Of volcanic fires, will
spontaneous, original, native force. tn,
graces taught in the schools, the costly orna
ments and studied contriyances of speech
shock and disgust men, when their own lives
and the fate of their wives, their children, an
their country, hang onthe decision fthe houI
Then, words have lost theirpower, rhetoric
vain, and all elaborate orat0ry contemplate
Even genius itself thenfeelsrebuked, and sui
dued as in the presence of higher qualities
Then, patriotism is eloquent; then, selfdeyd
ton is eloquent The clear conception, out
running the deductions flogic, the high pur
pose, the firm resolve the dauntless spirit
speaking On the tongue, beaming from tn
eye, informing every feature, and urging th
whole man onward, right onward to his oh