Daily American organ. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1856, 1855-12-13
WHOLE NO. 343.
From the New York Times.
scene in the HOUSE of Commons


The following extract Of letter from gentle.
man who has been a member Of the British Par
lament, describing curious scene in the House
of Commons, will be read with interest The in.
cident occurred during the debate on Sir Robert
Peels Free Trade project
You ask me, my dear -----, whether have
seen General Morris last song, Jenny Marsh of
Cherry Valley You can hardly know when
you put such q question, the place he has built
himself in the hearts Of all classes here His many
songs and ballads are households words In every
home in England, and have q dear old chair by
every circle In which kindly friends are gathered
and parents smile with pleasure to see brothers
and sisters join their voices in the evening song
and twine closer those loving chords--the tender
est of the human heart. 1t IL no mean reward to
feel that the child Of ones brain has chair in
such circles and that the love for the child passes
in hundreds Of hearts into love for its unseen pa
rents. In that old chair Jenny Marsh Of Cherry
Valley is fast securing place. After all, what
such heart-song as My Mothers Bible 2 1t pos
sesses the true test of genius, touching with
sympathy the human heart, equally in the palace
and cottage. As an instance Of the effect of one
of his many songs on the higher classes will
mention scene In the most fastidious assembly in
the world--the British House Of Commons--at
which happened to be present, and which offers
u homage, that not only your national bard, but
your country should feel proud Of
1t was Just about the hour, near twelve, when
the peisumed ard blaze dandies turn in from the
Coventry club, or some Begravian rout, when, ex-
cept three or four Of the first men in the House,
no one would be endured and no one is listened
to- unless, perhaps, buffo like Colonel Sibthorr,
or Rabelaisian wit like Henry Drummond, or a
flashing hussar Of debate like Osborne, who rush
es in every sentence at some opposition foe and
l,o IL It'll - 20
death to bores They dare not cross its thres-
hold. b
F" Yet 1t was just this hour, when, from the back
of the Whig benches, an old man arose, tall and
silvered. From his dress of top boots, and drab
breeches and blue coat with gilt buttons one would
have fancied he had been dug up from some
gion Of the Georges, had not the fresh bloom on
his cheek, caught In many hunting morning, ard
his hale, hearty look, proclaimed the fine old Eng
lish gentleman This was Galley, of Yorkshire.
At first the dandies stared, and were inclined to
chastise such unusual audacity in invading hour
sacred TO Peel, and Stanley and Russell, and Glad
stone, and D'Israeli.
"But somehow the genial, kindly presence of
the man, and the good old garments he wore, to
which even 6iase young England softened, saved
him, and the House relapsed into stlessness. But
listessness soon grew into interest. when, after
most earnest and touching appeal TO the Premier,
to save the old glory, and old customs, and old
peasantry of England, he repeated, with q manly,
touching pathos, the song Of 'Woodman, spare
that tree cannot well describe the effect these
beautiful words, which do honor to the head and
heart OF their author, produced. The House was
perfectly still when the old man sat down.
Sir Robert felt 1t, and, when he rose, his voice
fatered. admit he said, the touching beauty
of that ballad; but / deny its application to any
measure of mine 1t was some time before the
sensation eubsided but after II did so grouna
gathered around Osborne and D'Israeli, to listen
| TO personal description OF the author, who was
familiar TO them from the picturings Of Willis and
others. Morris is now as well known In fancy to
many Of us as if we had looked into his kindly face
4 or felt the warm pressure Of his hand.