New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1857-06-22
THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
NUMBER TX.

Commencing at the second row of desks on thu
right of the main aisle we encounter first the Hon
Jacob Collamer, of Vermont. The contrast between
him and his colleague, Mr.. Foote, is striking The
latter is of NOBLE senatorial appearance, and
looks like gentleman Of the old school, Coamer
on the contrary, has nothing prepossessing in his
appearance He might pass very well as plain
Vermont farmer, but by no means looks the states
man. Like Cassius, he has "a lean and hungry look,
and, judging from the jolly rotundty of Mr.. Foote'S
person, must have been "raised in different part
Of the State, or else fed on different viands.
Mr.. Collamer was educated Whig, and served
several terms in the House of Representatives When
Gen. Taylor became President, he was appointed to
the office of Postmaster General. Retiring from the
Cabinet at Gen. Tayors death, he espoused the Free
soil cause in Vermont and was elected to the Senate
where he will probably continue as long as he
chooses.
He was the only Freesol Senator on the Territorial
Committee, and such had to bear the brunt of the
Kansas imbroglio. As often as Judge Douglas would
make report from that committee, Collamer would
Immediately follow it up with minority report, y
said report being signed by himself alone. Though
not man of great ability, his reports were generally
well written Perhaps some of his political brethren
helped to polish them up.
Besides his speeches on the Kansas question his
most noteworthy effort in the last Congress was a
violent protest against the reduction of the duty on
wool Wool it appears, is one of the principal pro-
ductions of the Green Mountain State-in fact. it
may almost be called staple. Collamer had never a
word to say against reducing the duty on sugar. iron
or anything else but when Mr. Hunter brought for.
yar5b <l,o,
took fire at it, and made most indignant protest
The night Hunters bill passed, left him still speak
ing against it at 10 o'clock Devotion to the interests
of his State seems alone to have controlled his
course.
Adjoining his seat is that of the youngest member
of the Freese party in the Senate-but one destined
to become one of the most prominent. as he is GER
tainy one OF the ablest-the Hon. William Pitt Fes.
senden, of Maine. Like Collaner, he served an ap-
premiership in the House. but had retired from that
body for several years before being elected to the
Senate. He came to the Senate with scarcely any
reputation, but it not long before he began to
show bis mettle He possesses the faculty of making
better speech every time he rises than his last one
before. Douglas, Cass and others, although paving
little attention to him at first, began finally to recog
nze his ability, and to find in him foeman worthy
OF their brightest steel His speech on the Presidents
message, at the beginning of the last session, was
unquestionably the best one from that side of the
House.
In person Mr.. Fessenden is tall, lank and lean He
appears always as if just ready to start on foot
race with certainty of winning In the discharge
of his ordinary senatorial duties he seems to isolate
himself from the remainder of his party and to act
entirely on his own responsibility.
His mind is of that acute analytical order that thor
oughly dissects every subject which it is brou gh
to bear. Like Gov. Crttenden, he avoids the beater
track of augmentation, and always brings fortl
something new and original. When a successful ar
gument can be made his side of any question, h,
will present it in its strongest colors-and wheI
| caught on the weak side of the argument he will
wire out OF it with all the ingenuity OF a speca
pleader. In this latter line Douglas has heretofor
stood almost without q rival in the Senate-but il
| two or three bouts which Fessenden had with him
the Little Giant y encountered his full match.
There to be aH air of greater sincerity abou
him than most of the other Freeso Senators no
does he appear to have any higher ambition than t
serve his party successfully in the Senate But shoul
his reputation continue to increase as it has dont
Seward will have to look to his aurels. ESSEX.