Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1858-01-28

Bartlett, OF New Hampshire, against Clsv
and the lofty Ksntu, kian's cuntempiuuu:
and caustic reply, are freshly remembered
Sam Houston. just from the wild wood:
Iof Tennessee, broke lance in the foray
4 third Of century has gone, during which
he has conquered q foreign Republic. has
filled its Presidential chair. and annexed i
Ito our Union, and yet, the towering form o
the cid chiefiain may be seen, erect anC
ieagle eyed, in the Senate Chamber, al
active participant in lis taily proceedings
A few old relies of the revolutionary
period yet live to remember the brilliant
scene when Lafayette. nearly half century
after he had bade adieu to Washington, Oh
i'll e eve Of his return to France, wss eceivee
in the Represents stises' Hail, amiaR the
l9ildest pIaaJits Of hundreds OF spectators
Mr.. Speaker Clay, in the name of the greai
Republic which his valor had helped to
found, welcoming his return to our shores
A later day witnessed similar spectacle
when was greeted within this Hall by the
National Representation, Kossuth, the elo
lquent Governor of Hungary.
In this Hal ;ransPired that event, which
so completely dissolved existing poltica
combinations, and has Influenced the Jes-
tiny of men and parties even down to oul
dav-the election OF John Quincy Adams
BY the House TO the Presidenc The
spitetul contemporaneous Clay and Kream-
er correspondence-the oft-reiterated char
ges of '.bargain and corruptieh''-the long.
standing feud between Clay and Jackson
then engendered-the remorseless obloquy
that chafed the spirit and clouded the future
of the great Commoner, (now known to
have been so undeserved by him,) are among
the bitter remembrances of this period.
| We can barely mention the proposed Con-
gress of Pan 'ma-th5 Tariff revision ol
ls2S-the Indian controversy with Georgia,
and the ultimate removal of the Aborigines
beyond the Misslssippi; measures pregnant
with great principles, and prolific of rare
Ieloquence, furnishing occasions for genius
10 utter glowing words which posterity will
not let die. Nor can we dwell upon that
other memorable contest which shook the
the Hall of Representatives and the Senate
Chamber to their foundations, and filled
every corner of the land with agitation. We
mean the notification conflict OF 1880 and
1881.
Ii was about the time VIII n ,he'two lsstmen
toned events were pending, that tire Sem
ate began 10 take the lead of the House in
the initiation and discussion of important
measures ,and 10 attract 20 Itself an unprece-
dented share of the public attention. This
was due in part TO the recent infusion into
that body OF several new Senators, who
were Gistin. .uiohed not oniy for great learn
ing aud ripe experience in afr,is, 5a, Tor
sp eujid oratorical powers. 10 say that
wnen CLAY, Webster Calhoun. Wright,
Clayton, Recs, Poiud x;er, Ea ing Tail
inadgc, and DeiiyS. n crei r1- Salt-s.
they found Already there 8"n On, Wood
bu-y, lszswe!i. Hayne, Berriea, Freiag-
huy>en. Homes, Forsyth, S2ragus. ,ad
Mclean, IS simple proc: that h. nor.h
wing Of the Capitol was tn be the theatre
where the great questions then convuI-ing
the country were to play their prime pa
parts.
But the other wing of the C pitnl, during
the closing events OF Mr. Adsms's admins
tration, and the opening scenes of Gen.
Jackson's, displayed a roll Of names scarce
" less eminent. Storrs. McDuffie, John
Quincy Adams, Archer, Root, Cambreleng,
Hamilton, Burgess, Buchanan, James M.
Wayne, Polk, Bell, Choate, Verplanck,
Stevenson, Corwin, Evans, Binney! L.
needed but this array OF learning and elo-
quence in the House, contemporaneously
with the still grander display il the Senate,
to enttle these four or Eve years to be
called the golden era OF Congressional
oratory.
The notification contest, and the closely
| following tariff compromise, and the pro-
| trected United States Bank war, would each
afford materials for chapter in even a
meagre sketch OF public events. But the
intense interest felt in these questions,
together with the leadership of the Senate
in affairs, were soon to pass away-the heat
which they engendred being destined to
spa e its Intellectual fires" before the glow :
ing fever of lifelong controversy concern
inn the ESSENTIAL RIGHTS OF Man, which,
commencing in 1884, has for three-and
twenty years ragged in the Old Hall, till its
every seat and aisle, its every column and
arch and tablature, is associated with some
historic event, some heroic struggle, some
brilliant triumph in this holy Crusade, or
with some effor: of genius, eloquence and
courage, in behalf of the Right and the
True, which will outIive .he lofty dome that
looked down upon them Would that we
had time to linger around some Of the scenes
in this greatest drama in Americas history.
We can barely touch upon two or three, in
III passing.
The right of petition was early put in
issue by that persistent body of men, the
radical Abolition;sts, whose convictions Of
duty no fire of persecution was hot enough
to burn out of them. Il is a curious fact,
tha. the first modern memorial respecting
Slavery, ever presented to the House of
| Representatives, was the proceedings OF a
meeting in Utica, N. Y, deprecating The
agitation of this subject! 1t was offered by
Judge Beartsley, then in Congress, in the
opening days of the session OF 1879.
John Dickson, Of Ontario county, N. Y. in
January, 1885, Gust after the reception of
the Utica memoI .al,) presented petition
for the abolition OF Slavery in the District
Of Columbia. He advocated its prayer in IN
sble speech. This was the fret gentle
zephyr of that approaching storm which
ultimately swelIedlinto tempest that ragged
in the House with unabated fury for many
years. The earliest defer ders of the right
of petition were Tessrs, Dickson o. New
York Phillips and Ja,'kseaoi Massachusetts,
and lade o. Vermont Resort was saon
had 10 the gag rule. which. a. the il2oa ai
memorials began to inorease IL volume, was
fnaliY incorporated aInoag the standing
rules OF the House. These 'yraUnicai
measures aroused the lre OF John Qaincy
Adams, who soon became the lcading CHAM
pion of ihe right OF petition. His great age,