Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-01-16
M | S c f L L A n Y .
THE OLD REPRESENTATIVES HALL
[FrOm the Albany Evening Journal

The removal of the House of Representatives
this week from their old Hal in the centre build
ing Vr ,is C~r:.~i :-.- -L~ u~ii - 49,
tended northern wing, awakens many recollec-
tions of men and events which, in this now silent
Chamber, have played leading parts in the dra-
ma of political contests The old Capitol was
destroyed by the British forces IN August 1914.
The incidents Of tue war then raging, induced
Mr.. Madison to convene an extra session of
Congress in September of that year. They
met in plain brick building on Capitol llill.-
Though the country was passing through the
most critical period of the war, the Message of
the President occupies only short column ofan
ordinary newspaper. The Speaker, Langdon
Chrves of South Carolina, announced the st md
ing Committees the second day OF the sessiun
and members went al business in right good ear
nest As things are done nowadays, the Mes
sage would have filled huge vol ime and
month have been consumed in getting into work
ing order.
1t is interesting 10 the student of political BIZ
ographv TO note the men who then filed the
highest seats IN the National lie ,islaiure, while
the contemplatve man, as he runs his eye over
the list, will exclaim, "Wherc are they now o.
John Gaillard of Soutl Carolina was then, as
well as for many years thereafter, President pro
tenn. OF the Senate. He was gentleman of the
ity of his department in the chair. The quiet
dignity with which the Senate, then consisting
of some thirty members, PERFORMED its functions
as sort of Revisory Council of the doings Of
the House, contrasts strongly with the Senate of
our day, which has almost come TO he the popu.
lar branch of the Legislature, and is remarkable
not more for the ability than the turbulence of
its debates.
Among the eminent men of the Senate of
lSl4-'l5, were VIM. B Giles, known 10 the po-
litical ahiquary as Farmer Giles," James Bar
bour. afterwards Mr.. Adams Secretary of State
and Minister 10 England; Rufus King, Of the
Constitutional Era; David Dageelt, long Chief
Justice Of Connecticut Jeremiah Mason, OF
New Hampshire, Of whom Webster once said,
Let any LAWYER dig as deep as he p!eases into
case, and Jeremiah Mason will dig below him =
Gov. Core OF Massachusetts, with whom Web
ster, then a green youth from the Granite Hills,
read law in Boston.
Ia the House, John w. Epps was Chairman
Of the Ways and Means-the same Epps (hc
then being in the Scnate) whose ears General
Jackson threatened TO cut of with his sword for
his speech on the Generals conduct in the first
Florida war. Among the New York members
in this and the next Congress were James Ged-
des, afterwards famous as an Engineer upon the
Ere Canal; Thomas P. Grosvenor, one Of the
aolest deDaters our State ever sent to Congress
Thomas j. Oakley, late ChefJnstice of the Su-
pIeme Court of New York John w. TAYLOR,
Speaker of the House during Two or three later
Congresses O. Z. Comstock. subsequently a
distinguished Baptist Clergyman in the Western
part of the State; sam. II. Belts, now District
Judge of the U, S. Court; John Savage, after
wards Comptroller and Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court Governor +. I. Throop Eras-
ius Root; Peter B. Porter, Secretary of War
under Adams; j. d. Hammond, author of the
Political History of New York Daniel Cady,
long so eminent at the Bar and finally JUS
tice of the Supreme Court. From other States
came Gen. Artemas Ward, of revolutionary
fame; Timorby Pickering, member of Wash
ington's Cabinet Elish h. Potter, famous in
the politics of Rhode Island; Daniel Webster,
then of New Hampshire Thomas Newton, ma
u, years "Fathcr of the House. +. b. Bar.
bour, afterwards Speaker; Nathaniel Macon,ioi
N. Carolina Wm. Lowndes and John G. Cal
houn, of South Carolina Samuel ID. lngraham,
Secretary of The Treasury un Ter Jackson /;
John Forsyth, Secretary Of State under Van
Buren, /; John Mclean, now on the Bench of
the IT, S. Supreme Court Wn. r. King and
Richard NJ. johnson, afterwards Vice Prrsi-
dents, and VIM II. Harrison. During the sess-
ion Of I8l4-15, Mr.. Clay was at Client. AT
the following session, he succeeded Mr.. Cheves
as Speaker
or the eminent men we have named, some
passed from earth forty years since, others have
died in our own immediate time, while five still