Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-01-09
For the Weekly American.
GRAND DEBATE IN THE SENATE.

GRAND DEBATE IN THE SENATE.
Extract fran tie Presideafs Message.
"How ardently have longed to meet you here,
That in close conclaye we together might
Bewail the woes which, like mighty food,
Have all our hopes and prospects overwhelmed;
Discuss the causes of this sad event,
And, gathering wisdom from our late mishaps,
Contrive by what means may best avert
Our final doom; how saye our sinking ship,
Which, like foundered craft, now floats at large
Broken and rotten on the swelling wave
OF schismatc ascendency."
Then Douglas bold his muse invoked
Folded his arms and thus he spoke:
BY consultation with our mutual friends,
And in my journey hitherward, called
On Sunday last upon the reverend Sage.
For four full hours upon that sacred day,
We viewed this subject in its grave aspects,
Talked and retalked il, scanned and conned it oer
Discussed its merits, bearings and designs.
Its means, its end, and all its bitter fruit
And from all that could hear, or see, or think,
could not tell to which side he inclined.
But Buck is with me, mark; / know the man
For had he declared himself on either side,
He surely would have stabbed it to the heart
For silence and non-committasm prove him still
bunker true, in spirit, aim and will"
Bigler- "
"Mr. President, must express surprise
The gentleman should now arise,
Our councils to divide;
That he should seek to lead astray
Our party from the appointed way,
To paths we know not Of"
HaSe-(sotto 0oce)
90, what tangled web we weave
When first we practice to dcceiye.n
Hunter ...... ..
And were't not that at thy beck and call
faction great, not large nor small,
Might here arise;
And thus disturb the harmony .....'..
Of brethren bound in amity,
We'd spurn you hence"
Green
"And Douglas, more, tell thee here,
Here, in thy pitch of pride,
Fen with these Freesoers near, ...
tell thee, thou'rt defed. #
And if thou sadst old Bucks not peer
To any Squatter Sovereign here
Eastward or westward, far near,
Bold Angus thou hast-tod story"
WILSON ..,.
"Behold how sinners disagree,
The Publican and Pharisee
One doth his righteousness p oclam,
The other owns his guilt and shame"
1oona6s- .... '... .-"
"And is there then in Gilead found
No balm to heal this smartng wound, j.
Made by the warmed viper's breath!"
Se,card--
"Harkl from the Toombs the mournful sound,
Mine ears attend the cry;
Ye Locos come and view the ground,
Where you must shortly lie"
Douglas ....
behold the precious bal n is found
To lull the pain, to heal the wound.
Here is a re solution, quantity drawn,
Which, while it reads freesoil, may still be turned,
By skillful rhetoric. to its opposite
And thus may be made to justify whateer
Ourselves in future may devise"
T6omb8-
"Pll have no resolution which shall bind
The Loco party to that cursed creed,
And make us bow our necks and take the yoke
To drag the car of Aboltionisnl"
Bigler-
"Toombs, forbear,. for with prophetic ken,
see our party hopes revive again.
Visions Of glory crowd my laboring brain,
And stores OF plunder press, an endless train.
The past is g'ne, the present We enjoy,
And let's this day our means employ;
II union our mutual Councils bless,
Twill be the pledge Of spoil and happiness"
Ibon,6s--
Forgive me Douglas once again,
No more I'll seek to give thee pain?"
Pugh- a
Let us join hands and altogether swear
Our mutual wants and losses to repair,
And pray TO Heaven to grant us all our JOY
And sanctify all means we may employ"
They all join hands in token of forgiveness
THE spirit of Kansas is then supposed to appear
in the scene and express her surprise and admra-
ton in the following chant:-l
"Sweet is the carol of the early lark,
AS, heavenward rising, he salutes the morn;
Sweet is the music Of the church-going bell
Which calls the early penitent to prayer;
Sweet are the hymus which, like soft Incense rise
To call down kindred blessings from the skies;
And sweets the voice Of prayer
But sweeter far, and dearer far to me,
Are Locofvcos bound in unity;
And sweeter far than these combined
Are the spoils of Office to pious mind" o..
Douglas
"Waiter, the brandy Friends, let's take horn,
To celebrate the day our hopes were born
b Lol here deep libation down pour,
In unpnnory of this rom tod borr