Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-01-24

MORNING LEADER.
Washington Gossip.

Philadelphia Press, under date of Jan. 18th.
Social life in Washington is a curious study.
We have had heraldry In official circles since
LecomptOn became the gospel of the Admins
tTatiOn. Forgetting that there are other cakes
and ale in the land, the President restricts his
bread and butter to the faithful alone. Before
you can sit at his board you must worship at
his shrine. You cannot make your face to shine
with his wine and oil unless YOU submit to his
politics He docs not dispense q smile except
for consideration. You may see him if you
90 to a reception; but if he knows you to be of
an opposing party, he will freeze you with
look or knock You down with sneer Under
Fillmore and Pierce the White House was not
an ice house. The poorest clerks were wei
come. The political foe ate the bread of the
Executive with none to molest and make
him afraid, and stood in his presence without
trembling.
have never known Washington more de-
lighdul, notwithstanding the Siberian hospi-
tality at the West End of the Avenue Mr.
Corcoran, who has done so much to beautify
this fair city, and whose charities are rs unos
tentatious as they are voluntary and frequent,
though no longer 1avorite ofthe White House
specially since Bennett, of the Herald, has
been endorsed tor his assaults upon sprivate
character by the head of the Govemment-en-
teTtains with sumptuous libeIaity. Mr.. Vice
President Breckinridge, who is also in the shade
of the Buchanan dynasty, lives costly with a
part of his Kentucky delegation in Sixth street
Mr. Speaker Orr and his eloquent and excitable
friend Col Keitt received their visitors at their
genial headquarters, corner of Eighth and E.
Hon. Horace F. Clark, one of the brave men
who did right at the first session, and comes
back to the second reelected and reiuvenated,
fourishes on his ample fortune at the beautiful
residence of the late Major Lindsay, meeting his
guests with Open-handed cordiality. Broderick
has elegant rooms on the Avenue, which are
crowded nightly with his friends. Haskin and
Hickman are entirely too comfortable for two
such radical lanti-AdministratiOn men. Mr.. and
Mrs. Senator Douglas were never before so pop
ular with the visiting and fashionable world
The receptions of the fair lady are crowded
| No party spirit reigns there All are received
with genuine kindness. North and South min
gle in genial harmony. The respectable citi-
zen and his family-the stranger from other
| States and countries-are greeted like old
| friends when properly presented. The Repub-
| licans have good time Of their own. They
make amends for their exclusion from the W est
| End by paying attentions to each other; con-
tent with their own circle, but by no means cos
tive of their fare when enabled to recprocate.
The Americans were always q gay omnibus
full. Headed by glorious Crlltenden, and in
spired by jolly John Thompson, mot John r }
with Humphrey Marshall, Trippe, Winter Da-
Wis, and Morrison Harris, and the rest, they
make many a round robin, and cause many a
round table to roar and groan With wit and wine
Nor do all the Administration dole out their
good things. Though you cannot 20 to Cobb IS
or to Blacks, (and you deserve it for being so
severe IN your paPer,) others can, and they Say
that the receptions are very agreeable. Mr. and
Mrs. Sicklcs are universal lavorites; nowhere is
there a more refined or generous welcome, and
nowhere are Pennsy ylvanians so glad to rally -
Among the Outsiders-the non officials-thert
is an over-abundance of social feeling. Hero
you find the heart of Washington society,"
spontaneous sincerity, a contempt for mere
wealth. and admiration of intellect You meet
nowhere else. Ex-Marshal Hoover is q host il
more respects than one, and his kind gentle
aud true-hearted lady is never happier thai
when making others happy. Then we have Ma
guire, with his beautiful picture gallery, and hi
splendid library, his agreeable re unions, wher
you will often meet such celebrities as William
c. Rives, of Virginia; Elliott, the artist; Gay
! lord Clark, of the Knickerbocker; Pike, of Ar
kansas; Prentice, of the Louisville Journal
Peter Force, Gales and Seaton, and when the
are in town, Forrest, Brougham, Burton, 'ant
the rest " CoyIe, of the Intelligencer; Heiss
D of the States; Rives, of the Globe; F. P Blail
f at Silver Spring, outside of the town; Beal, th
' old sergeant. arms of the Senate, are anon
/ the readiest to see their friends, and even 1
meet their opponents, at their own houses
You will see from this how poweress the q
u fort is to control the good feeling of our peoPl
and to make the relations of private life anI il
5 tercourse among human beings dependent upo
D the whim of weak man, who happens to /
President for the time being.
The new British Minister, Lyon, is an VI
G married man, as 1 hear. 1t is rare that one
= the scions of the English nobility is caught b
). an American woman, though Sir Gore Ousele
~ was Some high expectations are entertaine
as to the new Ambassador.
: There is no more chance for the thirty millio
Is bill of Mr.. Sldell than there would be for bi
L to sell the District of Columbia. / speak adv
k sedly. We have no money down here Tor Cub
4 Mr.. Buchanan has got himself, as usual, into
" scrape, and he wants to work out of it. Unawe
\ by the Indignation of the Spanish people, will
. out whose consent he cannot, for a moment a.
T" proach the subject of purchasing Cuba, he a
g temptS to drive bargain before their eyes, as
= for the purpose Of still further outraging ther