Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-03-02
LETTERS FROM WASHINGTON.

Sdlheu Oh tue CUBA Dill Is one which can be
better appreciated at distance than here, in
the heat of the conflict and it is due especi-
ally to Seward, Fessenden and Wade. The
result of the Cuba scheme, thus far, has been
dispiriting in political point of view, to its
projectors They brought it forward with an
intention to disorganize the Republicans and
they Withdrew it, after having found that it
was dsorganising themselves
The scenes during the session on Friday
night were, indeed as Senator Mason declar-
ed, humiliating. On the Republican side of
the chamber, every Senator was in his seat ex-
cept some of the older of the number, who,
like Mr.. Collamer of Vermont, were unable to
endure the physical fatigue, and had gone to
their lodgings after pairing off. On the demo-
cratic side many Senators were hurryng back
ward and forward during the intervals between
the votes, from committee-rOoms which were
well supplied with liquor. The bookcases in
the room of the Committee on Territories, for
instance, have long served no other purpose
than as substitutes for bar. About the mid
die of the evening Mr.. Toombs of Georgia,
made his appearance. Up to that hour no I'M
gendemanly word had been uttered in the de
bate, although the excitement among tie
democrats had been gradually increasing A
motion was made about that time to take up
the homestead bill, in pursuance of the gener-
al system of Republican tactics On this mo-
ton Mr.. Seward had spoken earnestly and
decorously; when, to the surprise of the SEN
ate no less than to that of the galleries, Mr.
Toombs, totally without provocation, under
took to assail him personally as demagogue,
an abolltlonist, and a vile defamer of the Pre-
sident of the United States, having uttered
language concerning him under the shelter of
Senatorial debate which he would not dare to
apply to any one by whom he would be liable
to be called to personal account. To this
TRADE Mr.. Seward listened with great compo-
sure, standing during great part of the time
at the door of the cloak room, and undoubted-
Iy rejecting, as everybody else in the Hall did,
that Mr. Toombs was guilty of the precise
ofiense which had been ascribed to himself. AT
the close he, together with halfa-dozen of his
political associates, sprang to the floor to reply
The Vice President recognized Senator
Wade; and if the most Jealous Republican
had been asked to make the selection of per-
son to respond to the senator from Georgia. he
could not have designated one more appropri-
ately. Notwithstanding the fact that Mr.
Wade and Mr. ToombS are the very antipodes
IN physical and mental characteristics, they
have always hitherto entertained a singularlv
high regard for one another. They occupy
contiguous seats in the chambers and the
sight OF the two III such close juxtaposition has
OitSIl DCtu d CduSe Vi 10 spectators,
Now, however, without regard to any previous
associations, Mr. Wade proceeded to charac-
terise his speech precisely as it deserved, in
language plainly spoken and with delivery
which seemed somewhat more forcible than
usual, to the galleries, and must undoubtedly
have produced the same effect on Mr.. Toombs
who sat within three feet of him. Mr.. Toombs
had harped on a rhetorical expression used by
Mr. Seward-that he was for lands for the land
less-as being that Of consummate der1a-
gogue, and declared that if there were any per-
sons whom he despised more than he did dem
agogues, it was those whom they influenced to
follow them, in which category the whole Re-
publican wing of the Senate was embraced by
its support of the homestead bill. Mr.. Wade
replied that if there was one cry under the
hubbub of which the Democratic party were
endeavoring to eXciea sentiment in the South
in favor Of the Cuba bill, it was "niggers for
the niggerless." For his part he was willing
to leave it to the people, which was the cry of
the demagogue. The Democratic party seem
ed to be as incapable of getting along without
negro-agitation as a steamboat was incapable
Of running without fuel.
Mr.. Fessenden followed in a provokingly
cool speech, containing not single expression
at which person could take offence, but satir-
ling IN the most ingenious manner the at
tempt of the Democrats to force vote on the
bill, and particularly the declaration of Mr..
Toombs, that the Republicans were acting
like towards on the question, which express
ion he accused him of plagarisng from the
speech OF the great man at the other end of
the avenue on the night of the serenade in
honor Of the passage of the Oregon bill. Mr.
Seward also spoke again, re-iterating, in even
stronger language, the spirit of his previous
remarks; and then a running debate followed,
the result of which was to satisfy the Demo
cratic side of the chamber that it was in vain
to insist further on the bill, that there was no
choice between its passage and the failure of
some OF the appropriation bills, which would
neceSsitate an extra session.
Mr.. Hammond who is the only one of their
number who voted consistently against the
bill, then moved an adjournment, which, how
ever, was defeated after an hour it was re-
newed by Mr.. Mason, who was lukewarm to-
ward the bill, and defeated again But from
that moment forward it became evident that
an adjournment could be obtained as soon as
any vote could be taken which the Democrats
would affect to consider of the nature of a test
of the exact division of parties on the bill.
Such vote was at last procured on the
motion OF Senator Brown, of Mississippi,
to lay the bill on the table He made this
motion, steadying himself on one of the desks in
the centre of his side of the chamber, with
lighted cigar in his hand, and prefaced it by
declaring that he was for Cuba, peaceably if
we can, forcibly if we must. If we could not
buy it, he was willing to fight for it, and he re-
garded the bill under consideration merely as
an advertisement to the world that we were de-
termined to acquire the island at all hazards,
if not by purchase then by war. The motion
to lay on the table having been voted down,
Mr.. Slidell himself moved the adjournment at
half-past one. AT that hour, the relative APP
pearance of the two sides of the Senate pre-
scented as marked a contrast as it had earlier
in the evening. The Republicans were sitting
quietly and decorously in their seats, except
one or two who We're walking in the cloak
room smoking, being visible to the galleries
only, when, in their promenade they pass
ed the open door; while, on the Democratic
side, more than half the members were absent
drinking in the committee-rooms, and many of
those who were Oh the floor, held cigars either
in their hands or mouths. The demeanor of
the two Senators from Virginia was in gentle
manly contrast to that of most of their associ-
ates, the only improperly of which they were
noticed to be guilty, during the evening, be-
ing the exhibition of unmistakeable signs of
sleepiness
This, then, was the first historical nightses-
sion of the Senate in its new chamber,--dis-
alike to the manners, language, and
political sentiments of the Democratic major
ity. Cor of Boston 1dyetfiser