Saint Paul weekly Minnesotian. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1858-1859, 1859-01-22
From Correspondent of the N. z. Tribune. ii 90
REMINIsCENCES OF THE OLD UNI
TED STATES SENATE CHAMBER.
I WASHINGTON, Jan. 4.

/
REMINIsCENOEs OF THE OLD UNI
TED STATES SENATE CHAMBER.
sit .yugl ..ai WASHINGTON, Jan. A.
, The Senate following the example of tn
House, has passed into its new hall. A his
tory of the men and events that have figures
in the Old Chamber, in these forty years past
would fill volumes looked in upon its soil
tude to-day, and saw the retiring shadows 0
its late occupants, its very column and tabla
turc and aisle and seat, suggested some mo
mentous question, some eminent name, il
American history Its very silence seemed
: to plead for notice, hasty and meagre though
it be, of the part it has played in public af
fairs.
The Senate entered its now deserted but
then new Chamber, on the 9th of December
1918. President Monroe congratulated Cong
ress on the recommencement of it's duties in
the Capitol. Tompkins, the Vice President
being absent, the Chair was filled by the ur-
bane John Gaillard, who officiated as Presi
dent pro tenn twelve successive years, and
held a seat in that body longer than any
other member except Col Benton and Viii
liam R. King. The most distinguished mem
bers at that time were Harrison Gray Otis,
| Nathan Sanford, Rufus King, Mahlon Dicker-
son, Jas. Barbour, Nathaniel Macon, William
Smith, William R. King, William Pinkney
and Richard NJ Johnson
Scarcely had they entered their chamber
before they commenced a discussion that ex-
| tended through two months, summoning to
the arena the highest forensic powers of the
body, and filling the whole country with an
agitation whose echoes have not vet died
away allude tothe missouri question" )"
| The long and vehement debate excited unpre-
| cedented interest. The lobbies and galleries
were thronged from day to day-a not unfre-
quent occurrence now, but rare spectacle
then. Mr.. Macon, with more than twenty years
Congressional experience, remarking upon the
circumstance, said. "The scene in this cham
ber excels anything have ever witnessed
in the Senate before"
In this first struggle between Freedom and
Slavery, the North was beaten, and in the
Senate, and by its own sons. On an early
test vote, Parrot of New-Hampshire, Palmer
of Vermont, Taylor of Indiana, and Edwards
and Thomas of Illinois, went with the South.
We embrace this occasion to rescue their
names from the oblivion. Their works live
On the night of March 2, 1S2O-the storm of
wind and rain that beat upon the Capitol be-
ing almost drowned by the tumult within
the bill for the admission of Missouri to the
Union, without the Slave-resricting clause,
passed both Houses The next morning the
National Lntelligencer announced the result
in startling capitals. The QUESTION SET
TIED !' at the close of it's congratulatory
editorial, it said. "The few days past have
been a trying time in Congress but the tri-
al has passed, and we look now only for
harmony and conciliation on all Sides" The
editors of that able journal have lived to see
how vain was their representation. The
Goals of that controversy, kept alive rather
than extinguished by superficial compro-
mise," burst out, third of a century there
after, with a more glowing flame than be-
fore " ~ r.-t ...-... ...r... ...f
Until the Missouri struggle, the Senate had
never led the House in moulding public meas
ures. In the exciting debates preliminary to
and at the declaration Of the war of lS12-15,
it played secondary part-the Senate being
quiet and dignified, while the discussions in
the House were able and acrimonious Clay,
Grundy, Calhoun, Porter, Quincy, Randolph,
Webster, being the leading spirits. Indeed,
when the war was declared, the only men of
mark in the Senate were, Varnum, of Massa-
chusetts !; German, of sNew York Bayard,
of Delaware Giles, Of Verginia Crawford,
VI 0coISId, Ciuisii, VI MAJ Esnu ~aiiu USal-
lard, of South Carolina. sss-yy-s
The lead in legislation assumed by the Sen
ate in 1920, was never afterward wholly re-
linquished. The next great question that ag-
itated its Chamber, was the proposed Pana-
ma Congress. The discussion on the impor-
tant and novel subject was congenial to the
commanding talents and lofty ambition of sew
eral men who had entered the Senate, since
the Missouri contest, among whom Van Bu-
ren, Benton, Randolph, Holmes, Hayne,
Woodbury., Tazewell, and Berrien, stood con-
spicuous. The debate, protracted and able, is
an era in Congressional oratory.
When jackson took the Presidential chair,
galaxy of talent studded the Senate Cham
err Beside the names just mentioned, there
were, on the Administration side, Edward
Livingston, Sanford, Dickerson, Grundy, For
syth, White and W. R. King; while Webster,
Clayton, Noble, Frelinghuysen, Sprague
and Robbins, were the chiefs of the Oppo-
sition.
After sharp skirmish over the power of
the President to remove from Office without
special cause (the heads were falling by scores
into the basket they entered upon contest
which is still known as ''the great debate in
the Senate" In january, 1880, Mr.. Foot in
troduced resolution, as harmless as himself,
about the public lands. The battle of gi-
ants" that followed almost uninterruptedly
for four months, will always rescue the name
Of the author from oblivion This grand or
atorial contest will ever be known, and quot
ed, and commented upon, as the debate g on
Foot's resolution. The young academicians
who, in coming generations, will declaim bril-
liant extracts from Haynes speech, or ma
jestic passages from Webster's, will remem-
Der that they were delivered "on Foots reso-
luton" The statemen and jurists who, in
times remote, will quote the fiery logic of
Hoyne, the ponderous argument Of Benton,
the profound reasoning of Webster, the dis
eliminating protection of Livingston, to sus-
tain favorite theories of government, will cite
them as from the debate on Foots resolu-
ton"
It's unnecessary to say that the discussion
soon drifted out of sight of the public lands,
and like Columbus, pushed boldly out into a
wide sea, in search of two new worlds The
Hotspur of the South was sustained by Ben
| ton, Grundy, Rowan and Woodbury.. The
Richmond of the North rallied around him
Holmes, Clayton, Robbins and Sprague.-
Livingston pursued middle line. of argument
in regard, to the respective powers of the Fed
eral and State Governments, sustaining it
| with more than his usual acumen, and iusti-
flying the subsequent opinion that he was the
author of Jackson's Anti Nulli6cation Procla-
nation of latter day. ..-..... ....
Webster's principal speech is generally re-
garded as the great forensic effort of his life
It undoubtedly sent his fame as constitu-
tional lawyer and parliamentary orator higher
| and wider than it had ever gone before. His
closing allusion to ..the gorgeous ensign of the
Republic" which from the spot where he
stood, could be seen floating over the dome
of the chamber, ranks among the best-sus.
tanned passages of ornate eioquence in the
! language. 5aqg -. s,fc sH nry.5 .e.i5or-
We must not omit all notice of many ques-
tons that excited Congress and the country