Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-01-10
MORNING LEADER.
The New Senate HnlI--InaRguratiOn Cere-
Observation-Disclosures of the Old Senate
Chamber.

Chamber.
The new Senate Hall in the National Capitol
is in shape and dimensions similar to the new
Hall of Representatives. 1t is finely proper
toned, and light and graceful. The area OF the
floor is so feet by As, and of the IoOf II2 by 80
feet, the difference being occupied by continu-
Gus gallery around the four sides of the Hall,
capable of seating 1900 persons. The ceiling
is 80 feet from the floor 1t is of iron, fiat, with
deep panels, 81 of which are filled with ground
ored medallion representing some symbol of
progress and plenty. The light is supplied
wholly through the windows in the roof, and
the effect is fine. The gas apparatus is placed
above the ceiling, SO that the light, streaming
through the panes, seems like softened effect
of sunlight.
The floor is covered with l,7OO yards Of
tapestry carpeting, having large pattern of
flowers on purple ground The Vice Presi-
dents desk is modest table of mahogany, and
the seats of Senators are arranged in three cir
cular rows. The spectators galleries are up
holstered in drab damask. Ample accommoda-
ton is supplied, even to the extent of ladies'
robing room. A gallery fitted up to accommo-
date twenty persons is set apart for the press.
The wings.of the Capitol are of Roman Co
rinthian order of architecture, the interior fit
tings and decorations being in harmony there
with. Two grand stairways of Tennessee mar
bic lead to the Senate Chamber, lighted from
the roof, and the walls to be covered with his
torieal paintings. The Senators retiring room
and ante chamber are the most highly finished
rooms in the Capitol. The President and Vice
Presidents apartments and the Committee
rooms are all decorated. The corridors, pass
ages, and arched roofs are also embeIlished.
The heating and ventilating arrangements
are said to be the best in the werld, those of
the English House of Parliament not excepted.
Every portion of the immense Capitol is warmed
and ventilated by one apparatus. Eight boilers
convey steam to coils set in different places in
the cellarage, supplying any required degree of
heat, and, at the same time, motive power to
two fans in either wing. One of these fans
sends continual breezes of medicated air through
the smaller apartments, while the other performs
the same service to the Senate Chamber Thir-
ty thousand cubic feet of air are circulated
through the Chamber per minute, and the air is
graduated according to the atmospheric tenn
perature.
The Inauguration of the new Senate Hall
took place on the 4th of January The speak
ing was in the old Chamber, which was crowd
ed with distinguished personages. Senator
Crittenden spoke in eloquent words of the as
sociations which hallowed the place, and about
to be severed and Vice President Brecken-
ridge made one of the most effective oratorical
efforts of his life. The Inauguration scene was
one long to be remembered by all who partici-
correspondence of the Tribune some deeply in
teresting "reminiscences of the old United States
Senate Chamber, as follows:
The Senate, following the example of the
| House. had passed into its new hall. a hlsto-
nv of the men and events that have figured in
the Old Chamber, in these forty years past,
would fill volumes As looked in upon Its
solitude to day, and saw the retiring shadows
its late occupants, its very column and tabua-
ture and aisle and seat, suggested some mo-
mentous question, some eminent name, in
American history Its vely silerce seemed to
plead for notice, hasty and meagre though it
be, ofthe part it has played in public affairs
/ The Senate entered it's now deserted, but
then new Chamber, on the 9th of December,
1919. President Monroe congratulated Con-
gress on the re-commencement of its duties in
the Capitol. .Tompkins,, the Vice-Presi1ent
being absent, the Chair was filed by the ur-
bane John Galiard, who oficiated as President
pro- TEN. twelve successive years, and held a
/ seat in that body longer than any other member
i except Col. Benton and William R. King
The most distinguished members at that time
were Harrison Gray Otis, Nathan Sanford, Ru-
fus King, Mahlon Dickerson, Jas. Barbour, Ma
thaniel Macon, William Smith, William R.
King, William Pinkney and Richard Ii. John
son.
Scarcely had they entered their chamber be-
fore they commenced a discussion that extend
ed Though two months, summoning to the are
ma the highest forensic powers OF the body
and filling the whole country with an agitation
whose echoes have not yet died away. Iallude
to the missouri question" The long and We
|
The lobbies and galleries were thronged from
day to day-a not unfrequent occurrence now
but a rare spectacle then. Mr.. Macon, viii
more than twenty years Congressional expert
ence, remarking upon the circumstance, said
"The scene in this chamber excels anything
have ever witnessed in the Senate before"
| In this first struggle between Freedom AM
Slavery, the North was beaten, and in the Sen
ate, and by its own sons. On an early tes
vote, Parrott Of New Hampshire, Palmer o
Vermont, Taylor OF Indiana, and Edwards anC
Thomas of Illinois, went with the South W.
embrace this ocsasion to rescue their name
from oblivion. Their loo~ks live. On the nigh
of March 2, 1s20-the storm of wind and ram
that beat upon the Capitol being almost drown
ed by the tumult within-the bill for the ad
mission of Missouri to the Union, without th'
Slavery restricting clause, passed both Houses
: The next morning The National Intelligence
; announced the result with startling capitals
ssTHE QUESTION SETTLED ~ At the close o
its congratulatory editorial, it said, " The few
days past have been trying time in Congress
but the trial has passed, and we look now only
for harmony and Cancellation on all sides -
The editors of that able Journal have lived t
: see how vain was their Prognostication- Th'
Goals of that controversy, kept alive rather thai
/ extinguished by superficial compromise,
burst out, third of century thereafter, with
more glowing fame than before.
/ Until the Missouri struggle, the Senate ha'
!, never led the House in moulding public meas
ures, In the exciting debates preliminary tc
and at the declaration of the war of lsl2-l3
it played secondary part-the Senate being
quiet and dignifed, while the discussions in the
House were able and acrimonious; Clay. Grun
dy, Calhoun, Porter, Quincy, Randolph, Web
ster, being the leading spirits. Indeed, when
the war was declared, the only men of mark in
the Senate were Varnum, of Massachusetts,
German, of New York; Bayard, of Delaware;
rs;Io, of V;roinia. Gravford of Gaoruia. Smith