St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1860-02-23
The General Assembly.

The assembled wisdom of Iowa
have lately taken up considerable
time in making Buncombe political
speeches. A correspondent of the
Iowa City Republican alludes to the
discussion as follows
DEs MONIES, Feb. 10, 1860.
The BIG fight of the Session in the
House is inst over. On Tuesday last,
at ten. o'clock, the House was ram
lam fn'l of p"op'"s" The gallery
LITERALLY djl bud and blossom as thu
rose, being filled with ladies, with
beauty. and with crinolinc. The cause
of all this vast crowd, and beauty
and crinolinc being here as aforesaid
was the fact that the House had
agreed TO go into Committee of the
Whole on the Governors Inaugural,
which was done at 10 O'Clock ; Mr.
Curtis, of Marion County, being in the
chair
The first portions ef the document
were finally read by the clerk. and
were promptly referred by sections to
the appropriate committees.
When that part of the Inaugural,
which relates to- the unlawful invasion
of Virginia by john Brown and his
associates, was reached, the chairman
commenced to read, and, when he got
through, Mr. Goodrich moved to refer
to the committee on Federal Relations
with instructions TO report a series Of
Joint resolutions expressive of thcir
views Of the sentiments of the In
augural herein. Then were let slip
the dogs Of war!
Mr.. Williams, Of Dnbuquc. com
mcnccd the onslaught on the Governor
and the Republican party. He is
regular firc-catcr, and his speech on
this occasion rather detracted from,
than added to, his reputation. He
didn't begin to set the world on fire
not by a long shot His friends will
doubtless advise him, that, to succeed
as speaker in a legislative body,
some preparation is necessary when
man of respectable abilities and mode
rate attainments proposes to demolish,
in one fell blow, the Republican par
ty! Mr.. Williams is neither Hercules
nor Ajax Telemon.
The clerk was reading a petition,
when the stentorian voice of Gov
ernor Baker rung out the alarming cry
of fire J" In an instant all was con-
fusion and uproar. Bennett moved to
adjourn, but at once withdrew the
motion, and the House took recess.
The trap door from the House gallery
to the garrett, was broken open, water
was carried up, and much noise made.
There was no real danger, however,
for the fire was only the burning out
of the fuc from the library, and soon
quiet was restored.
Mr.. Rosenkrans, of Hamilton, fol-
lowed Mr. Williams, and said few
sensible things, being on the floor be-
fore dinner, and for while after din
ncr.
Mr.. lie Lacheur made one of his
flaming speeches. He is more than
seventy years of age, but is perfect
magazine Of excitement, which the
least thing cxplodcs with a terrible
noise. On Tuesday, his speech was
in the hop.skip-andl jump style, abusive
of Simmer, Henry Ward Bcecher, Gov
crnor kirkwood, and the Republican
party generally.
Mr.. Gurlcy, of Scott, then took the
floor, and made one of the best speeches
of the session. Mr.. Gurley's manner
is very pleasant, whilst his IDEAS are
clear and comprehensive, and his rca-
sonings lucid and convincing. On
this occasion he sustained the posi-
tions of the Republican party by a
long array of historical facts, and for
tilted them by many unanswerable ar
guments. At the conclusion, he re-
peated Longfellow's fine apostrophc to
the Union, and when he sat down he