Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-06-23

years since was here before. The personnel
of congress has greatly changed since that
day, but the city remains substantially the
same, its long, broad and silent avenues, its
numerous hotels and boarding houses, and
with more of those signs of general thrift and
industry which characterize all our northern
towns and cities. Indeed, in passing around
| the city, no intelligent observer can fail to
| perceive that but for the presence of the fed.
eral government, and the necessary expendi-
ture of money in erecting and maintaining
the public buildings and offices, the city would
soon anguish and fall into premature decay.
As looked over the city, this morning, from
the summit of the unfinished capitol, the
streets stretching out in all directions appeared
silent and deserted as do those Of your beau
tiful and enterprising city on Sunday morn
ing before the hour OF worship. And even
Pennsylvania Avenue presented a contrast to
the general appearance, only by the presence
of those multitudinous hacks and haclmen,
who are at once the convenience and pest of
| Washington. They will carry you WHITTIER
soever you may wish to go, and then take all
the money you have for doing it., unless you
are careful to make a bargain before you start.
The capitol extension and improvements are,
! as you are doubtless aware, very far from be-
ing completed When finished, the capitol
will be one of the most magnificent edifces in
the world, and worthy of the great nation
whose legislature assemblies within its ample
halls, and here make laws and ratfy treaties,
which are to effect for good or ill, not only
the millions who now dwell within these CON
federate states, but also the myriads Of human
beings who are to occupy this portion OF the
American continent in after ages. And as
/ have sat in these halls for the last few days
and listened to discussions upon the great
themes which occupy the attention OF congress,
| have wondered how little or a mean man
can consent TO hold a seat here, and pretend to
! represent a great and magnanimous constitu
1 ency-how any man, who possesses the ca
pacity, can cease to be a patriot and a states
| man, and dwarf himself down to the stature of
mere politician and a venal partisan-how
he can forget the great and sacred duties of a
representative, and attempt to palm off upon
congress and the people his own crude wild
/ and delusive theories, instead of fairly honor,
| ably endeavoring to represent the well consid-
| cred, and well known wishes and opinions of
his constituents, and secure their enactment
INTO the forms of law And vet there are
men here who seem to forget that they are
acting III representative capacity, or that
they are under any obligations to those who
sent them here; and there are other men hold
ing seats upon these floors as representatives
and senator's, whom God and nature surely
never designed for statesmen. And on the
other hand, there are men here of capacity
and real greatness; though one looks in vain
for Webster, Calhoun, a Clay, yet he
cannot fail to recognize in Seward Fessen-
den, Cameron, and others on the republican
side, and in Douglas, Davis, Hunter and
Toombs on the democratic side, men of great
distinction, and capable of administering the
greatest affairs.
have for four days been an attentive OBJ
server of what has been passing in both wings
OF the capitol, and during the time heard near
ly all the most distinguished members in both
branches of congress, and have not heard
from either side the first discourteous word,
or any thing unworthy of fair and honorable
debate 1t has been gratifying to witness the
exhibition of good temper and gentlemanly
bearing, and there would be a much less fire.
quent departure from this line of honorable
conduct, were it not for that great subject of
discord which causes so much trouble here
and throughout the country, and which will
continue to agitate congress and the people of
these states, until the ''irrepre ssible conflict
between the antagonistic systems of free and
slave labor shall be fully settled, and settled
as l have no doubt it will be, in favor of the
former The people of this country will not
turn away from all the great lights of chris
tianlty and modern civilization, and, forgetting
all the experience of the past relapse into any
form of barbarism. This conflict between la
Dor, and those who have enjoyed its fruits
without personal toll, autedates this union, and
Will not now consent to yield up all the tri-
umph it has won, even to preserve the union,
If that were necessary, as it is not
But l am running into general speculation,
instead of giving you, as l intended, some
nasty sketches Of my observations here. The
first day and evening after my arrival, | spent
IN the house Of representatives and by the
courtesy of Mr.. Dawes, l occupied a seat
within the bar of the house, and heard and
saw all that passed. The new hall of repre-
sentatives is very much larger and more COM
modious than the old one was, and were not
| its elaborate ornamentation in such execrable
taste, it would really be a magnificent hall for
| the purposes for which it is designed there
are, however, two serious objections to it
| namely, want of proper ventilation, and when
illuminated-as it is at night with nineteen
hundred gas burners--lt becomes oppressiyely
hot,
Speaker Pennington is a large man, with a
good, honest looking face, but as appeared to
me, he possesses no peculiar qualifications for
the place he holds, except great frmness and
entire impartaty indeed, some Of the repub.
lcans think he tries to be so upright that he
sometimes leans over the other way When
a standing vote was called Tor, he had quite an
original way Of determining and declaring the
result. 1t only an evident minority of those
present arose in the affirmative, he would not
call upon those in the negative to rise. but
would say that large majority seemed to be
dorm, and declare the negative lost. This
struck me as novel and absurd, for it was by
no means certain that there were not many
present who had no right to vote, nor that
many who had the right would not decline to
vote either way.
One of the first among the members | did
not know, pointed out to me, was Houston o.
Alabama. who so grossly and without provoca
ton insuted Mr.. Train, and for which he was
compelled before the day was over, to apollo
gize to the house, in order to escape vote o.
censure upon the motion of Mr.. Sherman, the
able chairman of the committee Of ways anC
means. Near Houston sat Barksdae of Mis-
sissppi, with face apparently as beardless as
Il woman's, aud whose head is us bald as his
face, barring the very good looking wig which
he wears. Whether this is the same one
which Potter so unceremOniously treated al
! the time OF the Keitt and Grow melee / don't
| know but, from the appearance OF the two
men, Barksdae and Potter, you would say
that, in any encounter between the two, not
only the formers wig but his whole person
would be likely to suffer serious injury. And
upon looking at the well knit and compact
form of Potter, and his resolulo face you
would not be long in concluding that Pryors
flowing lOc&s nor his practlccd hand and eye
could have saved him from the most disas.
trous consequences, had he or lis friend nc
ceptcd tie fearful contest rendered linn by