New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1860-03-02
INTERESTING From, WASHINGTON.
GOV. Stewards SPEECH.
gas Scene Within and Without the Senate
p~ns spssi. Cerrspe.ssns.

taeont Hobbies and passages, GROWING Lsen VIII |
tArepgs eager to follow the Argument Of the Senator
on evs TO catch an occasional sentence or word;
while, throuehoat lie delivery, constant stream o.
BE flowed up and down the gorgeous staircases OF
fAe Chamber, vainly beaiiog against the compsct
uasses who bad been 20 fortunate as 30 get cary
possession of the ground; and thence recOiing and
2eAeeting the disappointed current would glide into
eddies around the hall, and lnger in groups beyond
sar.shot of the Speaker, unwilling to abandon all
hope of ultimately catching glimpse OF the scene
Transporting below.
II was on the floor itself that the most interest
ING spectacle was presented. Every Senator
seemed to be in his seat. Hunter, Davis, Toombs
Mason, Hammond, Shdell Clingman, Benjamin
and Brown, paid the closest attention to the
speaker Crittenden listened to every word. Doug
las affected to be selEpossessed; but bis nervous
ness of mien gave token that the truths now ut
tered awakened unpleasant memories Of the Le-
compton contest, when he Seward, and Critten-
den, the famous Trumvirate led the allies in theh
attack upon corrupt and despotic Administration.
The Members of the House streamed over 10 The
north wing of the Capitol, almost in body Leaving
Mr. Reagan of Texas to discourse TO empty benches,
while Seward held his levee in the Senate.
Many prominent men. from various parts Of the
Union, occupied the reserved seats in and around
the chamber. There was an unusually large at
tendance Of the diplomatic corps. This was due 10
part, doubtless to the reputation of the orator as
statesman and leader of great party soon to
take the control Of the Federal Government; but
more perhaps, TO the fact that, during his recent
foreign tour, Gov. Seward was received with
marked respect, and seemed sometimes to be conf
IDENTITY consulted by the most eminent crowned
heads and the most distinguished statesmen of
Europe.
Listening to-day 10 his defence Of the free prin-
eiples which have accompanied the ARglo-Saxon
race in its march round the world, was the repre-
sentative of that monarchy whose greatest jurist,
nearly century ago, proclaimed in a solemn deci
sion, that the law of Nature and of Nations waged
discriminating war against chattel Slavery and
that so odious system must depend for its exist
eBce solely upon local enactments; and whose kind
hest religious poet, translstDg this decision into
immortal verse, sung, "Slaves cannot breathe in
'TngaBd land whose statesmen and phlan.h ropists,
FIVE and twenty years ago. at a cost Of a hundred
millions of dollars, set free eight hundred thousand
bondmen in the isles Of the Caribbean Sea.
There also, in the absence Of an accredited Min
iter was seen the minor representative of that
trsordips-y man whose name and fame fill so large
space In European affairs, and whose gallant poo.
pie, twelve years ago, when establishing q Demo.
cratic Republic upon the debris of constitutional
monarchy deemed it but sheer consistency that one
Of their first acts sheuld be the emancipation Of
every slave in every colony ruled by France
Near him sat the diplomatic functiOnary of tina
colossal Empire, whose civil and social polty is
unique combination Of Oriental barbarian with
Western Advancement, called by uE despotic au-
tocracy, but which, by the initial step toward the
eniranchisement Gifts sers has set an example that
this Gland of the free" might wOrthily initiate.
Among the most attentive listeners was the Min
iSter Of that once powerful and yet proud State
that encouraged the Genoese navigator Ito pierce
1.-THE night Of ages and open to one world the
''sOurces Of wealth and knowledge, and TO another
AN unutterable woes "a State fallen, but net so
iOw that it will demean itself by selling to US, even
for prncely sum, its brightest transatlantic gem,
to aid in prolOnging the existence of Slavery in
The hemisphere that Columbus discovered.
Nor-fOr We cannot dwell upon this phase Of the
scene-can We omit, ere dismissing it, TO note the
presence among the untitled spectators of quasi
commercial agent Of that feeble Oriental despot-
Ism whoEe crumbliDg fragments the Great Powers
are eager to grasp it fall, but whose tlrbaned
master, wOrshper of Mohammed, wielder Of the
bastinado, deeming Slavery inconsistent even with
Turkish law and the MOslea faith, decreed it's abo-
stion long ago. throughout his dominons.
But we are quite losing sight of Gov Seward
and his speech, in our prolonged view of their sur
roundings. The auditory he drew around him to-
day might have temporarily disturbed the equaniIn-
ity of m ,re iron-nerved man than he. When hes
BOSE aid the hum of voices and the rustic incident
60 large crowd, were husbed TO rep0se and all
eyes bent upon him, the slight embarrassment per-
eeptible in his voice and nien, was doubtless due
to the internal agitation induced by the burden Of
an undeiyered speech--which every orator so we'll
uDderaaDds--rather than 10 anything like ordinary
fear. But THE tremor of tone and limb soon disap-
peared, and be spoke with as much selEpessession
as be would in cOnversing with friend in his draw
ing-ioom, or as be did in conference with Lord
Palmerston IN Piccadilly, and Louis Napoleon at
Compiegne.
And now was exhibited the magic spell, so clearly
seen but 90 difficult to explain, which Gov. Sew
ARDS speeches usually throw around HE auditors
In manner voice, and GESTURE he has none of the
eeiectne spendor OF Clay nor the marvellous majes
~ of Webster. His voice il husky bis gestures
angular, his pastures stiff and iameyabe, his whole
manner dry and ddactie; but still, to-day as Of |
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