The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1861-03-01
VOL; ! XlIlI---NO. s4s.
Apeech Of Gen. Riley.

DPoSSh OA 0eu. Alloy,
IN tie House Of Reoresentahpes Of Missouri.
February 8, 1861. =
After a long and heated discussion on,
the reference Of q bin amending the
charter Of the city Of Carondelet, to =
standing committee Of the House,
Mr.. Riley obtained the floor, and ad-
dressed the House:
Nr. SPEAKER Everybody Is pitching
into this matter like toad frogs into q
willow swamp, on lovely evening IA the
bainy month of June, when the mellow
light Of the full moon fills with q de-
licious flood the thin, etherisl atmos.
pheric air. APPLAUSE. Sir, l want to.
put in word or perhaps word and
half.
There seems to be disposition to fight.
| say, if there is any fighting to be done:
ceme on with your corn-cobs and light
ning-bugs! lkppisuse.l In the LAM xuagss
OF the ancient Roman: -
"Come one, come all, this rock shall ay
From Its firm base, in pigs eye"
Now, there has been great deal Of
bombast here to-day. l cali it bombast
from alpha" to Omega" Il don't un-
derstand the meaning of the words,
though.) Sir, the question to refer, isa
great and magnificent question. 1t is the
all-absorbing question-like sponge, sir
"a large unmeasurable sponge, of globe
shape, in @ small tumbIer of water-it
sucks up everything. Sir, stand here
with the weapons ! have designated, to
defend the rights of st. Louis county.
the right of any other county, even the
county Of Cedar itself. Laughter and
applause. Sir, the debate has assumed
. latitudinosity. We have had q little
blackjack bunconbe, a little two-bit bum
combe, bornbast buncombe. bung-hole
buncombe, and the devil and his grand
mother knows what other kind Of bum
combe. Laughter.]
why, sir, just give some of 'em little
Southern soap little Northern water
and quicker than hound pup can lick
skillet they will make enough buncombe-
lather to wash the golden flock that
roums abroad the azure meads of heaven.
Cheers and laughter. allude to the
| starry ornament.
The Speaker. The gentleman is out of
order. He must confne himself to the
question. tFf
Mr.. Riley. Just retain your linen II
you please. I'll stick to the text as close
as pitch plaster to pine plank, or
lean pig to hot jam rock. [Cries Of '.go
on;" you'll do."
want to say to these carboneriferous
gentlemen. these igneous individuals,
these detonating demonstrators, these
pereginous volcanoes, come on with your
combustiblesl If | don't-well, I'll
suck the gulf of Mexico through goose
quill. Laughter and applause Per-
| hop htrb I
and sparse in the mundane elevation.-
You may discover, gentlemen, YOU are
laboring under as great misapprehension
as though you had incinderated your inner
vestments. In the language of the no
ble bard:
II was not born in thicket
To be scared by a cricket" Applause
Sir, we have lost our proper position
Our proper position is to the zenith and
nadir-onr heads to the one, our heels
to the other, at right angle with the hori-
zon, spanded by that azure arc of the lus-
trous ornament, bright with the corrus-
cations of innumerable consultations,
and proud az aspeckled stud horse on
county court day. [Cheers'l
| "But how have the mighty fallen" in
the language of the poet Slversmi.h.-
We have assumed sloshindicular or a
chronological position. And what is the
cause? Echo answers "buncombe," sir,
"buncombe." The people have been fed
on buncombe, while a lot of spawned,
ringboned, hamstrung, wind-galled swyn-
eyed, splithoofed. distempered, pollevill-
ed, pot-bellied politicians have had their
noses in the public crib until there amt
fodder enough left to make cruel for
a sick grasshopper. Cheers and laught-
er.]
Sir, these hungry brats keep tugging at
the public pap. They say, ''let down
your milk, Sucky, or you'll have split
bag" DO they think they can stuff such
buncombe down our craw? No, sir; you
might as we'll try to stuff butter in wild
cat with hot awl. Continued Taught
er. The thing can't be did.