The Portland daily press., 1864-12-12


meeting of our States General. For some
time past premonItions OF the event have not
1 been lacking. Now and then amid the crowds
outpouring from the northern trains, or hur-
rying along the streets, or busting about the
hotels might be seen the face or figure of
some stray congressman. People with Iodg--
ings to let, or board to furnish were busy in
preparing their apartments for expected guests
and in making up their minds what to ASK
and what to take. Impatient place hunters
anxiously perused the lists of arrivals IN the
morning papers their fingers itching for the
button-hoe of some expected patron. EN-
ployees about the capitol displayed unwonted
punctnalitv at their posts, aud surprising alac-
rity in the discharge of their duties. The car
nets ceapsed and rejuvenated and the desks
ol;steuing with yarnish were restored to the
halls of Congress; committee rooms and off
ces set to rights; Hobbies and marble stair
cases put in a condition of scrupulous neat
ness; the huge, numbering, wooden dome
above which the real dome had been con-
structed, removed from the rotundr, revealing
fully for the first time its majestic proportions;
and here and thers were to be ssen workmen
busted 10 patiently cleaning the dust and grim
from the exterior of the magnificent ediHce.-
All was preparation aud expectancy.
Andnow as the time approaches the signs
multiply. Honorables minge in every arriv-
al, meet you on every street, pick their teeth
in all the hotels, and stride with step little
lordly through the corridors of the capitol.
The morning OF the session arrives and with
it comes a scene of unusual activity and hustle.
At an early hour the galleries of both houses
begin to fill with curious spectators. Though
40 such interest attaches to this meeting OF
| Congress as is felt when an organization is to
be effected, yet the scene is not without inter-
| est. staN+
The floor of the Senate is populous. Amid
numerous clerks of committees, officers of the
Senate, 'serDi serooram popult" and non Of
dcial personages in abundance, are many mem
bers of our republican peerage. Senator
Clark now worthily acting as Vice President.
Harris looking the judge in every aspect and
| motion, Chandler tall and straight, fiery aud
explosive as rocket, Davis small and vehe-
nent, Morrill, frank and hearty, Dixon the
| quiet gentleman, Foot the digniaed, Anthony
the afable, Van Winkie the refund, Morgan
the commanding, Sherman the handsome,
sumner the stately, Wiley the ministerial,
Hendricks the courteous, Powell the off hand
Reverdy johnson the courtly, McDougall, the
chivalrous, and many others join in mutual
salutations, hand shakings and congratula-
tiohs, quite irrespective of party distinctions.
In the House the scene is much the same
only little more noisy and confused owing
to the larger numbers who crowd the aisles,
iostle between the desks and fill the areas Of
the spacious hail. Among them you may
marx Speaker Colfax, with slight and almost
boyish figure, and a face as pleasant and guile
1 less as child's-admired by most and beloved
by all; Stevens, who in spite Of years and iu-
drmities seems likely to hold good for long
while yet his present place in the front ranks
II our statesmen; Fenton, to whom the peo-
pie have said, "Frend, coup higher% Pen
dleton, to whom the people have said no such
thing; Dawes. inwardly rejoicing, no doubt
that he has not twenty contested election
4 ~AoOo
| IT," whose abilities have not failed to make
nim eminent even in this his first term; Win
dom, reckoned by some the Adonis o the
House Cox, thin featured, small, wiry, adroit |;
Jenckes, whose bankrupt bill elaborated BY
i've months labor still waits the decision, of
Congress; Rice of Massachusetts, with a
bIain full of monitors and double enders, Ash
ley, godfather Of newborn territories; Win
ter Davis, whose well formed face and figure
sort so we'll with his handsomely rounded pc
RODS; Kelly, still bearing upon one eyelid the
mark of the machine shop where ia his youth
he went to school; Schenck, whose intense
and fiery look contrasts strongly with the
pleasant, open face of his feiow-soldier, Gar
deld; Pike, Perham and Blaine, well known
| all to the people of the northeast; Washburn,
ascion from the Yankee grated upon the
Hoosier stalk and doing honor to both; Nor
rill, of Vermont, an able inancier and trua
economist 10 the chaste lines Of whose rather
classical face you may fail TO discover any out
line of so rough an actuality as the Tax Bill !;
Odell, one Of the few Democrats in whom thu,
name does not belle the fact, nor cad you well
fail to notice one with tail, graceful figure,
we'll displayed by closely battohed, neatly
dtting, frock coat, with spacious forehead
1 across which the hair, still dark and glossy,
is smoothly brushed toward the right temple,
with features SO destitute Of any CLEAN Of a
true and noble soul, SO full of subtilitys cool,
consummate artihce and evil power, that you
might take him to be Satan thinly disguised
were not his name Fernando Wood. 'asias "
Aswe return to the Senate galleries the
President pro tenn ascends the platform, the
gayel falls, and the second session of the thir
| ty-eighth Congress is begun. Beyond the rails
| ing of a committee to wait on the President
and inform him that the Senate is in session
and ready to receive any communication he
may wish to make, nothing is done on the first
/ day. In the House, however, committee, is
raised to report new billion taxing whiskey.
The long suspense is at an end and SALMON
P. CHASE, the poor Yankee boy, the humble
Washington schoolmaster, the early, earnest,
constant and able soldier of Freedom, the
great statesman and financer is at last at the
head of the Supreme Judicial Bench. The
PEOlptlbuUc Will WuiCu hio uOluludblOu was
confirmed by the Senate, without reference,
and the very warm and genial appreciation
with which it is received by the friends Of the
administration here, is but fair indication,
doubtless, of the manner in which so good an
appointment will be accepted and endorsed
oy the people. When It'll considered how
admirably he is fitted by nature and educa-
lion and high moral qualities, for the exalted
post of duty to which he has been assigned
for life, the Importance of the appointment
can hardly be over-eStimated. We may rea-
sonably hope that the evil days OF the Su-
the chief tribunal Of the land will display the