Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1865-03-25

hees--S 9. C0x---GeOrge B. PendIetOn
---AIex. Long.
Special correspondents of ths Cincinnati Gszetts
WAsHINGToN, March IL.
1t has been common, st the end of q
Congress, to pass its acts and its omissions
to act in review, to deal out censure with
an unspsring hand, and to mingle IN, here
and there, modicums of praise. Strangely
enough, different fate has befsllen the
Thlrty-eighth Congress. It passed quietly
out of existence, was quietly ignored at its
death, and seems alrsady to be quietly for
gotten by Press and People. 1i aaI
For the Thirty Eighth Congress was
/ left rather the work of amendment and
revision than Of of original legislation.
The session just closed will, however, stand
out conspicuous among all the sessions of
all the Congresses, It passed the Consti-
t,ltional Anierdnient, foTeueT prohibiting
SLavery Dithin the limits of the United
States To this may be added, as its two
main features of Legislation, heavier Tax
bill, and more stringent and carefully
elaborated Conscription bill than were ever
before passed in this country.
With the expiration cf the Thirty
Eighth Congress many prominentm are
| lost to public life. Foremost among them
all stands the leader of Emancipation in
Maryland Henry Winter Davis. when
I saw that this man Is simply the finest ex-
tsmpore speaker IN the United States, /
bnt repest the encomium his bitterest enc
mics are ready to pass upon him, Wen
| dell Phillips and one or two other consum-
mate platform orators may Sometimes sur
pass him; buttheir efforts are always care
fully elaborated, and generally written
out long beforehand, Winter Davis is
always ready, always armed, Like dis-
mond, you cannot place him Sc that he
will not sparkle. he gains his pre- eminent
position, however, rather BY keen, incisive,
remorseless reasoning, and by an absolute
lucidity of language that gives his every
sentence the clearness and cogency of a
Mathematical demonstration, than by the
ordinary graces Of oratory. He rarely in
dulges in asingle sentence of pure rhetoric,
| and his voice, always husky, is now COM
pletely shattered by the wear and tear of
out door speaking.
Mr. Davis has Ion g been the most brilliant
ornament of the House. and indeed Of Con-
| gress; and, without saying one word for or
against his peculiar course, all intelligent
men here regard his loss from our public
life as public calamity. Men like him
give dignity and character to American
Craftsmanship in the eyes of the world.
Once, when John Bright was defeated in
his canvass for re- election to Parliament,
the London Times, which had always op-
posed him with all Its bitternes ness, came out
in magnificent editorial urging some
other borough to take up Mr.. Bright and
strsightwsy return him, on the ground
that England could not afford to lose such
a man from her service, even il he did
stand in the opposition. Precisely the
the same feeling has been again and again
expressed concerning Mr.. Davis.
he is not likely, however, to remain long
/ in seclusion. His party triumphed in the
late Senatorial election in Maryland; and
this is supposed 10 Insure his election
to the Senate when Reverdy johnson.
term shall expire.
n have never been an sdmirer of John
P. Hale, and yet it is not without feeling
of sadness that one sees him, too, with the
close of this Congress. leaving the Chamber
where he has so often figured in historic
Il SCGu6ss Il EOu 1OfC W low hO 6oA NO0 Al
the Senate, through the whole progress oi
the slavery dissensions, and at the first
stood almost absolutely alone in the anti
slavery struggle. 1t was not tilltwo years
later that Salmon P. Chase was there tc
aid him; not till two years later still that
this little nucleus was swelled by the &C
eession of Charles Sumner aud Benz. B.
Wade. It is mourniul to see one of these
old heroes of the Irrepressible Conflict &C
under: and still more mournful to see him
placed in retiracy in q position for which
he is so little fitted as the Spanish mission
For his ru5eness and his swsgger, and his
suspected venality, the retiring Senator
has hsd many harsh criticisms; but for
his msnlystand against Davis and Toombs
Mason, Hunter, Slidell and their Northern
allies, when the Senate was. as much under
plantation discipline as any rice swamp in
South Carolina, the history of these times
will ever MAKE honorable mention of John
Prominent smong them is the most
brszen and, on some accounts, the most
dangerous man in their party, Mr.. Fer.
nando Wood 1t is. said that he has some
scheme on footby which one of the Demo
Gratis elected from New York city, who il
merely his tool, is to resign in order tc
allow him to be elected. He has facility
of changing about from one District to
another that is quite remarkable, and it il
therefore by no means improbable that he
may still appear as q member of the 3Sth
| Congress. "Brotherss ssBen's" case, however
is Hopeless. He can henceforth devote
himself, undisturbed, to the editorship Of
the Daily NetUs. 20 90 - 5 ~.
Mr.. D. w. Voorhees, has the certificate,
1 believe, from his district; but il is well
understood that there will not be the slight.
ess difficulty in ousting him, as soon as the
evidence Of the frauds in the case can be
laid before the Election Committee; and
there is even doubt as to whether he will
take his seat at all. Mr.. Voorhees, was
one of the best declaimers in Congress
His powers of argument and debate were
scarcely respectable; and his printed
speeches Excepting those he had carefully
elaborsted) would scarcesly bear critical
examination; but in mere defamation he
stood high, il not foremost, in his party
Personally, his general bearing was courte.
ous, aud he leaves many friends.
The most conspicuous Of the other slaugh-
tered Democrats are all from Ohio-Oox,
| Pendleton and Long.
Little Mr.. Samuel Cox expects to re-
move to some other District-probsbly, in
deed, to New York-and to turn up again
in politics as soon as possible. BE
will be pretty sure to do it. He is smart,
shrewd and utterly unscrupulous. His re-
cord affects him IS little as would an eel !;
and until be is found out, las he has been,
very efectuslly, in Columbus he is an
exceedingly plausible lepolitician. If neces-
sary, he will join the Republican party-he
was seriously thinking of it through the
winter; if it seems more expedient be will
be Peace Democrat but in some shape or
other he is sure to turn up. he was the
best light skirmisher in the House. In
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