The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-06-25

very well to the present battered rem
nant of the tory Democracy. The regal
interest was represented at that time by
what was called "The Knot" at the
head of which was one Sir Richard
Wyllis, trickster with both King and
Parliament. Singularly enough, there
was person named Booth acting with
the 'sKnot," and he struck the first sue
cessful and bloody blow against the
"Rump." The friends of the Confed-
eracy are welcome to the rival designa-
ton of the 'Knot," and the Booth sec
tion of it may be properly called "the
Halter"
MORAL CODE OF THE PRESENT CONGRESS.
The friend of republican govern
ments, who has often had cause to be
wounded with the personal demeanor
of American Congressman, may find
hope in the courtesy and parliamenta-
nv obedience OF the gentlemen now
! making law. The pestiferous places
called "Holes in the Wall" "Whistle-
Wetters," and what not, are entirely
broken up. The practice of providing
| LIQUORS to every committee, and charg-
ing it on account of contingent eX-
penses" or Stationery" is altogether
dispensed with. a Christian code of
honor leaves to the prudence and re-
SpectfulneSs of members, discrlmlna-
ton in debate, and to public opinion,
r;ltneT Ln0n IIle Nluel ana Inc tLAe
settlement of each members capacity
and honesty. When the South went
away to make its appeal to force, 1t
took its bludgeons and cowhides with
it. The only attempt at personal IN
timidation this session has been made
by Kentuckian, acting with the EX-
ecutiye wing of the party, Mr.. Rous-
seau; and this was II tritling episode
compared TO the beating of Mr.. Sumner
hNy "a hnlIU whom he knew. and
the tableau of Mr.. Foote, of Mississippi,
pointing pistol in the space before the
Presidents chair at the head of Mr.
Benton. The dueling ground mt Bla-
densburgh is only visited now by the
antiquary, curious to see the spot
where Slavery vindicated its only
theory of manliuess; and the houses of
Congress, with an exception or two. on
the opposition side, are not spectacles
of brutal drunkenness, furnishing a
pistol n debate, or dementedly asleep
at its desk. Gray, grave old clerks,
who were accustomed to the widest
physical interpretations, look askant at
the sober civil bearing of the new
regime of lawmakers, and say, with
some security of body, that Puritan
morals and Northern courtesy are in
deed potent in the Capitol.
CAPACITY OF CoNGREssSIEN.
While to the wayward dynasty who
filled these seats before the war, bet
ter heart and softer counsel have sue
ceeded, there is also an array of greater
heads than ever before, probably, made
the splendid arc of the House pictorial.
We are in the habit of lamenting the
absence of the cluster which attracted
the partisanship of the world twenty
years ago, when all Congress, to the
common eve, was made up of n few
principal personages. That was a
period when the average of intelligence
was low, and out of the half mediocre,
half barbaric delegation the men of
talent rose colossal. The statures are
er, and in the attrition of many wits,
the few of superior wit take less COM
mnnd. 1 have been talking with the
venerable Chief Photographer of Con-
gress, Mr.. Sutton, whose memory OF
Representatives is faithful, and he said ::
'.The debates are not as dreary as they
used to be, though there are no great
dictators as before. l don't think that
Mr.. Clay, or any of the great men past,
would have the same easy time, if they
were here now" The ThirLy-ninth
House of Representatives is conceded
To be the most creditable in point OF
Wilderness that ever sat in the Capitol.
1t has had more varied, more difficult
and more complicated questions to deal
with; its attitude has been more men
aced, and yet more manly and indie
pendent, and its courtesy has been more
polished than can be said of any Con-
gress assembled since the adoption of
the Constitution.
THE DEMOCRACY OF THE WAR SESSIONS.
The minority in times ofwar or crisis
has always produced in all countries
the most fervid orators. But the eN-
traordinary badness of their cause, and
= s.,,, Ii In
nignant deities in their favor, have
made the Democratic minority in Con-
gress during the war so insignificant,
that, but for the violence of one or two
of It's mem berS, history would pay no
regard to it. We may except Pendle-
ton, perhaps, whose dignity and cour-
tesy kept his personal relations pleas
ant, and made his stature respectable;
a man who seemed anxious to guard
his record for better times, and would
have made, among the Republicans,
more than passing applause. He was
n safe party leader; not so strong in de-
bate as VOORHEES,, but in his parliamen-
tary bearing above tilibustering and
small strategy. Voorhees, was unscru-
nuIous on the floor, but scarcely so
adroit in epithet as "Sunset" Cox, a
springy, miniature, homely fellow, full
of tantaliZationS and lodgings, who
fretted ginntS when he punctured them
and made both wings laugh heartily,
but who was in no sense an influence,
and his presence shows more than if his
narty had no representation mt all, how
utterly without platform or significance
they were. One of the idiosyncracies of
Sunset Cox was to carry in his pockets
a lot of scrap-books, loaded with fig
ures and dates, and these he used to the
confusion of everybody, quoting and
refuting with most amusing perSeYer-
ance. Cox was very jealous of Pendle-
ton. and sought several occasions to
twit him. With these were Fernando
Wood, for while, man of tact but
not OF record, who spoke well to the
forum and was only II curiosity in Con-
gress; Alexander Long, remarkable
only for the hope he expressed that the
North would not conquer; and Nallan-
dipham, fair parliamentarian, who
spoke with studied utterance and some
intensity, but who was the equal OF
neither voorhees, nor Pendleton. These
are the only personages of the minority
who are entitled to remark since the
firing ofthe firstgun on Sumter. They
have only resisted without leadership,
censured without convictions, and
heard the replies to their specious argu-
ments and prophecies in the successive
guns of victory from the armies of the
| Union.
THE PRESENT MINORITY.
To see the representatives of the pres
ent dismantled party on the floor of the
House, you must stand at the Speak
| er's desk and look to the right. There
are seven aisles radiating from this
desk, and to the right hand side of the
sixth afsle-uot numerous enough to
| fill the fourth part of the floor, so that
many Union members are placed among
them-sits the minority, at conscious
| disadvantage, with faces of detection,
and in great bewilderment for want OF
| either cause or organization. In james
Brooks they lost their most pretentious