The Portland daily press., 1867-09-11

4
| Ihere appeared last week In 81. n.l 4
Auver''Sef report OF conversation bo,d
by Mr. James Redpath. and by him s,arS
graphically reported for the press. with Sem
ator Sumner "on public affairs" The conve,.
sation consists Of short questions by Mr..
Redpath and long answers by Mr.. Sumner,
and is reported rerbatim and published with
the full consent OF the Senator. Mr.. Sumner
is therefore in all essential respects the au7
thor Of the extract which we publish below,
and responsible Tor it precisely as he would
have been responsible for communication
written for the Advertiser with his own hand
and signed with his own name. Ii is in fact
his commune. tion, dictated to private sec
retary, and deliberately sent to newspaper
once for publication. On the topic of i'm
parchment, Mr.. Sumner used the following
language: -aI5 .s....4 .,.....-.i
"In the House the most intelligent members
nave 6een TOR impeachment. In the Senate
tna subject has been considered only incident
ally. There are some there who thought Il in
decent TO speak plainly of the President: bnt
most cf these belonged to his friends, or at
least vitited him and asked for Offices OF
CUulSS suCu pSISOHS were naturally against
proceedings, and cultivated silence do not
like to speak OF any of my associates there ex-
capt most kindly. Some of the most wronr-
headed are agreeable and excellent in other re-
spects. 1t is lard to account for the ways of
some of them, especially OF some of the new
recruits Edmunds, Of Vermont, for in
stance, coming from that earnest and de-
termined State, is prodigy of obstructiveness
and technicalty. So, also, is Conklin, coming
from central New York, and being still u
mn of al,,,sr ,l.. fol
great future, if he does not get shpwrecked at
the beginning. Patterson, of New Hamp.
shire, and Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey, have
good sentiments and give you the impression
of personal purity. but it is strange that they
do not see that something more is needed in
dealing with rebels and their present chief.
OF all these, Fessenden is the captain-so
at least it seems to me.
Nov, Senator" L remarked here Il would
like to have your photograph of Mr. Fessen-
nen. l see Mr.. Phillips calls him 'dyspeptic
Scotch terrier But will not repeat what Won
say unless you leave me free TO report what 1
please of this conversation. However, / would
like to know more about him, whether l ever
use it or not"
Mr.. Sumner said: "I do not know whether
to answer or not. For several years he has
been very unkiDd to me-unaccountably So
L cannot comprehend it. Sometimes it has
seemed TO me akin to insanity. 1t is said by
his friends to be chronic dyspepsia. never
W uiu III ucDdtc c1Ctpb Win respect. |
He has always been against my ideas; but why
should he contend personally? cannot ex-
plain it. When in 1852 / insisted that Con-
gress had jurisdiction over the rebel States, he
made haste to announce that Stood alone
Veiy well, 1 have company enough now
And so when insisted that we must confer
the suffrage upon colorea persons in the rebel
States by act o. Congress, there seemed to b.
no limit to his bad fee ings. All these meas
ures have come hard to him. While the slave
naCfn lA1.x .xA1 -
ling enough to attack me. But all of them
together never wounded me did this col
league from New England. Such conduct
from one so conspicuous was an evil example
in the Senate" .-t- r.
What order of talent has Mr.. Fessen,.e- ?'
His peculiar TALENT replied Mr. Sumner,
lis controversial. His forte is personality He
runs to personalities as duck to water ifnot
in language, then in manner and tone. He is
nothing if not personal Until he gets heated
he is dull. He always quarreled with every
body over the appropriation bills which he
conducted. The discussion was one prolonged
jar. John Sherman in the same place is al
ways amlable-often opposes your motion, but
without discourtesy. Fessenden comes into q
debate as the Missouri enters the Missis-
sippi, and discolors it with temper fill
ed and surcharged with SEDIMENT
But he has not the volume of the great river
: He Is ofmuch finer fabric than Andrew John
son, but resembles the President in prejudice
and talent for combatiyeness. His words are
more select and his sentences better. He is
accurate in speech and logical in form. AS
lawyer he is of the aisi prius order. There is
nothing Of the jurist in his attainments or his
nature fom his position he has exercised
much inn 1ence in the Senate; but from the be-
ginning he has been drag on reconstruction.
He has always seemed TO have soft side for
Andrew johnson; but his report ON reconstruc-
tion is excellent--it is the best thing he ever
did, and it contains no personality He and
the late Judge Collamer were good friends,
and sat side by side; but on one occasion he
flashed upon the Judge as upon everybody
else. think the passage was suppressed in
the Globe. You are right in your curiosity
about Fessenden, for his situation now is Pc
culiar. He is the head of the obstructives.
If any person calling himself Republican
takes the side of the President, it will be Mr..
Fessenden."