Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-03-29
Letter from Washington.
IRON OUR REGULAR coRREspoNDENr.l
WASHINGTON, D, c., March 81, 1871.

WASHINGTON, D. c., March 81, 1871.
MR.. SUMMERS OVATION.
The senate wing of the capitol from an early
hour this morning was filed with an expectant
throng. To some of us mingling with it, who
had seen other throngs, on occasions too, when
speech from the same source was to be deliv-
cred, the contrast in the floating talk drifting
from hundreds of lips, was quite remarkable. l
think to-day nearly nine-tenths of all in and
about the senate galleries were in sympathy with
Mr.. Sumner. Politics made no difference, unless
in fact the democrats were little more enthusi-
astic in his favor than even republican friends.
Long before noon the galleries were filled to
their utmost capacity. Even the green-clothed
box, reserved for the diplomatists, was filed by
them before the senate opened. The ladies were
radiant, and their brilliant costumes overhowed
with silken sheen, light and color, the darkest
corners of their galleries. They were not con-
tent with the space usually assigned them, but,
flooding the corridors, at last wrung from the
conscript fathers admission TO the Cloak-rooms,
at whose doors groups sat, all the afternoon,
looking like superb bouquets framed in some
dark background. Nor did that satisfy their
ambition, for before the afternoon had waned
they besieged the Malakoff, stormed the doors,
and were actually seen seated on the senate
floor!
If Mr.. Sumner possesses any Yanity-and is
he not human?-it must have been gratifed
to day to the fullest extent. By the way am
amazed TO find myself in actual bodily danger,
at the hands, fear, of some irate ladies-New
England ladies, of course-because have dared
to suggest that the great senator may not be
altogether faultess, that he may sometimes be
quite intolerant of differing opinions, and that,
in his intercourse with senator's and others, he
may even be charged with imperiousness of
manner and matter. However, this is an aside,
intended only for my readers private ear, "you
know" On entering the chamber just before
twelve, Mr.. Sumner was cheered by the CALLER
les. 1t was hearty and spontaneous, and came
as much, l believe, from the admiration born of
a realizing sense of the courage which attaches
to his fight, as to an acceptance of the views he
was to present.
From the beginning of the session large
portion of the house was on the senate floor,
and by half-past twelve it was evident that the
other chamber must soon adjourn or be deserted
OF the cabinet officers, Secretary Robson was
the only one noticed He was quite busy with
senators friendly to the president, and several
times there was an expectation on the part of
many that Mr.. Sumner would stop and thus
call attention to the whispering around him, as
he did later in the day, when in a most marked
manner he directed the reproof of the chair on
the head of Senator Edmunds. | cannot wonder
at the feeling sometimes manifested against
your senior senator when ! notice the want of
courteous tact in his dealings with associates
he often exhibits. Mr.. Sumner did not look as
well as he has for week or so past. His face
had worn and wearied expression, and there
was an evident air Of suffering which told on all
who watched him. He was dressed in n black
frock coat trousers of the same material. and n
black silk vest with some pattern of brighter
hue shot across the dark background. For a
wonder he did not speak from his own place.
but occupied that of Mr.. Wilson, next to Sena.
tor Schurz, who is his "ade'' in this fight, and
busted himself several times in selecting papers
for the orator to quote or allude to, or in find.
ing reference which was needed to fill a hiatus
Icould not help looking at the brilliant Ger
man, with his rather skeptical face, which re-
minds me so often of a subdued copy of that Of
Mephistophiles- wonderful creation oil
Goethe who in it, Faust and Margaret, has EN-.
bodied the German character SO thoroughly
Mephistophiles being nearer the modern Ger
man than any of the others; ] say, in looking al
him, can hardly help wondering at the close
annlty Mr.. Sumner appears to find in Schurz
Inc latters forte is that of pulling down; he is
an analyzer, destroyer, critic. In this fight he
assalls the policy Of annexation on very differ.
sht grounds from those which Mr.. Sumner pre-
sents. 1t could not well be otherwise as vorr
senator is pre-eminently "a believer. and Gen.
Schufz is not-unless it be in himself NJ
Summers criticisms are directed against who,
be arraigns as violations of international law ON
the part of great nation against a very veal,
one; and OF constitutional Limitations on tbt
part of the president in conc living and CARVING
out such violations.
Mr.. Schurz's arraignment of the administra
ton on this San Domingo question, as mad
some few weeks ago in the senate, chiefly con
| sisted Of an attempt to establish, by faint re
| production of Henry Buckles philosophical de
auctions, that there had existed no civilization
among tropical races and in tropical climes, ex