Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1876-06-23
THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION


THE CINCINNATI CONVENTION.
THE ASPECT OF THE CONVENTION.
We take the following from the 7ribune's
report
The hall was not all the heart Of man
could desire There were flags without
number, bunting without end, and muslin
| by the furlong, but none of these could hide
the native ugliness of the place. a broad
stage had been bull. out from one end, up
| from which ran a steep ampitheatre nearly
to a level with the caves OF the building,
with room for more than 500 spectators
and guests Of high degrees. At the summit
of this ampitheatre there was gilded eagle
perched on a gilded ball, from out OF which
burst an aurora of cheap muslin Of the
National hues, which spread all over the wall,
or what was left Of it. Great festoons of this
muslin ran from column to column along
both sides of the hall. There was a process
sion of little flags along the galleries, and
other professions of still smaller flags along
the rafters, and greater flags to rule the less.
Some distance below the level of the stage
and directly in front of it, but some inches
above the level of the floor, ran the newspa-
per belt of seats, were more than hundred
correspondents were busy with pencil and
paper. The 80 delegates held the front,
running straight across in broad strip from
wall to wall under the galleries as well as
between them. A railing separated them
from the equal body of alternates, who sat
Iab nd I'll
hind the alternates. the hall belonged TO the
lockers on, who not only had thus good
hold on the floors, but occupied the gallery
at the end of the hall opposite TO the stage,
as well as the long galleries stretching the
full length of each side.
The hall, though spacious enough to meet
all requirements, is very bad one for speak
ing or hearing in.
THE AssENBLAGE.
Prominent among the invited guests &C.
cupying the raised seats at the rear OF the
platform were Senator John \. Logan and
Francis c. Barlow, Collector Arthur, E.W.
Stoughton. Waldo lIutchins, and John COch-
rane, of New York. Messrs. Logan and
Stoughton lent much picturesqueness to the
scene. Several Congressman and ex-Con-
gressmen were sprinkled among the crowd,
and they looked very much like ordinary
men, which of course they are not.
Beyond the press seats were the seven
hundred and odd delegates, mostly bald
headed, and having the appearance Of being
burdened with great and solemn responsible
tiles. The Maine delegation occupied the
front seats at the left Of the Chair, and next
on their left was New York. Tne Maine del
egates had rather cheerful and satisfied
look, and Messrs. Hale and Frye in particu-
lar had the calm and c0ntented appearance
of men who sat holding most Of the triumph
in the pack, and waiting in confidence for
the game to begin. The NewNork delega-
ton had pensiye look, little tinged with
melancholy, and Mr.. George W. Curtis, sit
ting in their midst in lonely grandeur, seemed
to be ''among them but not of them In
the Massachusetts seats little further back
sat James Russell Lowell, Freeman Clarke
and George +. and Judge +. r. Hoar, watch
ing the proceedings curl0usly, but never IN
dulging fin the applause which followed
some Of the speeches or exhibiting any sym.
pathy with the little bubble of excitement
that occasionally came to the surface. Here
and there among the delegations, and espe-
ciallY among those Of the Southern States,
were the dusky countenances Of colored del
egates. most OF whom appeared to be enter
ing with intense enjoyment into the scene.
The Convention, as whole, has an IN
usually intelligent appearance. There are
fewer persons in it who show the Office
holder and professional politician in their
looks than are iordinarily found in conven-
tons, and a much larger nlmber of gentle
men who, without selfish ends to iserye or
personal ambitions to CRAFTY, have come
here with a sincere desire 10 lift up the
party to higher plane of purity and hon
esty. \ lesson in American politics not
easily forgotten was to be learned from con-
trasts in the men seated in this hall. Run
your eye over New York and Won see Cur
tis's cultured face not tar from the typical
Custom House delegate. Henry Highland
Garnet. with his coal black SKIN, sits next
TO Judge Robertson, and near such solid
New Workers as 4. A. Low, Marshall o.
Roberts, and George Opdyke. Near them
in the Massachusetts, delegation are the
Uoar brothers, the one rugged and stubborn,
the other keen and alert, with question
ing WAY with his forefnger. Lowell, the
poet, listens to Gen. Logan. and does not
smile. DR.. Loring is there with his sup
pressed ambitions in full play under an
ample and respectable waistcost. Take a
sudden turn 10 the Arkansas representa-
tiyes. There is Chief Justice "PCker-Jack."
whose judgments were such as to make the
Judicial grieve and Clayton with his empty
sleeve and his pirate physiognomy and
Gov Brooks, who first was counted out and
then was counted in, and always suited his
politics beforehand TO his changed situation.
In Ohio there Is the veteran Benjamin
Wade, who missed being President Of the
United States by single Senatorial vote
and named a Cabinet which was never
formed, and exGov. Moves, one of the most
popular OF Buckeyes. who bears his GER
tifcate of honorable service in his lame leg.
In the front row from Maine are the two in
separable Blaine managerS-COngressme
FRYE and Hale, who have themselves so
much of the Blaine vim and snap that they
have infused the whole Blaine following
with it. Behind them Is John l.. Stevens,
Mr.. Blaine's partner in newspaper owner
ship and in the political engineering of the
State of Maine, one of the two having been
at the head of the Republican State Com
mittee ever since the formation Of the party.
In Alabama there is Senator George E.
Spencer, the livery-stable graduate, still
faithful to all the traditions of his Alma
Mater, and Ananias Hayes. the original
dealer in blood-red Southern fiction. and the
man who got up the celebrated corner in
"outrages. In the Illinois section there
is Robert j. Ingersoll, considered one
of the greatest of Western orators. and the
ireethinker who coined the phrase, "An
honest god is the poblest work of man. and |
c. b. Farwell, who is Congressman in
and a poker-player in Con- |
gress. At the head of the Kentucky dele |
CATION is Gen. j. NJ Harlan. stalwart |
kentuckian. whose celebrated horseback |
canvass of his State earned him Mr.. Gree |
ley mention Us man whose party services
deserved place in the Cabinet. In Louis
lana there is Mr. Pinchback, always clamor-
Gus at the doors of the Senate; Packard. |
hung round with memories of inundated
Legislatures and Calling guns Kellogg,
the weak but tyranncal ruler of an unhappy |
people in louisiana Adelbert Ames, who
resigned to avoid impeachment, and Alcorn,
his old time enemy, one Of the few native
oOutntTu ocudtOT>, VIII StudtDT DEuct,
handsome and dignifed mulatto, between
them, and are to be seen among the Mssis-
sippans. In Vermont, Luke p. Poland ap-
pears with his silver hair and whiskers, and
his ostentatious blue coat and brass buttons,
who saved Arkansas to law and order by
courageous report to Congress.
From Utah there is x-Chief-Justice
Mexican, who sought to overthrow poly
yamy BY usurpatlon, and was himself over
thrown: from Pennsy lvania, the new Secre-
AIRY of War, genteel, ofensive-looking
Tolng man, with no external signs of Cam
IRON morals or manners, and also Mackey,
Mann, and Kemble, and o. j. Dickey, who
attled around in the seat of Thaddeus
stevens in the House; from the District of
Columbia, ex-Gov. Shepherd and Frederick
Douglass. No words could do justice to
uch neighborhood as that. From South
fl. | .