The Portland daily press., 1876-11-24
WASHINGTON. Nov. %. 1876.

WASHINGTON. Nov. %. 1876.
We begin to feel here in Washington that the
eyes of America, if not of Europe. are upon US.
In two short weeks Congress will assemble, and
the anxious attention of the country will be
turned toward the national capital. Never be-
fore, it may be safely said, will Congress have
assembled under more trying or exciting cir
cumstan ces, and the words, votes and acts of
each member will be watched with keenest
scrutiny in every city, village and hamlet of the
land. The newspaper correspondents who have
been away during the summer are now back in
their old haunts; their familiar noses for news
may be seen almost everywhere. and their ranks
have been considerably reinforced, some papers
that lave not teen represented here before
having employed correspondents under the i'm
preston that, whatever may be the result of
the Presidential contest, the next few months
will be as lively in a political way as any we
have ever known. 1t Will be time for making
and marriDg regulations, for making history,
and, the lobbyists say, not much of a time for
making money The numerical balance of
both the House and Senate after the 4th of
March willsbe more nearly even than it has
been since the war, and either Mr.. Hayes or
Mr. Tllden will have his hands full. Then
there will be charges of political and personal
interest Mr. Blaine will appear for the first
time in the Senate, where his great parlamen-
tary experience and versatile ability, as well as
mis- wide national reputation will make him
one of the most conspicuous men in that body,
and it is not improbable that fortune will favor
him with an excellent and familiar foil in the
person of Senator Ben. Hill of Georgia. for he,
it is said, will succeed Norwood in the Senate.
Mr.. Beck of Kentucky will appear again
in the national political arena, and he
and Mr.. Lamar of Mississippi will divide
the burden of debate on the Democratic
side, which has been borne heretofore
almost nd excGssyey Gsrdnyy PS Messr Thurman
met by such skilled, logical and oratorical
giants as Conking Morton, Edmunds, Logan,
Sherman, Frelinghuysep, Howe and Boutwell,.
In the Senate the Republicans will maintain
their majority, and, on all political questions,
they will have the support of the so-called in
dependants-Booth. Cameron of Wisconsin,
Christiancy aad Paddock. In the House the
Republicans will not be left without leader,
Mr. Hale of Maine, Mr.. Hoar, Gen. Banks and
others will be able in the absence of Mr.. Blaine
to maintain the fight until reinforced, after the
short session, by Gen. Batler; then the Demo-
cratic majority will be small If anything, but
they will be strengthened by the alert and able
Clarkson N. Potter of New York, who will, in
all probability, be made speaker of the forty
fifth Congress. When Congress ASSEMBLIES the
election of speaker, in the place of Mr.. Kerr.
will be the first excitement. The prominent
candidates are Messrs. Cox, Randall, and Say
Ter, with chances in favor of the latter. After
speaker is elected, Congress will be In dy-
Mantle explosive state until after the second
Wednesday in February, over the electoral
votes. After the Presidential question is final
ly settled, there will be fight over the silver
question, a contest of great moment, involving
vast interests, while, on the other hand there
will be supplementary legislation for carrying
the RESUMPTION law into effect. Again there
will doubtless lie introduced bill to elect the
President by the popular vote, the present cou-
dition of the question having prepared the
country and Congress for an emphatic aden TO
the old system. Our local, social, personal and
political affairs possess per Sc very little that
is or should be of interest to the country at
large, but since the war Washington has be-
come fashionable and social center, the win
ter Mecca of the shoddy and refined. Miss
Mary Emma in the remotest village of the
State cares little who is elected, or who COM
pose the cabinet or whether We resume or not,
but she reads with never firing interest OF the
receptions and kettle drums at which perhaps
the wife or daughter of 'our member figured,
and the dress and flowers worn by Miss
Flora Nc Flimsy are known and talked
about, "tis true it's pity, from Oregon to
Maine. Miss Mary Emma came to the Centen-
NAL last summer and "did" Washington in
three days, and now with whetted curiosity
THAT is what the profane call woman's intelli-
gent interest in her country's affairs) she will
be more anxious than ever before to know who
was there and just how she looked.
The social season has not opened with its
usual brllliancy. There is too much anxiety
from political causes for easy abandonment to
revelry. There will be changes, no matter who
will be president, is written on every wall
Changes have taken place already The
young naval officers who are so essential to gay
life in Washington have been ordered away or
furloughed on reduced pay This vacancy will
be, to some extent supplied by the Artillery
Officers who arrived last night, but West
Point can never fill the place of the Naval
Academy in the Imagination of Mary Emma.
Apropos of the artillery, its arrival and can
tonment here has created profound sensa-
ton. What is the occasion? To this question
Gen. Sherman who is at the Ebbitt House will
make no answer. While it presence creates
vague axiety and forebodng owing TO the pecu-
3 liarly sensitive condition of the public mind,
there seems to be no real occasion for alarm.
The President himself giving assurance to this
effect. Nevertheless the more excitable of all
classes are thoroughly convinced that the sun
of 1876 will set in blood. just as before the war
it was impossible to make any one believe that
such catastrophe was possible, now, since
tnat terrible experience many are apprehensive
when it is altogether improbable. But whether
your correspondent is called upon to recount
event mounts the barbed steed to fright the
souls of fearful adversaries," or oapers nimbly
in ladies' chamber to the lascivious pleasing
of the-Marne band, in whatsoever question
able shape it may come he has secured tickets
to the Reporters gallery and will write you
about it. L. b.