The daily gazette., 1877-02-10
Our Washington Letter.
Correspondence of the Gazette. :
WASHINGTON, Feb.7, 1s7

!. ,,.rte WASHINGTON, Feb.,7, 1877.
The Senate Chamber and the hall of the
House ofRepresentatives are not literally
deserted, a quorum of each house is usu-.
ally ON the floor, and a sprinklfng OF list;
less listeners are in the galleries, butit is
easy to see that the interest centres else
where The old senate isclan1ber, where
long ago Webster, Clay, Randolph, and
Calhoun, thundered and prosed Dit must
be admitted that they were prosy at
times). has had its semi circular walls
awakened by eloquence and argument in
a cause as important in its immediate and
ulterior effects as was ever discussed, in
words or arms on this half the globe
There is no lack of audiencs;the only lack
is space. No one is permitted to enter
unless he has ticket countersigned, by
the president of the commi ssi OF, n Justice
Clifford, and the wives of Senators and
members; and even the Senators and
members themselves, are not always able
to obtain admission for theSupreme Court
room is small and will accommodate but
limited number. The greatest anxiety
has been to hear Mr., O'Conor, and his
great effort ON Monday did not fall line
below the expectations that had been
raised. .. .-
Mr., Evarts was able as usual and his
argument was all the more remarkable
for the poverty of his case. Nothing
could have been more perfect than the
clearness and cogency of the great argu-
ment of Mr.. Merrick. Its freedom from
all the verbage and show of brilliancy into
which smaller and even an older man
might have been tempted, his perfect
comprehension of the momentous case,
and his admirable adoption, of it to the
tribunal which is to decide, was none the
less remarkable because it was expected,
When the legal leviathan Judge Black
followed. saying that to add anything
would be but to fgild refined gold," he
uttered no empty compliment but the
conviction of all, Mr.. Merrick is the
youngest of the distinguished counsel on
either side, but it has been known by
many that he required only an occasion
to make national that reputation to
which his ability and learning entities
him. ...... s.,... ..
Next to the Supreme Court room the
committee of the House having in charge
the investigation of theLouisiana election
frauds is the chief centre of interest. The
committee sit around long table. The
witness sits by the stenographer. Hon.
David Dudley Field propounds questions
with telling effect, and the obstinacy and
silence of the witness re frequently more
significant than his answers, Yesterday
when Casanave and Wells of the Return
ing Board testified / could not help wish
ing that every citizen of the United States
could have been present. There is some
thing in the presence, the air and manner
of every witness that goes far with the
judge and spectator in assisting them to
form an opinionin regard to the credu-
lity of the evidence. If the American
people could but see these worthless, they
would get an insight into this Louisiana
business that they have never had before,
Casanave the fat mulatto undertaken is q
fool and tool. After trying in vain to get
something more from him, in relation to
the simplest matter of the count, than
an; "I don't know" and 81 don't recol-
lect"-Mr. Field said S0tto U0ce to one of
the committee near him, che don't know
anything he has no intelligence" Casa
nave, trying to say "contabulated re-
turns" after many efforts and contraction
of the brow used the expression of con-
taminated returns. With the exception
Of Wells all the members of the board
Elasticity. Wells is the immediate moving
Mephistopheles of the entire rascality He
is a veteran rascal, healthy, alert, imbued
with deviliish energy, a man TO whom
dark and crooked ways are elemental
and essential. In appearance, conversa-
ton, and action, he is strikingly like that
old political Proteus Ex-Governor Foote
of Mississippi.
1t would seem idle to make predictions
in relation to the decision of the commits
sion, upon theF Florida case. The deliber-
ations of the Judges are strictly private
and intrusion is guarded against with
scrupulous precaution. Washington is full
of audacious reporters each one of whom
is aware that it would not only be q
feather but an entire ostrich in his jour
nalistic cap to bring his "nose for news"
in communication with the key hole of
that August chamber, but 1t would be en-
tirely futile to attempt it.
G. AS.