Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1878-12-20
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

Mr.. BLAINE certainly has cause to
feel that he is popular since the notice
that he will make a formal speech
always sullices to crowd the galleries
and Hobbies Of the Senate with people
who are anxious to hear hun speak.
Hundreds were unable to gain admit
lance to the galleries while he was
speaking in support Of his resolutions
looking to investigation Of the recent
Southern Elections. Every nook an |
corner were occupied by listeners !;
the floor with Senators and Members
of the House, and other privileged
persons, while the plebeian damned
the galleries and the corridors, and
with strained attention listened dur
inw his hours effort. 1t is not his
cloquence or his arguments which
attract these crowds, for he is not the
equal Of Voorhees, in oratory,or Of Bay
ard or Edmunds solldity. But there
is a certain animal magnetism about
him which attracts the masses much
as with Henry Clay, and, as a conse-
uuence, he never makes his speeches
to empty seats. Mr.. Clay was the
only man ever in the House or Senate
who was uniformly greeted with an
audience, and his peculiar power of
fascination OF attraction never ceased
to draw around him, and to the gal
leries, o pleased audience, 1t seems
strange that so many men, blessed
with large intellects, who in the
courts command prihcely fees and
whose legal and argumentative powers
are unsurpassed, should 50 lack in
ability TO command listeners i'll the
halls Of Congress, and whose auditors
are mere empty seats, and that too
at times when they are debating mea-
suYcs affecting the veal or woe of cur
country. We can only account for
the fact on the same ground that we
admit the power Of some illiteratc
preacher to surpass his learned bro
thar ministers in swaylng the masses
with sweeping revivals. We may
often laugh at the painful lack of
scholarship, the uncouth manners in
the pulpit, and the ignorance Of all
the graccs of oratory, and yet we
have before us the indisputablc evil
dcnce of power in the effects produced
upon the crowds which pour in night
after night for weeks to listen and to
be affected by him. SO in the capitol
We DO not regar Mr.. Blaine as the
intellectual equal Of some of his peers
, but he bas beyond this a magnetic
! force which the others do not possess
and through it be has eager listeners
instead Of empty desks for his audi
ence. Congress has got down to its
ornamental work OF introducing bills
by the hundred. An occasional one
may be passed provided it has no rea
merit in it, out the real labor so fal
has been in the titles of the Offered
bills, and then referring them to tht
proper committee. Mr.. Edmunus
has delivered himself of an able speecl
in favor Of amending our election sys
TEN of voting for President, but othe,
Senators are handling his propositio,
without gloves, so Of course none o
the fearful defects will be remedicd
and our next President may encounter
the same difficulty in getting his sea
which Mr.. Hayes met. No one doubts
that Congress should amend our cleo
torial laws, but no two Legislators
can agree rs to the mode. Congress.
made provision last winter for enlarg
ing of Pennsylvania Avenue. whore i
meets the Capitol Gate on the west b,
removal of several horses on the nortl
side of the street. These have beef
recently torn down, and in q few
days vehicles and pedes .rians will no
be forced, as In the past, to oneounte
each other in throat so narrow rs t
render passage in bus times as diff
cult and dangerous as Broadway il
New York. The erection Of TIL
Peace Monument produces this con
traction, but the removal of Gy'
buildings gives ample space for al
purposes, and adds much to the ap
pearanco of the Capitol grounds a