The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1878-04-17
GLANCE AT THE SENATE.
The Changes of a Brief Decade.
But Two Senators Remaining Who Saw
the Southern Senators Retire
Sketches of Prominent Members
OF the BOdy-rhe GOuId-EHunt-
iBgt0n EsObby-The Pc
litical Situation.
[Editorial Cor. Philadelphia Times.l


decade has wrought in the United States
senate. Since the close of the memorable
reconstruction battle with President John
son, have rarely been visitor to the ma
tional capital, and l painfully realized the
havoc time had made among the states
men of the republic, as L spent an
/ hour yesterday in the gallery sur
veying the body whose records in its
1 better days are among the brightest of the
annals of free government. Quite half the
/ faces were strange to me, and those which
were yet familiar, have all been more or less
Swallowed by the flight of years. Of the
great leaders in the struggle for the preser
walton of the Union, Hamlin and Anthony
only remain. True, Conkling and
Blaine have seen continuous service
in the councils OF the nation since the war
began, but neither was in the senate
until the struggle had ended. In vain does
the visitor of 10 years ago look for Sumner,
Fessenden, Wilson, Wade, Trumbull and
their compeers who were the authors OF the
measures which made freedom the jewel OF
a free people, ami equality before the law
for every condition and race the Irrepealable
mandate OF the republic. Hamlin left the
floor of the senate TO enter the vice presi-
dents chair at the opening OF the war, and
he and Anthony now sit In the body
solitary and alone, of the men who wit.
| messed the departure and the return of the
senators from the rebelliOus states. AL
though bowed in form and rudely furrowed
in face, the venerable senator from Maine Is
vigorous and active in the discharge of his
public duties, and is one of the most intol-
Grant partisans of the body. Anthony is fat
and feeble; the fire of his eye is dimmed and
his step is slow and measured. He entered
the body in 1859, and is the Oldest mem
Der in uninterrupted service, although
Hamlin scores more years OF senatorial ex-
perence. Howe entered the senate with
the inauguration of Lincoln, but he has
/ been follower, not q leader, and he will
retire without leaving his impress upon the
policy or statutes of the country. He is
| we'll preserved and his tall slender form,
with its silver crown, looks as if time and
the cares of state had united in gentleness
toward him.
PEN PICTURES OF SENATOR'S.
The notable feature OF the senate, to one
who has been familiar with the body ten
years ago, Is the many new faces to the ex-
IRENE right of the chair There are Gordon,
and Ransom, and Maxey, and Morgan, and
! Hill, and Lamar, and Butler, and Withers,
all eX-cOnfederate chiefs, now legislating
for the government they Tebelled
against, and they rival their oppo-
nents on the opposite side of the chamber
in conservative national views. The
magnetic men of the body evidently are
Blaine on the republican side and Gordon on
the democratic side. Both are of the nervous
temperament genial in intercourse, keen at
repartee and always ready for the fray.
Blaine. Gordon and Lamar are sitting in
group. the great republican leader leaning
over the desk of the Georgian warrior on
one side and Lamar bending to both from
the other side, chatting in manner so
friendly and jovIal that the devotee of the
/ bloody shirt would chill in his hero worship
of Blaine, could he see hon ffaternal the blue
and the gray can be in the amenities OF the
senate. CoDkling enters from the rear of
the chair and his finely chiseled features,
graceful bearing and uncOncealed sense OF
/ superiority could not fail to arrest the at
tention of the visitor. His golden hair has
lost its luster as the frosts have been busy al
their work and he lacks the rudy freshness
he brought into the senate, but he is unim-
paired in vigOr and imperious as only
Conkling can be since the days of Clay. He
beckons the youthful looking Allison, of Iowa,
TO private talk, and the two take good,
old fashioned country lean against the door
jam while Conkling tells his story and pares
the nails of his exquisitely modelled fin
Z. gers. Dick Oglesby, the rolicking CAM
paigner of Illinois and one of the bravest of
warriors from the prairie land, sits quietly
in his seat. His head has whitened like the
unsunned snow. but his face is yet fresh and
unplowed by age or care. Ferry steps in
from the eastern door like a dancing master,
strokes his long, glossy beard as he struts
along the aisle, pauses to give ample time
for the play of the admiration OF the CALLER
les, and then takes his chair with self-satis-
faction written ali over his. by no means,
strong face. Patterson comes in
with hurried, defiant step, bis head
thrown back over the perpendicular
line and drops into his seat unnoticed His
wealth of golden hair is deeply silyered now
and his features are sharp and pale as if they
knew little OF health or content. Off to his
right is the round, dusky face of Bruce, of
Mississippi, the youngest senator, believe
and the only representative of the colored
race in the body. He is a light mulRtto
self possessed, intelligent and graceful in
all his movements. Lamar, his colleague,
looks sluggish beside the restless Gordon
but he is able to cope with any in debate.
Burnside came in without his skull cap dis.
playing his shining bald crown and now snow
white Burnside whiskers. He has grown
uncomtortably stout, and waddles about the
senate duck fashion, although his stateliness
of form and faultlessness of attire remain
with him. Cameron is absent-of to New
York to prepare tor his coming marriage
with the beautiful and cultivated Miss Sher-
man, of Ohio, but Wallace is in his place
and looks from the gallery like the youngest
of the members. His quiet, dlgnifei
reserve we'll becomes the senate, and he is
now one of the leading party oracles in
directing the democratic side in all emer-
gencleS. thurman is esteemed ADLER,
but he is sluggish and only once in
while is great. He moves about lazily
and swings his red silk handkerchief
awkwardly as a well-to-do country farmer.
The senate is quite thin, most of the repub-
licans being absent and Sargent, OF Califor-
mia, has the floor on some naval bill that is
undergoing amendment, and the only par
Elephants in the work are the senator and
the vice president, who declares Sargent's
vote to be the vote of the senate. Wheeler
presides with little grace and wears an I'M
comfortable look, but it may, be that Wash
ington life does not agree with him. He
acks the ability of Coifax and Wilson as a
presiding officer.
THE LOBBY IN THE SENATE.
The time was when the lobby was a
stranger to the United States senate, but to-
day il is the favorite field of the jobber who
can ccme with the resources of a Hunting
ton or Gould. The recent protest of Ed
munds and Thurman against the encroach-
meats of the lobby in the senate, and the