The daily gazette., 1878-01-21
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.

ddi'ful Cor,kling Eclisped by the Brillioat
Boout-Edm,fnd's Forte-The Oregon
W1tuagdoodie Whines DolefA Platitudes
a Torpedo In the Democratic Dove
Cote-Politics, Society," The Spanish Mn
ister's Reception, Etc, Etc. itHA
[From Our Regular Correspondent
.slfst ddH WASHINGTON, Jan. 10.
1t is quite entertaining to hear United
States Senators read funeral orations
On all political questions we know pretty |
much what each senator will say, and on |
the floor of the Senate we hear repeated,
though elocution, the same arguments |
thaa we hear made again and again in the |
papers. Bnt funeral Grafton is out Of
the usual line. 1t is no easy transition |
from finance, or the Southern question,
or internal improvements, to elegiac- ora
tory. Some senators, powerful in debate
and ready in repartee, appear tame and
commonplace in this unfamiliar role.
This was notably the case with Senator
Edmunds of Vermont; his forte is in wit
ty repartee and species of cold sarcasm
with which he freezes those who presume
to differ from him. Conking and Ed
munds are decidedly the most egotistic
and contemptuous senators on the floor,
but the contempt of Conkling tuniform,
perennial, and eternally placarded on his
nose, is much less irritating than the
clammy variety that oozes from the re-
pellant, 1 had almost said repulsive, Yer
monter. Senator Edmund's eulogium on
Morton was well written, discriminating
pointing to the galleries because 1t fell
short of eloquence. One part of 1t made
the studiously unimpressionable Conkling
smile and LOOK guileless, 1t was when he
hit the administration foul by saying that
| Senator Morton was not one OF those Re
publicans who believed that the best in
1 terests Of cause would be promoted by
appointing its opponents to Office After
Edmunds, Conklng spoke and he was
the only senator who deyiated from the
rule of reading his remarks from manu-
script. To all appearances he spoke In
promptu, Just as Mark Anthony did over
the dead body of Caesar. Read Shak-
speare's account, Shakespeare was there.
Senator Conkling's elocution, slow and
drowling on all occasions, was peculiarly
| elongated on this. If it were not for his
brains, character would cause him to be
laughed at. He Immediately placed him
| self abreast with antiquity, and spoke of
how the ancients regarded death; thence
he branched off into unlimited and ferv1d
eulogy, and conclnded having made a
speech that the general verdict said, right
there and then, could not be eclspel in
force and briliiancy. But the general yer.
dict was mistaken, as it cheerfully and
unanimously conceded, after 1t had listen
ed TO Senator Booth of California. Sena-
tor Booths Grafton was from first to last
crowded with unmonotouous narrative,
striking antitheses, and bold ciimaxes
and it was singularly free from the trite-
ness SO common on funeral occasions.
He had evidently expended great labor
in its preparation, for the sentences were
condensed and finished to the essence of
ideas. If his oration does not appear in
the school readers of the future, as a
model of elegiac eloquence, 1t will be be-
cause 1t is crowded out by an inferior
composition
Senator Burnsides remarks wers pecu-
liar in their abundance ofpersonal remin-
iscence. He and Morton were school
mates in their early youth, and did not
meet again until Burnsides was appointed
to the command of the department of
Ohio, which included Indiana, of which
State Morton was then Governor. Their
second meeting in official relation was
not until Burnside had been elected Sen
ator from Rhode Islnnd.
The latest and most commonplace ef-
forts were those of Senators Paddock, of
Nebraska, Mitchell, of Oregon, and Wad-
leigh, of New Hampshire. Senator Mitch
1 ell sought to make his part impressive by
adopting the sing-Song tone OF rural
preacher and one had only to close his
ewes to realize the music of an Oregon
whong-doodle mourning over its first
born.
Expectation was excited to hear Sem
ator Voorhees, who, since his speech on
the silver bill, is the leading Senatorial
star but his eulogium was brief, point
less, and non-committal He, however,
said he thought that the influence of
;. Morton on American politics since the
war had been detrimental to the peace
and prosperity of the country Senator
Thurman confined his remarks entirely
to the personal and social character of
the deceased Senator. and said that
while they had been for years in sharp
antagonism on political questions, there
had been no harshness or discord in their
individual relations.
There is but little that is interesting
from political or social view this week.
The Democratic organ, the Post, of this
city has exploded torpedo In the party
dove cot by an attack on Speaker Ran
dali who, il would seem from the Posts
standpoint, has not behaved lovely in the
organi ization of the House committees.
But the charges of the paper are, as yet,
too vague to be classified except as ''gen-
eral cussedness."
High social and diplomatic circles are
on the qua riye in relation to the entertain
ment Of the Spanish minister in celebra-
ton of the nuptials of the King of Spain
on the 23d inst.
Receptions have been resumed at near
ly all the old centres, and while there is
change of personnel in both the receivers
and the received, and perceptible dimi-
mutton in numbers and gorgeousnes, it
is evident that cakes and ale are not yet
exhausted, that young ladies prefer
Worth and his imitators to any Quaker
naodiste, and that young and old beaux
have not lost the art of beating their
ltailors out of swallow-tail coats.