The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1878-01-25
WASHINGTON.

Funeral Orofions in the Seaufe.-The
diSdoiyW Conhiing Eclipsed 5y the
brilliant Edmund's Forte
Ihe Oregon Whdngdoodlc tchines
dotefW Hdtitudes.-A Torpedo in
the Democratic Dove e.-Politics.
-lSOciety.-1He Spanish Minister'S
Reception.-Etc., Etc.
WAsHINsToN, ID. G., Jan. 10, 1873.
1t is quito entertaining to hear United
States senators read funeral orations.
On all political questions we know pref
ty much what each senator will saw.
and on the floor of the Senate we hear
repeated, though in inferior English
and with faulty elocution, the same ar
gumcnts that we have read again and
again i'll the papers. But funeral ora
ton is out of the usual line. 1t is no
easy transition from finance, or the
southern question, or internal improve
ments, to elegiac oratory. Some senators.
powerful in debate and ready in repar-
tee, appear lame and commonplace in
this unfamiliar role This was notably
the case with Senator Edmunds, of Yer
mont. His forte is in witty repartce
and a species of cold sarcasm with
which he freezes those who presume to
differ from him. Conkling and Ed
munds are decidedly the most egotistic
and contemptuous senators on the floor,
but the contempt of Conkling, uniform.
perennial, and eternally placarded on
his nose, is much less irritating than
the clammy variety that oozes from the
repellant, | had almost said repulsive,
Vermonter. Senator Edmunds' eulo-
gium on Morton was well written, dis
eliminating and just, but il was, on
the whole, disappointing to the galle-
ries, becaused it fell short of eloquence.
One part of it made the studiously un-
impressible Conkling smile and look
guileless. 1t was when he hit the ad-
ministration foul by saying that Sena-
tor Morton was not one of those Repub-
licans who believed that the best inter-
ests of a cause would be promoted BY
appointing its opponents to office. AZ
ter Edmunds, Conkling spoke, and he
was the only senator who deviated
from the rule of reading his remarks
from manuscript. To all appearances
he spoke impromptu, just as Mark An
tony did over the dead body of Cesar.
Read Shakspeare's account. Shaks-
peare was there. Senator Conkling's
elocniion, slow and drawling on all oc-
caslons, was peculiarly elongated on
this occasion. If it were not for his
brains, character and dignity of pres
ence, this popularity would cause him
to be laughed at. lie immediately
placed himself abreast with antiquity,
and spoke of how the ancients regarded
death; thence he branched into unlim-
tied and tcrvid cnlogy, and concluded,
having made speech that the general
verdict said, right then and there, could
not be eclipsed in force and brilliancy.
But the general verdict was mistaken,
as 1t cheerlully and unanimously con-
ceded after it had listened to Senator
Booth, of California. Senator Booths
oration was from first to last crowded
with unmonotonous narrative, striking
antitheses, and bold climaxes, and il
was singularly free from the triteness
so common on funereal occasions. He
had evidently expended great labor in
its preparation, for the sentences were
condensed and finished to the essence
OF ideas. If his Grafton does not appear
in the school readers of the future as q
model of elcgiac eloquence, it will be
because it is crowded out by an inferior
composition. Senator Burnside's re-
marks were peculiar in their abundance
ofpersonal reminiscencc. He and Nor
ton were schoolmates in their early
youth, and did not meet again until
Burnside was appointed to the COM
mand of the department of Ohio, which
included Indiana, of which state Morton
was then governor. Their second
meeting in official relation was not un-
til Burnside had been clecte, senator
from Rhode Island.
The --LATEST and most commonplace
efforts were those of Senators Paddock,
Of Nebraska, Mitchell, OF Oregon, Wad-
leigh, of New Hampshire. Senator
Mitchell sought to make his part i'm
pressive by adopting the sing-song tone
OF rural preacher, and one had only
to close his eyes to realize the music Of
an Oregon whangdoodle mourning
over its first born. Expectation was
excited to hear Senator Voorhees,, who,
since his speech oil the silver bill, is the
leading senatorial star, but his eulogi-
nm was brief, pointless, and non-com-
initial. lie, however, said that he
thought that the influence of Morton on
American politics since the war had
been detrimental to the peace and pros
perity of the country. Senator Thur
man 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 antag-
onism on political questions. there had
been no harshness or discord i'm their
individual relations.
There is but little that is interesting
rom political or social view, this
week. The Democratic organ, the
POST" of this city, has exploded tor
pedo in the party dove-cote by an at
tack on Speaker Randall, who, it would
seem from the Posts standpoint, has
not behaved lovely in the organization
of the House committees. But the
charges ef the paper are, as yet, too
vague to be classified except as ''gener-
al cussedness.
High social and diplomatic circles
are on the Qu rire in relation TO the
entertainment of the Spanish minister
m celebration of the nuptials OF the
King of Spain, on the 23d instant.
Receptions have been resumed at
nearly all the old centres, and while
there Is change Of oeYsoaei in both
The receivers and the received, and
diminution in numbers
and gorgeousness, il is evident that
cakes and ale are not vet exhausted, that
young ladies prefer Worth and his imi-
tators TO any Quaker modiae. and that
young and old beaux have NOT lost the
art of beating their tailors out of swal-
low-tails coats. :,
Nellie has four-year-ol sister,
Mary, who complained to mnnma that
her "button shoes" were hurting.