Daily Republican., 1879-04-28
Conkliug's Great Effort.

Tho washington correspondence vi
the Philadelphia Times thus speaks OF
Senator Conkling's great speech, in the
Senate oil Wednesday last:
Senator Conkling has been long
time at it, but his speech to day was
worth waiting for. 1t may not have
been the "greatest effort of his life,'
but it will be many day before anoth-
er such speech will be heard in the
Senate Chamber. When he began and
for the first hour his speech was dis
appointment, but during the last hour
and half nothing could have exceed
ed the interest centered in the New
York Senator. Conkling personally is
exceedingly unpopular and his manners
ar. very offensive. He has none OF the
pleasant ways of Blaine or Carpenter
or Chandler, but on the contrary he is
cold, severe, overbearing and at times
insulting to the people about him;
therefore whatever praise he gets from
an audience is sure to be deserved.
Never was there a finer crowd in the
Capitol.
All the galleries were packed fu.l ano
oyerrun into the upper corridors. upon
the floor there was not vacant seat
and more than half the members OF tht
House had come over TO hear the speech
All the hooks and corners were occu
pisd and a dozen or SO members sat Oh
tho floor, near Conkling's feet, unable
to get seats elsewhere. The crowd wa:
exec ptionably brilliant. The new
spring suits of the ladies, the pr"tty
bonnets, the bright ribbons and th'
painted fans filled the galleries will
beautiful effects. The scene was yer,
gay one, and the great crowd was
compliment that any man might b'
proud Of In the diplomatic gallery wer'
Sir Edward Thornton and Lady Thorn
ton. Secretary Evarts and several for
.ign Ministers. In the Senator'S gal
lery there were many beautiful women
chief among whom was Mrs. Sprague
Many of the wives and daughters
Senator'S were present, and on tn
floor. among other notables who sat 10
more than three hours, were Secretar.
Sherman, General Devens, Genera
Sherman, Private Secretary Roger
(which amounted to about the same a
though the President had been there
and Postmaster General Key. Police
men in anticipation OF applause, hat
been stationed here and there through
the galleries to squell any tokens O
dissent or appreciation, but this prrca,l
ton did not wholly avail, for Mr.. Conli
ling is very impassioned and impres
siye orator and withal so severely radl
cal that he could not help exciting ap
plause.
His speech was the most powerful
one that has been heard in the Senat
for years. He spoke for nearly thre
hours, and not a single auditor left tn
chamber and scarcely movement wa
made during the whole time. lie wa
most bitter and sarcastic thr0ughou
his speech, and at times there wer'
some superb fights of oratory. ID
spoke from notes, though it was appaI
ent that he had his speech we'll in HI
mind. He began by showing wher
the money came from to support tn
government, and made other unfaVora
Lls comparisons against the South an
in favor of the North. Then he wen
on to show the powers and duties
Congress and the Executive, the
the responsibility of the Democrats.
Then he showed how the troops refer
red to by Senator Bayard came to be i
New York and that Maryland and Del
aware had been furnished troops b
General Mcclellan. He drew graph
picture of the corruption and crime i
>ew York city, and said there ha
never been as fair an election there a
when the troops were present. In re
f.rring to the duties OF the Executlv
he was not as severe on Mr.. Hayes a
was expected, but he spoke as thoug
the President would veto the bills an
he hoped he would call Congress bac
az often as necessary, and told tn
Democrats they would have to bac
down. He thought the present admit
istratien had not been sufficiently rt
bust in its encroachments on the Den
ocracy. He raised great laugh 3
Judge Davis expense by calling nj
speech soothing syrup and ridiculln
it in other ways.
He paid his respects to the caucu
system of the Democrats, after refel
ring to the number of Confederates an
!. Union soldiers now in Congress, an
said that the Confederates were reall
IN charge of the Senate. A majority
the Senate is AZ, which represents tn
Democrats, and majority Of 23 Confe'
8 crates in the Senate controls the caucl
! and the caucus controls the Democrat
1 1t was doubtful about Senator Conl
! ling's closing. He had reached so mar
I SUBMITS in his eloquence that it wi
!. thought that he would rather fail
i his peroration, but after giving Il
d Democrats some exasperating advice
n closed by saying that he meant not
n ing personal by anything he had sa
and sat down amid applause. He W
l. enthusiastically congratulated and II