The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1895-08-16
MADE IN CONGRESS.
tATCHY PHRASES THAT HAVE COME
INTO COMMON USEn yab-

The First Buncombe Speech Was Delivered
In 1S2O-Blaine and Conkling InfDebate.
Famous Sentences Pronounced by States
men When Not In Congress. 7e y
Many of the best knownYand most
quoted phrases with7which the Amer
lean people are familiar originates in
congress.
There is no reason why, if a good
thing is said upon the floor Of the senate
or house, the country should not know
it in "a hours. With press gallery
thronged with correspondents who are
always ready and eager to pick up the
novel phrase or the apt description, with
the great press associations distributing
the debates from one end of the country
to the other, and with newspapers only
too anxious to give currency to the lat
est expression. man who says good
thing in congress one afternoon may
wake up the next morning and find his
saying in everybody's mouth. There is
something in the atmosphere of con-
gress, too, that develops the latent wit
and inspires to repartee. If senator or
a representative mas anything in him at
ALL it is bound to come put in a rough
and tumble debate with political OPP
ponent. Mary of the congressman have
already had their genius in this direc-
ton tested upon the stump and know
how to hold their own in the face of all
Corners. 1t does not always follow, how
ever, that statesman W. is good in
debate will achieve fame by uttering a
phrase that becomes popular.
To 60 back to the beginning OF con-
gressional history is to discover many
phrases uttered in congress which are
still current. 1t was as far back as 1920,
for instance, that Felix Walker, a men,
Der of the North Carolina district which
included Buncombe county, apologized
for the emptiness of his remarks by
stating that he had to make a speech
"just for Buncombe." This is a saying
which has come down through the years
as byword. Liberty and union, one
and inseparable, now and forever. was
uttered by Webster in his famous reply
to Hayne. Lincoln S with malice to-
ward none and charity toward all" was
first heard in the halls of congress when
his second inaugural address was read
to the assembled representatives. In
later years Senator ingalls, contributed a
number of epigrammatic sentences, the
best known of which perhaps, was utter
ed in his wordy duel with Senator
Brown of Georgia. The latter had a
habit of rubbing his hands together as
he talked, and Ingalls,, with bitter en-
phasis, described him as washing his
hands with invisible soap in impercept-
ible water. " Another remark by In
gals was much quoted at the time. He
was discussing the oleomargarine bill
and said regarding certain dairy prod
ucts that he stood Sin awe at their
strength and reverence for their antiq-
uity." In Proctor Knott s widely copied
Duluth speech occurs that phrase, "the
zenith city of the unsalted seas, title
which Duluth has always proudly kept.
Blaine and Conkling, with all their
greatness, left no single phrase as leg
acy of their participation in congress
sional debates. "Burn these letters"
was often quoted after the Mulligan af-
fair, but this sentence was not first ut
tered in congress. The famous debate
between the two men, which estranged
their whole lives, occurred in April,
1866, over a very trivial matter-the
Of the bureau of the provost
general 1t gave Blaine, how
ever, chance to satirize Conkling in a
Theodore Tilton had appeared in which
had been hkened to Winter
Davis. 1.-THE resemblance is great, ex-
claimed Blaine, with pungent satire.
1T is striking! Hyperion to satyr,
Thersites to Hercules, mud to marble,
dunghill to diamond, a singed cat to
a Bengal tiger, a whining puppy to
roaring lion.
Another debate in which Conkling,
then in the senate, was conspicuous
figure, resulted in a sentence which has
not been forgotten. Senator Lamar Of
had resented as falsehood
4 charge of broken faith made by Mr..
Jonkling, and the latter retorted that
Lamar was coward, blackguard and
/ liar. The Mississippi senator, who had
never been accused of cowardice, looked
over to his opponent and sarcastically
lpologized for his first remark. sit was
me-" he said, "such as no good man
would deserve and no brave man would
wear. " Then he waited for Conkling to
eply, but the New York senator was 81
ent.
Many of the sharp things said in con-
,ress are left out of The Record. Cobb's
Where was 1 at?" does not appear in
'fficial print, and Senator Wolcott's
quotation of the Spanish proverb to
senator Carey, sit is waste of lather
o shave an ass, has also been CIT out.
few famous sentences came very near
aving their origin in congress. Davy
Crockett, the author of "Be sure you're
light, then go ahead, was member Of
he house of representatives for two
ears, but it does not appear that this
fit quoted advice was originated with
i'm there Henry Clay's 81 would rath-