stoop of the student; and in varied literature and elegant and profound erudition, he has not perhaps his superior in the country. He has been a great traveller and almost every clime has been visited by him. In Italy he imbibed the classic tone of that spellenchanted land, and his visit to France was followed by an able and spirited work, in two volumes, entitled "Review, Historical and Political, of the late Revolution in France." His "Reminiscences of Spain," two volumes, is a highly interesting work, and testifies equally to his industry and genius. He has been a frequent contributor to the North American Review, for which work, at the early age of twenty, he commenced to write. Among his articles, which are always chaste and classic per formances, I may particularly refer to that on the Legal and Social Condition of Women, in the January number, 1836, and a review of Boccaccio," which at this moment occur to me, as favorable specimens of his style. 66 As a public debater Mr. Cushing ranks high, and is one of the most efficient men of the Opposition. His manner is calm, earnest, and subdued. He seems to have studied his mode of address, and if any thing, is too stiff and formal. His voice is guttural, and in attempting to arrive at a proper level, I think Mr. Cushing reduces his tones to too low a scale, and when he is up, it strikes the hearer that he is listening to a public lecturer, rather than an eloquent statesman pouring forth his thoughts to an American Congress. Whatever Mr. Cushing says, is characterized by purity of style and depth of reflection. On all subjects he applies himself with diligence, and his extensive learning enables him to speak sensibly and handsomely on all topics brought before the House. No man knows the history of his country better than this gentleman, as his able articles on Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci, in the North American Review, fully prove. He is evidently a very ambitious young man, but his ambition is of a high and honorable character; and though the discovery did not fail to be made in his very early youth, and embodied in a happy epigram, by a lady of his native town, Newburyport, (not the least eminent among the lady poets of our day) that his name rhymed most harmoniously with "pushing," I have no fear that Mr. Cushing will ever use any other than means worthy of his high character, to "push" himself to those distinctions which would be the certain meed of his abilities, if his politics were of a more popular cast; though still it may be doubted if he possesses the peculiar qualifications requisite for a party leader. The most striking display made on the floor of Congress, by Mr. Cushing, was during the last winter, when Mr. Hardin, of Kentucky, John Randolph's "carving knife whetted on a brick bat," attacked the character of the New Englanders, and attributed to them, in all their acts, grovelling and mercenary motives. Hardin was a most provoking and annoying enemy, with his deformed finger, crooked like an audacious note of interrogation,-his livid face, peering with a sneering expression, into that of his adversary-a seeming arrogant tone of voice-his left hand thrust, country lawyer like, with due elegance and grace, into his breeches pocket-altogether he was enough to worry the most resigned; and had Job been afflicted with a speech from Ben Hardin, of Kentucky, he would have bounced, like a parched pea, from his stabular mound, seized upon the adjacent pitchfork, and scattered death and destruction around him. Mr. Cushing replied to this philippic in a calm and fine speech. He reviewed the history of New England; proved her sons the worthy descendants of the sturdy old pilgrims of Plymouth, and wove a defence of such masterly strength and beauty, that even the heretofore unabashed Kentuckian had to be silent. That debate gave rise, in part, to an article in the North American Review for January, 1837, entitled "Misconceptions of the New England character," of which I guess' Mr. Cushing to be the author. Our attention is now attracted to a ray of light that glitters on the apex of a bald and noble head, 'located' on the left of the House, in the neighbourhood of the Speaker's chair. It proceeds from that wonderful man who in his person combines the agitator, poet, philosopher, statesman, critic, and orator-John Quincy Adams. Who that has seen him sitting beneath the cupola of the hall, with the rays of light gathering and glancing about his singularly polished head, but has likened him to one of the luminaries of the age shining and glittering in the political firmament of the Union. There he sits hour after hour, day after day, with untiring patience, never absent from his seat, never voting for an adjournment, vigilant as the most jealous member of the House, his ear ever on the alert, himself always prepared to go at once into the profoundest questions of state, or the minutest points of order. What must be his thoughts as he ponders upon the past, in which he has played a part so conspicuous? We look at him and mark his cold and tearful eye, his stern and abstracted gaze, and conjure up phantoms of other scenes. We see him amid his festive and splendid halls ten years back, standing stiff and awkward, and shaking a tall military-looking man by the hand, in whose honor the gala was given, to commemorate the most splendid of America's victories. We see him again. years afterwards, the bitter foe of the same military chieftain,' and the competitor with him for the highest gift of a free people. We look upon a more than king, who has filled every department of honor in his native land, still at his post; he who was the President of millions, now the representative of forty odd thousand, quarrelling about trifles or advocating high principles. To-day growling and sneering at the House with an abolition petition in his trembling hand, and anon lording it over the passions, and lashing the members into the wildest state of enthusiasm by his indignant and emphatic eloquence. Alone, unspoken to, unconsulted, never consulting with others, he sits apart, wrapped in his reveries; and with his finger resting on his nose, he permits his mind to move like a gigantic pendulum, stirring up the hours of the past and disturbing those of the hidden future; or probably he is writing-his almost perpetual employment-but what? who can guess? Perhaps some poetry in a young girl's album! He looks enfeebled, but yet he is never tired; worn out, but ever ready for combat; melancholy, but let a witty thing fall from any member, and that old man's face is wreathed in smiles; he appears passive, but woe to the unfortunate member that hazards an arrow at him; the eagle is not swifter in his flight than Mr. Adams; with his agitated finger quivering in sarcastic gesticulation, he seizes upon his foe, and, amid the amusement of the House, rarely fails to take a signal vengeance. His stores of special knowledge on every subject, gradually garnered up through the course of his extraordinary life, in the wellarranged storehouse of a memory which is said to have never yet permitted a single fact to escape it, give him a great advantage over all comers in encounters of this kind. He is a wonderful eccentric genius. He belongs to no party, nor does any party belong to him. He is of too cold a nature to be long a party leader. He is original -of very peculiar ideas, and perfectly fearless and independent in expressing and maintaining them. He is remarkable for his affability to young persons; and, surrounded by them at his own table, he can be as hilarious and happy as the gayest of them. For one service, at least, his country owes him a debt of gratitude. I refer to the fine illustration which he afforded of the true character of our Institutions, when he passed from the presidential palace to his present post on the floor of the House of Representatives. Though the position which he has there made his own may not be that which his friends might wish to see him occupy in that body, yet in every point of view the example was a fine one. His manner of speaking is peculiar; he rises abruptly, his face reddens, and, in a moment throwing himself into the attitude of a veteran gladiator, he prepares for the attack; then he becomes full of gesticulation, his body sways to and fro-self-command seems almost lost his head is bent forward in his earnestness till it sometimes nearly touches the desk; his voice frequently breaks, but he pursues his subject through all its bearings; nothing daunts himthe House may ring with the cries of order-order!-unmovedcontemptuous-he stands amid the tempest, and, like an oak that knows its gnarled and knotted strength, stretches his arm forth and defies the blast. Opposite to Mr. Adams, on the right of the Hon. Speaker, sits a small man, who is engaged in the perusal of a huge mass of documents; occasionally he applies a double quizzing glass to his eye, raises his head and gazes earnestly around the hall. He is bald on the crown of the head, his forehead broad and high, and more striking than the lower part of his face. This gentleman is the Hon. C. C. Cambreleng, of New York, chairman of the committee of ways and means, and by his political opponents styled "the leader of the Administration party in the House." Mr. Cambreleng sits in warm quarters, for immediately before him are Messrs. Bell, of Tennessee, and Wise, of Virginia. Mr. Cambreleng is as regular in his attendance in the House as Mr. Adams. As soon as the Speaker raps with his ivory stamp upon the table, and calls the House to order, Mr. Cambreleng is seen to apply his glasses and scrutinize the members present. He seldom converses with the other members, scarcely ever leaves his seat, but busies himself in the examination of papers; nor does he appear to pay the slightest attention to debate, and yet he never permits one word to escape; and should anything be said peculiarly unpleasant, from a political opponent, he is up, ready for a retort. Mr. Cambreleng's manner of elocution is sometimes a little inflated, but he is remarkably fluent, and his language is always chaste and appropriate. He is one of the ablest and most efficient members of the House; his consistency in an honest democratic creed of politics, his boldness and clear-sightedness, have placed him in a commanding position before the country. A statesman's real calibre for talent, importance, and future prospects, may, in general, be safely measured by the amount of abuse of which his opponents think him worthy. Judged by this rule, the Hon. C. C. C. (sometimes bitterly styled by his enemies of classical reading rgía xaT IT xaxa) is certainly stamped at once as one of the most formidable men of his party in the House, and before the country. Dressed in a full suit of black, with a black silk bosom, light hair, and sunny face, the Hon. Ogden Hoffman, of New York city, has risen to address his maiden speech to the House. Mark with what graceful emphasis he delivers himself;-how musical his voice, though without much compass;-how apposite his gestures! A crowd has gathered around him; he evidently makes a sensation. He is bitterly opposed to the administration, and gives utterance to his sentiments with peculiar eloquence. As he sits down, the Hon. Mr. Preston, of the Senate, shakes him by the hand. The last time I had heard Mr. Ogden Hoffman speak was in New York, on the occasion of the great democratic victory of the election of General Jackson and Mr. Van Buren, of whom he had been an ardent supporter, not quite one little lustre ago. I shall never forget the brilliancy and force of his eloquence at that period on that theme. However, the theme and the side are, it is to be presumed, immaterial to so ingenious a young lawyer. He was one of those weaker vessels' who fell away from the truth during the panic period—that time that tried men's souls. In the city of New York, the tempest ran so high, and superior powers of clamor gave the bank cause such an apparent advantage, that many considered the democratic party there prostrated forever, and lost no time in being "off wi' the old love" and "on wi' the new." Among these, Mr. Ogden Hoffman was perhaps the most conspicuous, as he doubtless considered himself one of the most sincere and patriotic. It is a pity, however, that such fine talents must hereafter be paralyzed by such a position. It can never be possible for him to exert any great moral force, whether in or out of Congress, in opposition to Mr. Van Buren's administration. The ghosts of his not yet forgotten sentiments and speeches (all murdered by that one ruthless blow, the removal of the deposites,) must rise up too often in judgment before him, when on the eve of any intended exertion, with the depressing omen— Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! ENIGMA. THE lightest and the softest thing With power resistless and sublime, A favorite guest with all the fair, 'Tis mine to hurl the bolts of fate, VOL. I. NO. I. |