CHAPTER VIII.

The Congress-Electioneering-The Honourables.

A GLANCE at the Congress of the United States, will solve the mystery of the last election. This Congress is composed of so many States, varying in degrees of civilization, that an infinite diversity and contradiction in the views of the honourable members must be the necessary consequence when assembled in Congress. The cunning literate Yankee, the adventurous New Yorker, the simple and honest Pennsylvanian, the aristocratic Virginian, the proud Carolinian and Georgian, have the same language with the unfeeling and presumptuous Kentuckian, but not the same views. Their manner of speaking, the course they pursue to attain their ends, are, toto cælo, different. The first interest with every member of the Congress is of course his own; the station of a representative is to be the stepping-stone to a permanent office. His second object is to promote the views of his party; the next, the interest of his county, then

of the particular State to which he belongs, and, finally, that of the nation. A central point of union could hardly be expected amidst so many conflicting objects. The interests of the different. States clash in such a manner as not to admit of a steady aim, such as is exhibited by the British Parliament. The latter consists of Whigs and Tories, whereas the Congress of the United States, is an assembly of brokers, sent by their respective States not to promote the welfare of the Union, but of their own mean and sordid interests. One is expected to bring the turnpike through his county, another a canal, a third is to procure a lighthouse, a fourth an academy, or a deaf and dumb asylum. These are the important affairs committed to the representatives: if they succeed, messenger-like, in the execution of their errands, they are called "excellent fellows." The administration of course avails itself of these opportunities, does all in its power to meet the wishes of its "honourables" in matters of such vital interest, and is rewarded by corresponding good offices in return. The Congress has precisely the appearance of an exchange, where every one manages his own business to the best of his understanding, without troubling himself much

about the affairs of his neighbours, until his own are terminated.-Men of talents are not wanting in the Senate as well as in the House of Representatives, who might vie with the very first members even of the British Parliament, certainly not in point of education and learning, but unquestionably in shrewdness.

Webster, Everett, Hamilton, M'Duffie, Livingston, Sergeant, Randolph, are deservedly celebrated names; but as a set-off to such men of genius, there are such men as Vance from Ohio, Mr. Trimble from Kentucky, and most of his western brethren. The well-informed members of Congress are generally from the New England States and the sea-ports; the most impudent and presumptuous the Kentuckians: these are now hand in glove with the party of the administration. In opposition to this party are the Virginians and Georgians, both Carolinas, Pennsylvania, part of New York, Ohio, Indiana, &c.

A person desirous of becoming well acquainted with his own character and of repenting of sins, over which ten and more years have thrown the veil of oblivion, and of reviving them in his memory, may present himself as a candidate for Congress,

or any other station of importance. As soon as his name appears in the newspapers, followed by an address to his fellow-citizens, and an explanation of his merits and his principles, the notes of the counter-party are at hand, generally worded in well-meant letters to the editor, subscribed by the popular signatures of a Democrat, a friend to his country, or the more classic names of Cimon, Aristides, &c. If a candidate happen to have lived in another State, his well-meaning friends of the opposite party are not slow in drawing from thence all the information which they may think worthy of public notice. If his family connexions be not very extensive, then, after having had his transgressions sounded throughout the Union, he is defeated; this however does not disturb his peace of mind. The election expenses cannot be compared with those of a member of the British House of Commons; for the sum of five thousand pounds, one might easily purchase the representative seats of a whole State! Instead of squandering money, of which we are too fond to throw it away for the ambitious purpose of corrupting our honest fellow-citizens, we indulge in a little slander. have our negotiators as in Great Britain, but

We

they are not so much trusted, because we trust nobody. All they have in their power to give, is a pair of shoes, an imitation beaver hat, or the like. The extravagancies in which the English are said to indulge, such as the payment of five guineas for a canary-bird, or ten for a dish of greens to the wife of a freeholder, would be deemed shameful in our honest country! We are indeed much too steady to imitate so bad an example! The utmost we give are dinners, with plenty of whisky and brandy for gentlemen and those we think worthy, and a treat, as we usually call it, for the other "Sovereigns," at some tavern; this consists of genuine whisky, in the proportion of two barrels for a county, at the rate of three pounds for both barrels. The highest expenses we incur, are with our newspapers, and these are said to be enormous for two inches square we have to pay a dollar: of course a column often amounts to four or five dollars. True it is, that the honest editors make ample compensation to us for this expense, by laying open and explaining our adversary's faults in such a way, that Hogarth, had he lived amongst us, would not have found it necessary to visit ginshops and the haunts of vice, our