shouted: "My friends, the country is on the
brink of destruction! Be sure that you act on correct principles.
I warn you to act as your consciences may approve. God is looking
down upon you, and if you act on correct principles you will get
safely through." He then deliberately stepped back, and retired
from the gallery before the officers of the Senate could reach him.
Mr. Webster was, of course, surprised at this extraordinary
interruption; but when the shrill voice of the enthusiast had
ceased, he coolly resumed his remarks, saying, "As the gentleman
in the gallery has concluded, I will proceed."

Mr. Cuthbert, of Georgia, was much provoked, one day, by a scathing
denunciation of his State by Mr. Clay for the manner in which she
had treated the Cherokee Indians. As the eloquent Kentuckian dwelt
more in sorrow than in anger upon the wrongs and outrages perpetrated
in Georgia upon the unoffending aborigines within her borders, many
of his hearers were affected to tears, and he himself was obviously
deeply moved. No sooner did Mr. Clay resume his seat than Mr.
Cuthbert sprang to his feet, and in an insolent tone alluded to
what he called the theatrical manner of the speaker. "What new
part will Roscius next enact?" said the Senator from Georgia, coming
forward from his desk and standing in the area of the hall. He
was a man of about the ordinary height, with a round face pitted
with the smallpox, small, dark eyes, and a full forehead. As he
spoke he twirled his watch-key incessantly with his right hand,
while his left was flung about in the most unmeaning and awkward
gestures. He twisted his body right and left, forward and backward,
as if he were a Chinese mandarin going through a stated number of
evolutions before his emperor; in fact, he had "all the contortions
of the sybil, without her inspiration." To this display Mr. Clay
seemed entirely oblivious, but after Judge White, of Tennessee,
had discussed the pending question, Mr. Clay rose, saying, that he
would reply to this gentleman's remarks as "they alone were worthy
of notice."

In the House of Representatives, during the Jackson Administration,
sectional topics were rife, sectional jealousies were high, and
partisan warfare was unrelenting. Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia,
who was triumphantly re-elected as Speaker for four successive
terms, understood well how to keep down the boiling caldron, and
to exercise stern authority, tempered with dignity