elect to the chair. This disarmed opposition, and
after some formalities, he was authorized, by a large majority
resolve, to perform the duty, accompanied by Messrs. Fuller and
Campbell. Cheer after cheer, with waving of hats and ladies'
handkerchiefs, announced that on the one hundred and thirty-third
vote the Speaker's chair was occupied. The mace, emblem of the
Speaker's authority, was brought from its resting-place and elevated
at his side. The House was organized.

The address of Mr. Banks, free from all cant, and delicately alluding
to those American principles to which he owed his office, was
happily conceived and admirably delivered. Then old Father Giddings,
standing beneath the large chandelier, with his silvery locks
flowing picturesquely around his head, held up his hand and
administered the oath of office. The authoritative gavel was handed
up by Colonel Forney, who was thanked by a resolution complimenting
him for the ability with which he had presided during the protracted
contest, and then the House adjourned.

It then became necessary to divide the spoils, and after an exciting
contest, Cornelius Wendell, a Democratic nominee, was elected
Printer of the House by Republican votes, in consideration of
certain percentages of his profits paid to designated parties.
The House binding was given to Mr. Williams, editor of the Toledo
_Blade_, a lawyer by profession, who had never bound a book in his
life. Mr. Robert Farnham paid him a considerable sum for his
contract, and the work was done by Mr. Tretler, a practical
bookbinder. Mr. Simon Hanscomb, who had been efficient in bringing
about the nomination of Mr. Banks, received a twelve-hundred dollar
sinecure clerkship, and others who had aided in bringing about the
result were cared for. One Massachusetts Representative had his
young son appointed a page by the doorkeeper, but when Speaker
Banks learned of it, he ordered the appointment to be canceled.
Luckily for the lad, the father was enabled to secure for him an
appointment as a cadet at West Point, and he became a gallant
officer.

The first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress was protracted
until the 18th of August, 1856, and it was distinguished by
acrimonious debate. The most remarkable speaker was Mr. Stephens,
of Georgia, of whom it might be said, as of St. Paul, "his bodily
presence is weak," while his shrill, thin voice, issuing as it were
by jerks from his narrow chest, recalled J