s not on this roll." A
buzz of approbation greeted the discreet ruling of the Clerk. The
difficult point was passed, and the whole subject of the admission of
Southern Representatives was handed over intact, to be deliberately
considered after the House should be fully organized for business.

Mr. Morrill, in moving to proceed to the election of a Speaker, had
forgotten or neglected to demand the previous question, and thus cut
off debate. Mr. James Brooks, most plausible in address, and most
ready in talk on the side of the minority, saw the point left
unguarded by his opponents, and resolved to enter. Born in Maine, now
a citizen of New York, and editor of the "Express," Mr. Brooks was in
Congress for the fourth time a champion of what he deemed the rights
of the South, and not in accordance with the prevailing sentiments in
his native and adopted States.

Mr. Brooks obtained the floor, and desired to amend the motion. He
thought the roll should be completed before proceeding to the election
of Speaker. "I trust," said he, "that we shall not proceed to any
revolutionary, any step like that, without at least hearing from the
honorable gentleman from Tennessee. If Tennessee is not in the Union,
by what right does the President of the United States usurp his place
in the White House when an alien and a foreigner, and not from a State
in the Union?"

At this stage, a man of mark--five times a Representative in Congress,
but now twelve years away from the capital and a new member--John
Wentworth, of Chicago--elevated his tall and massive form, and with a
stentorian voice called Mr. Brooks to order. The Clerk having fairly
decided that gentleman entitled to the floor on the question of
proceeding to the election of a Speaker, Mr. Wentworth sat down, and
Mr. Brooks in resuming his remarks improved his chance to administer
rebuke in a manner which provoked some mirth. "When the honorable
gentleman from Illinois is better acquainted with me in this House,"
said Mr. Brooks, "he will learn that I always proceed in order, and
never deviate from the rules." Mr. Brooks then returned to his
championship of Mr. Maynard: "If he is not a loyal man, and is not
from a State in this Union, what man, then, is loyal? In the darkest
and most doubtful period of the war, when an exile from his own State,
I heard his eloquent voice on the banks of the St. Lawrence arousing
the people of my own State to discharge their duties to the country."