From Washington.
[special Correspondence of the Dispatch.]Stephens, of Georgia, was expected here this morning, and may be here now. He will be serenaded, &c., by the Union men. He will lend his influence to effect a compromise in the Senate Committee of Thirteen. As to the Committee of Thirty-three, it has fallen into contempt.
Southern men tell me the Republicans have been wondrous conciliatory for the last day or two. But they concede nothing; and, judging from the following extract from last night's Tribune, there is little reason to think that they will concede, or that their concessions will be worth the paper on which they are written. Our Conservative men should weigh well these words coming from the ablest and most widely circulated exponent of Republican opinion. Speaking of the Compromise demanded by the most moderate Southern men, Greeley says:
‘ "They demand that we should give up all that a legitimate, constitutional victory, the fruits of years of labor, inspired by deep moral and conscientious conviction, has gained; they ask what our ancestors, in days of darkness and peril would never yield; and they seek to gain what, if given now, would only be snatched back again under the growing anti-slavery sentiment of the North, at no distant day-snatched back again when determination on one side and resistance on the other would lead to a struggle to which this is as child's play. It is a fatal foolishness to make such concession now. We are half through this battle; let us finish it like men, and be done with the controversy forever"
’ The italics are my own. And now I would ask whether our whole past experience does not prove that the North will "snatch back" any and everything that we may extort from it under the pressure of existing troubles? And, consequently, will not the next crisis be so bloody and terrible as to make the present one "child's play" compared to it? We must look this matter square in the face. To talk about delay, is to kick against the pricks.
Pugh's speech, yesterday, was the most powerful by far that he ever delivered. His indictment of the Republican party was overwhelming. Coercion Andy Johnson was utterly crushed. Tennessean say he will be in danger when he goes back home. At the close of his speech, all the Southern Senators warmly congratulated Mr. Pugh, Mr. Douglas said himself that he was moved to tears. Yet he is, or was, until recently, himself a Coercionists.
Owing to the adjournment of the House to Monday, the South Carolina members will not leave till then. It is more than probable that they will not go alone. The feeling with these men is not that of exultation. It is too deep for that. Never have I seen men so overmastered by profound emotion as were some of them last night.
Mr. Russell, from the Wheeling district, is here, and reports secession rapidly on the increase there. Our members are moving into the Southern column. Millson is lost in the fog of the Crisis Committee. Boteler hugs the phantom of the Missouri Compromise. Harris is the "last of the Mohicans," as regards the hope of coming to terms with the Republicans.
Judge Allen's Botetourt resolutions are pronounced the ablest State paper of the day. It is said that Mr. Breckinridge accompanied Mrs. Anderson when she appealed to the President to save her husband at Fort Moultrie, and added the full force of his influence in her favor, but all in vain; the President assured her of her husband's safety, but would not reinforce him.
The whole of the ten million loan will be taken at from 7 to 9 per cent. below par. Colson sings here on Monday night. A little good music in the midst of this excitement will be like a breath of fresh air to a man suffocating. Zed.
