THE PRESIDENT'S LEVEE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 405, 20 September 1856, Page 2

THE PRESIDENT'S LEVEE.

(Letter from Washington in the ' Times.') One's first and very proper impulse on visiting Washington is to see the President. General Pierce receives every Friday even-

ing, and at the last reception I joined the miscellaneous throng that crowd the dusty A vay—■-rl.beg pardon—l mean which flowed, into the barn-like rooms of the White House. A little incident connected with this reception will give you a clearer idea of the condition of society here than pages of reflections. I found it necessary to consult a milliner—as ff little old maid from the interior cannot be expected to come to this centre of fashionable folly and political wickedness armed and equipped as the iron laws of society command, and of course I four.d any quantity of preparation necessary. " I fear," said the fashionable dressmaker, " that we cannot have these things ready for you in time." "Indeed," "Yes, this is the 22ud of February, and my girls all go to the President's levee this evening." This was said in a very quiet, matter-of-fact manner, as if nothing new. But I must confess that the thought that" these workmen should be my associates at the President's mansion, was somewhat startling. I /soon recovered from that, however, "and'felt \g ill, that I am aware, from the result. That the little things in their little finery were in attendance; were pleasantly received by the President, and aided in heightening the general effect by bringing youth, grace and beauty into the scene, I have no question. Now for the levee. We drove in hack No. 201, and a very nice hack it is, to the Presidential mansion. The band was playing in the vilest manner the popular air of "Bobbin around" —at least^such was our vague impression—and the clock told the hour of B|, as we rolled under the portico , which protects the entrance. This early affair terminates at 10. We passd a sea of hats, through the ante-chamber adjoining the dining-room, into the dming-room itself —for the moment a retreat for ladies' shawls and overshoes. Passing the hall we entered tlie reception-room, where, a small man seizing us, we were presented to President Pierce. This was my first look at a gentleman whose namefills so lar^e a space in the political speculations of the day. In General Pierce I was agreeably disappointed. He is a gentleman, and, unless I misread appearances, a large hearted, generous man. Nothing could exceed the ease and dignity with which he received our great crowd. Another gentleman seized us—not a small one this time—and presented us to Mrs. Pierce. She, too. had a smile for us, but it was so mixed with weariness and sorrow that I turned away pained. It brought up the past, real and palpable, before me. Power had come almost unsought to those _jLnmates of the Presidental monsion, but "affliction came too. And to them these halls are desolate and dreary, Band by their side all the while walks a shadow which says, " Vanity of vanities —all is vanity." So we passed on to the east room. What a crowd —what a heterogeneous mass ! Men, women and children (for half-grown girls and boys made up at least one-fourth), represented all classes and all climes. The rude drover from Indiana jostled the New York exquisite, and the dress from the remotest village, made up from fashion-plates and fitted in paroxysms, gave a strikingbackground to th.c most perfect Parisian toilette. So theierowd pourtd in, marching in stiff formal procession round the room. The lady hung on to a biped's arm, clinging each to the other, as if the enemy were about, and dissolution would be disorder and ruin. And here they came, the anxious office-seeker and hungry claimant, indolent clerks and active^millionaires, stray birds of passage, from the merchant who has bought goods in Baltimore, to the Hebrew with a jewellery store on his person. I saw the bearded Californian walking by the slender representative from Maine ; the many-wifed gentlemen from Utah would hob and nob with, a hot-gospeller from the

West; the owner of plantations and negroes did the agreeable to the fair Puritans of the East; and I said, what a country is this! The slender gentleman in the adjoining room was really the ruler over nations,before -whose possessions the 4 empires of history dwindle into insignificance. Stretching from Maine to the golden sands' of the Pacific, and embracing, not one people in fact, but many, with wide conflicting interests, and different manners, customs, religions, and languages, yet so admirably bound together that the wide extent brings no weakness, but, in their very diversity, wealth, health, and strength. We had no very distinguished people present, and the sombre dress of the 'men,-'with the simplicity of toilet ■exhibted by a majority in attendance, made the assembly appear to the eye rather solemn. One misses the gay uniform of a diplomatic corps, and the glitter of military foppery incident to such occasions at European courts. : I must not pass in silence one remarkable man, who rolled through the assembly crowd very like a bear, and the crowd fell away from him as if he were indeed such. This was Governor Marcj T. I looked at him with such interest. He is a remarkable man, and carries the evidence in his appearance. The awkward and somewhat unwieldy person, the large head and shaggy eyebrows, give one at first an idea ox sturdy obstinacy. But on a closer look we discover other traits, and are puzzled by the strange mixture of courage and cunning -—as if the heads of a bulldog and fox had been run together. To this add a twinkle of humour, and you have the outer man. The President has a large handsome house, demand ing-like furniture, yet badly filled, and. without, a work of art on its walls. Between the endeavour to do something and the want of means, the unhappy incumbent generally leaves a bankrupt, unless, indeed he acts as one of them once did. A friend informs me, that re turning one evening after a reception in search of a missing article, she found the President busily en scaled in turning off the gas and extinguishing the candles. She did not add that ne put the ends in his pocket, but he was very imprudent not to have done so. Let the President pocket the candle ends, and thank Providence that he has something. It is said that members of Congress carry home pocket-knives and spittoons, and whjr should not the President have his candle-ends ?