 | John Randolph |  |
UPHOLDING HIS CONGRESSIONAL DIGNITY.
Mr. Randolph's peculiar temperament made him peculiarly
sensitive to anything which he could construe into a
personal affront. It was his misfortune, as not a little of his
time in Congress was occupied in attempting to bring others
to terms or in endeavoring to smooth over matters himself.
Had he been less suspicious, had he been better able to overlook
frictions which would have been scarcely noticed by
those of a more obtuse and, perhaps, balanced a temperament
he would have had more time to devote to an undisturbed
consideration of state affairs.
Within a month from the time he commenced his first term
of service in Congress he found in a small personal episode
an occasion by which he kept the President, Congress and
the country at large in a considerable uproar for a period of
set upon and personally abused as a private citizen for words
which he had spoken in debate on the floor of the House?
Was honest opposition to administrative measures to be overawed
by the military? There is little doubt by that a certain
personal experience of the night of January 10, 1800, so
keenly worked upon his sense of personal injury as to make
him thoroughly convinced that the liberties of Republican
congressmen were in grave danger at the hands of the military
hirelings of the Federal administration.
Three days before the episode in question a resolution had
been offered by a leading Republican to repeal the act increasing
the United States Army, since all danger of war
with France had passed. In the course of the debate upon
the resolution Mr. Randolph had made his first speech in
Congress, taking occasion to say that "the people of the
United States ought not to depend for their safety on the
soldiers enlisted under the laws, the repeal of which was the
object of the resolution," and applied to them the epithet of
"ragamuffins." He had also declared that standing or mercenary
armies were inconsistent with the spirit of our constitution
or the genius of a free people. General Lee, who had
been second in command to the lamented Washington in the
Revolutionary War, had taken exceptions to the word mercenary
as applied to any troops except those hired to defend
another country than their own.
In reply Randolph had contended that there was no etymology
which would warrant his construction; that the term
was derived from a Latin word which signified wages, but
should be applied to such men (whether foreigners or otherwise)
it was properly expressive of a standing army who served for
wages and by contract, in contradistinction to a militia, or
patriotic army, in which each contributed his share to the
public safety and who received pay only when in actual service,
in order that the poorer citizen might perform his military
duty.
It certainly was no more than natural that those in any
way connected with the standing army of the United States
should object to being classified as ragamuffins and mercenaries.
Even in the infancy of the Republic both officers and
men took great pride in their branch of the public service and
resented any criticism, especially from a civilian. But from
such a boyish-looking civilian; and he to say ragamuffin and
mercenary!
At any rate, although the motion to repeal the act increasing
the standing army had failed of passage by a large majority,
on the evening after its defeat, Randolph and three of
his friends were attending a theater. The main play was "The
Stranger," and the after-piece "Bluebeard." In the course of
the evening a party of army officers, so Randolph charges,
entered the box where he was and two of them—Captain
McKnight and Lieutenant Reynolds—made themselves especially
obnoxious. With the explanation that Messrs. Van
Rensselaer, Christie and Macon were the friends of the
young Virginia congressman, we let Mr. Randolph make
these specific charges, which he laid before the President and
House of Representatives as evidences of an unconstitutional
interference with the privileges of congressional debate:
"Exclusive of repeated assertions as to what passed in
day, and a frequent repetition of some words which
fell from me during that discussion, in a manner so marked
as to leave no doubt on my mind, or that of Messrs. Van
Rensselaer, Christie or Macon, of their intention to insult
me personally; finding me determined to take no notice of
their words, they adopted a conduct which placed their designs
beyond every possibility of doubt, and which they
probably conceived to be calculated to force me into their
measures.
"Mr. Christie had left his seat between me and the partition
of the box; after which Mr. Van Rensselaer, who sat on
the other side of me, laid down, so as to occupy a more than
ordinary portion of room, and occasioned my removal to a
part of Mr. Christie's former seat, leaving a very small vacancy
between myself and the partition. Into this Lieutenant
Reynolds suddenly, and without requesting or giving
time for room to be made for him, dropped with such violence
as to bring our hips into contact. The shock was sufficient
to occasion a slight degree of pain on my part, and for
which it is probable he would in some degree have apologized,
had not the act been intentional. Just before I left the
box, one of them, I believe McKnight, gave me a sudden and
violent pull by the cape of my coat. Upon my demanding
who it was (this was the first instance in which I noticed
their proceedings) no answer was given. I then added that
I had long perceived an intention to insult me, and that the
person offering it was a puppy. No reply that I heard was
made."
These and other facts tending to the same point came before
The latter also took the testimony of the two army officers
most deeply implicated, one of whom said that from Mr.
Randolph's "youthful appearance and dress, I had no idea of
his being a member of the House of Representatives." The
upshot of the agitation was that when the resolutions presented
by the committee were considered by the House, that
body refused to accept their resolution "that sufficient cause
does not appear for the interposition of the House, on the
ground of a breach of its privileges."
But although Randolph's position had been sustained in
principle both by the President and the House of Representatives,
all further action was ruled out by the speaker;
and, although at first glance this might appear a trivial personal
matter which few men in the world would have so
magnified as Mr. Randolph, there was, after all, a large question
involved, and perhaps no one then serving in Congress
was so abundantly able to stir up a hornet's nest and sting
the public and public men into an attentive attitude as this
young firebrand from Virginia.
| John Randolph | |