The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1880-10-22
coN GRESsIONAL MANNERS,

AZ h1taA AAhtii w ~ " ANtANtNh W hAe1
English and other foreigners that the
manners displayed in the American Con
gress were rude, noisy, and sometimes
lisgraceful and there was time when
.his rcproach was not very unjust one.
Not twenty-five years ago, it was not
IN altogether unheard-of event for pis-
.ols to he drawn, not only in the Ma
sonal House Of Representatives, hut in
she more sedate and digniied Senate
Itself.
Amid the violence of the party war
ARE, just before the outbreak Of the
,ivil war, many scenes occurred in the
aalls Of Congress which were the re-
verse Of ereditable to the actors III them.
On one occasion, during debate III the
House, sharp alteration took place
between two members from Illinois.
One Of them had bitterly attacked
Stephen A. Douglas, then great party
eader; and the other, n devoted friend
II Douglas, had savagely retorted, say
ng, as lie closed, that the other had
i tsneaked like cur from the proof Of
his charges.
The first member made rush for his
antagonist; but, before he had reached
him, the champion Of Dongns had
,natched mp his overcoat and had drawn
pistol from his pocket, which he point
"a directly at his approaching enemy.
Members, however, rushed in between
them, and thus prevented what seemed
about to become bloody fray.
At another time, the venerable Thad-
deus Stevens was making u very bitter
speech, which 80 stung his political op-
ponents that twenty or thirty rushed to-
wards him, some Of them grasping wea-
pons in their pockets, while Stevens
friends rallied around him for his de-
fcnse and protection. At that moment
the two parties in the House seemed on
the very point Of general personal
conflict.
Such scenes, happily, never occur in
these more orderly aad civilized days
It is very rarely, indeed, that we hear
Of anything like a personal encounter
between members of Congress, either
inside or oHtside its halls.
The debates are often warm, and
sometimes descend into unbecoming
violence Of speech. Members twit each
other, and are sarcastic, and scold each
other, and use severe epithets /; but Com
gressional duels are obsolete, and Con-
pressional fisticuffs occur so seldom that
scarcely an instance can be remembered
for years.
In the House of Representatives.,
moreover, in which, being the more pop
ulous body, we should naturally expect
less decorum than in the Senate, there
are now much less noise and confusion
and obtrusive bad manners than existed
twenty years ago. Members who make
speeches, often very long and dull, are
listened to with more patience than
formerly; and it is seldom TINT the
House so far loses its Helf-control as to
deprive the Speaker of the power to
quell it at will.
1t is not too much to say, indeed, that
the manners Of our Congress of to-day
compare very favorably with those o.
the great deliberative bodies Of the Old
| World. In the English House Of Com
: mons, members still wear their hats
while the body is in session; an unpop
ular speakers voice is still coughet
t down, and drowned amid unseemly cat
t calls and the rude scraping Of feet; an'
8 even Prime Ministers, when they 50,
: unpleasant things, are interrupted am
: disturbed by loud vocal disapproval.
a The French Chamber of Deputie
: presents, if possible, q yet worse exam
. pie Of manners. Scarcely week passe
) that some violent scene does not occu
in it hall and sometimes these scene
s are really disgraceful in eminent and in
g telligent men.