The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1880-10-21

VOL. X.--NO. s..
CONGRESSIONAL MANNERS.

CON GRESSIONAL MANNERS.
1t used often to be q reproach by the
English and other foreigners that the
manners displayed in the American Con- .,
5ress were rude, noisy, and sometimes
ilsgraceful and there was time when
'his reproach was not very unjust one.
Not twenty-five years ago, it wns not
IN altogether unheard-of event for pis-
:ols to be drawn, not only in the Ma
sonal House of Representatives, but in
;he more sedate and digniiied Senate
Itself.
Amid the violence of the party war
are, just before the outbreak of the
civil war, many scenes occurred in the
halls of Congress which were the re-
verse of creditable to the actors in them.
On one occasion, during q debate in the
House, sharp altercation took place
between two members from Illinois.
One of them had bitterly attacked
Stephen A. Douglas, then great party
leader and the other, q devoted friend
of Douglas, had savagely retorted, say;
,ng, as he closed, that the other had
"sncaked like cur from tho proof of
his charges"
The first member made rush for his
antagonist but, before he had reached
him; the champion of Douglas hnd
snatched up his overcoat and had drawn
| a pistolrfrom his pocket, which ho point
ed directlNlati, his approaching enemy.
Members, however, rushed in between
them, and thus prevented what seemed
about to become n bloody fray.
At another time, the venerable Thad-
deus Stevens was making very bitter
Bpeech, which 80 stung his political op-
ponents that twenty or thirty rushed to-
wards him, some of them grasping wen-
J fens in their pockets, while Stevens
friends rallied around him for his de-
tense and protection. At that moment
I.the two parties in the House seemed ON
the very point of "a general personal
conflict. ,-.......... .. .
/ Such scenes, happily, never occur in
these more orderly aad civilized days,
1t is very rarely, indeed, that we hear
Of anything like personal encounter
between members of Congress, either
inside or outside its halls.
Il The debates are often warm, and
sometimes descend into unbecoming
violence Of speech. Members twit each
other, and are sarcastic, and scold each
other, end use severe epithets !; but Con
gressional duels are obsolete, and Con-
gressional fisticuffs occur 80 seldom that
scarcely an instance can be remembered
FOR years. -... .... r.... .
! 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 that the
House SO far loses its self-control as to
deprive the Speaker OF the power to
quell it at will. ,.
It is not too much to say, indeed, that
the manners of our Congress of to-day
compare very favorabiy with those of
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 coughed
down, and drowned amid unseemly cat
calls and the rude scraping of feet; and
even Prime Ministers, when they say
unpleasant things, are interrupted and
disturbed by loud vocal disapproval.
The French Chamber Of Deputies
presents, if possible, q yet worse exam.
pie Of manners. Scarcely week passes
that some violent scene does not occur
in it hall and sometimes these scenes
are really disgraceful in eminent and in
telligent men, - a...
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BAT shooting is a peculiar feature of