vulsion, urge on us now with tenfold force, at a moment when all the nations of the earth are torn up from their deep foundations--and this blessed Constitution stands as the only sheltering rock in whose broad shadow, far stretching over the dark waters, their scattered fragments may come together and be re-formed. If the sentiment of brotherly forbearance, if a generous pride in the glory and prosperity of our common country do not prevail at this crisis, we shall then hang our heads in sorrow, mourn over the departed spirit of our fathers, and look with fearful forebodings on that dark demon, that has come to usurp its place--the mad spirit of fanaticism, engendered in ambition and fostered by the lust of plunder and dominion.

CHAPTER XIII.

COMPROMISE BILL SMUGGLED THROUGH THE HOUSE.

MR. RANDOLPH'S opposition to the Missouri Bill, with the obnoxious clause in it prohibiting slavery beyond a certain line, was very decided. In common with the southern members, he regarded the whole proceeding as unconstitutional-destructive of the vital interests of the South-a dangerous precedent, that might be used for still greater encroachments hereafter-and would listen to no compromise on the subject. One night, when the House was engaged in debating the great question, and there seemed but a faint prospect of its adjustment, Mr. Randolph, it is said, accosted Mr. Clay, the Speaker of the House, who, for a moment, was absent from the chair, and said to him," Mr. Speaker, I wish you would quit the chair, and leave the House; I will follow you to Kentucky, or any where else." Mr. Randolph was told, in reply, that his proposition was a very serious one; and that if he would meet Mr. Clay the next morning, in the Speaker's room, the latter would converse with him fully on the whole subject. The interview accordingly took place, and the parties had a long conversation, relating, principally, to the propriety of a compromise. Mr. Randolph was decidedly opposed to any compromise, and Mr. Clay was in favor of acceding to one, if it could be

done without any sacrifice of principle. After the termination of this interview, they never exchanged salutations, or spoke to each other again, during the session. We do not vouch for the truth of this statement; but it is very certain, that Mr. Randolph spoke in no measured terms of the course of the Speaker of the House (Mr. Clay) on the subject of the compromise, and charged him with taking advantage of his office, and conniving, if not actually aiding, in smuggling the bill through the House, contrary to the rules of proceeding, thereby depriving him and other members of their constitutional right to a final vote, on a motion for reconsideration, which the Speaker knew Mr. Randolph was about to make.

His own account of that transaction is so graphic, so characteristic of the man, that we here give it to the reader entire.

"On the night that that bill had its last vote in the House, my colleague, W. S. Archer, was a new member. I declared, publicly and openly, that in case that bill should pass, with the amendment then proposed, unless another amendment should succeed-which did not succeed-I declared, conditionally, that I should move for a reconsideration of the vote. Myself and my colleague, who, with another gentleman, whom I shall not refer to, though near me (Mr. Macon), were the only persons whom I have heard of, belonging to the Southern interest, who determined to have no compromise at all on this subject. They determined to cavil on the ninetieth part of a hair, in a matter of sheer right, touching the dearest interests, the life-blood of the Southern States. The House was exhausted; a gentleman fainted in front of the chair, and tumbled on the ground. In this state of things, my colleague asked whether it would not do as well to put off the motion till to-morrow (for he was in ill health and much fatigued)? I said I could not agree to that, till I had taken the opinion of the court, in the last resort. After that question had eventuated, as I foresaw it might, I rose in my place, and asked of the Speaker whether it was in order to move a reconsideration of the vote. He said that it was. Sir, I am stating facts of more importance to the civil history of this country than the battle which took place not far from this. He said it was. I then asked him (to relieve my colleague, who had just taken his seat for the first time that session), whether it would be in order to move the reconsideration of the vote, on the next day? He said something to this effect: Surely the gentleman knows the rules of the House too well not to know that it will be in order at any time during the sitting, tomorrow or the next day. I replied, I thought I did; but I wanted to make assurance doubly sure, to have the opinion of the tribunal,

in the last resort. I then agreed-to accommodate my colleague, in the state of exhaustion in which the House then was-I agreed to suspend my motion for a reconsideration, and we adjourned. The next morning, before either House met, I learned- -no matter howno matter from whom, or for what consideration-that it was in contemplation that this clock (Senate chamber), which is hardly ever in order, and the clock in the other House, which is not in a better condition, should somehow disagree; that the Speaker should not take his seat in the House till the President had taken his seat here; and then, that when I went into the House to make my motion, I was to be told that the Chair regretted very much that the clerk had gone off with the bill; that it was not in their possession, and the case was irreparable; and yet I recollect very well, when we applied to the Secretary of State for a parchment roll of an act which had not been duly enrolled, two sections were left out by the carelessness of the clerks and of the committee of enrollment. That act was, by the House of Representatives, in which it originated, procured from the archives of the Department of State, and put on the statute books, as it passed-not as it was on the roll-and enrolled anew. It was the act for the relief of the captors of the Mirboha and Missonda. As soon as I understood this, sir, I went to the Speaker myself, and told him that I must have my vote for reconsideration that day.

"I can only say that I inferred-not from what he told me—that my information was correct. I came off immediately to this House (Senate.) It wanted about twenty minutes of the time when the Senate was to meet. I saw that most respectable man whom we have just lost, and begged to speak with him in private. We retired to a committee room, and to prevent intrusion we locked the door. I told him of the conspiracy laid to defeat me of my constitutional right to move a reconsideration, (though I think it a dangerous rule, and always voted against its being put on the rules at all, believing that, to prevent tampering and collusion, the vote to reconsider ought to be taken instantly, yet, sir, as it was then, I had a right to make the motion.) I told this gentleman that he might, by taking the chair of the Senate sooner than the true time, lend himself unconsciously to this conspiracy against my constitutional rights as a member of the other House from the State of Virginia. I spoke, sir, to a man of honor and a gentleman, and it is unnecessary to say that he did not take the chair till the proper hour arrived. As soon as that hour arrived, we left the committee room together. I went on to the House of Representatives, and found them in session, and the clerk reading the journal, meanwhile there had been runners through the long passage, which was then made of plank, I think, between the two Houses, hunting for Mr. Gaillard. Where is he? He is not to be found. The House of Representatives having organized itself,

when I came in from the door of the Senate, I found the clerk reading the journal; the moment after he had finished it I made the motion, and was seconded by my colleague, Mr. Archer, to whom I could appeal-not that my testimony wants evidence. I should like to see the man who would question it on a matter of fact. This fact is well remembered; a lady would as soon forget her wedding day as I forget this. The motion to reconsider was opposed; it was a debateable question, and the Speaker stated something this way-that it was not for him to give any orders; the Clerk knew his duty.' The Clerk went more than once-my impression is, that he went more than twice. I could take my oath, and so, I believe, could Mr. Archer, that he made two efforts, and came back under my eye, like a mouse under the eye of a cat, with the engrossed bill in his hand. His bread was at stake. At last he, with that pace, and countenance, and manner, which only conscious guilt can inspire, went off, his poverty, not his will consenting; and before the debate was finished, back he comes with the bill, from the Senate, which had then become a law, before it was decided whether they would reconsider it at my motion or not, which motion nailed the bill to the table until it should have been disposed of. Notorious as these facts are, so anxious was one side of that House to cover up their defection; such was the anxiety of the other to get Missouri in on any conditions, that this thing was hushed up, just as the suspension of the Habeas Corpus was hushed up.

"The bill was passed through the forms of law. Missouri was admitted into the Union contrary to the Constitution, as much so as if I had voted the other way in the first instance, and the Speaker had ordered the Clerk to put my name with the ayes in the journal when I had voted no-because, sir, agreeably to the Constitution of the United States every member has a right to his vote, under the forms of the House, whether these forms are wise or foolish; and my colleague and myself were ousted out of our right to reconsider, for which I would not have taken all the land within the State of Missouri."

Mr. Randolph was greatly excited during the agitation of the Missouri question; he did not sleep of nights; and his energetic, quick temper, exasperated by the scenes around him, inflamed by long watching and anxiety, gave a peculiar force and piquancy to all he said. His indignation was particularly levelled at Mr. Clay, not that he had any personal dislike to that gentleman, apart from his political course, but as he was the leader of the spurious Republican party then in the ascendent, Mr. Randolph thought him entitled to the animadversions that were aimed at the party itself, particularly

as he was not only their leader, but their chief spokesman, setting forth on all occasions, and embellishing their doctrines by his copious and ornate style of oratory.

Old minority men, turned courtiers, and whitewashed Federalists, composed the self-styled Republican party, when in truth they did not possess the first principle-the doctrine of State rights, that should characterize a party bearing that title. Mr. Clay's course on the bank in 1811, and again in 1816, his course on internal improvements, and his conduct in regard to "the compromise," as it was understood by all strict constructionists, eminently fitted him for the leadership of such a mongrel party; and surely he was not spared in the animadversions of those who perceived the old leaven of Federalism penetrating the whole mass under the shallow disguise of a new

name.

In the following strictures Mr. Randolph is particularly pointed and severe.

The

"The anniversary of Washington's birth-day (says he, in a letter to Dr. Brockenbrough, Feb. 23d, 1820) will be a memorable day in the history of my life, if indeed any history shall be attached to it. Yesterday, I spoke four hours and a half to as attentive an audience as ever listened to a public speaker. Every eye was riveted upon me, save one, and that was sedulously and affectedly turned away. ears, however, were drinking up the words as those of the royal Dane imbibed "the juice of cursed heberon," though not, like his, unconscious of the leprous distilment; as I could plainly perceive by the play of the muscles of the face, and the coming and going of the color, and the petty agitation of the whole man, like the affected fidget and flirt of the fan whereby a veteran coquette endeavors to hide her chagrin from the spectators of her mortification.

"This person was no other than Mr. Speaker himself, the only man in the House to whose attention I had a right. He left the chair, called Cobb to it, paced the lobby at the back of it in great agitation, resumed, read MSS., newspapers, printed documents on the table (ie affected to read them), beckoned the attendants, took snuff, looked at his shoe-buckles, at his ruffles, towards the other side of the House-every where but at me. I had mentioned to him as delicately as I could, that being unable to catch his eye, I had been obliged (against my will, and what I thought the rule of order and decorum in debate) to look elsewhere for support. This apology I expected would call him to a sense of what was due to himself and his station, as well as to me; but it had none effect. At last, when you might have heard a pin drop upon the carpet, he beckoned one