patriotism, justice, economy, merged in those of romantic folly and an all-sacrificing gallantry; the lute and harp taking precedence of the trumpet and drum; and this House, once the seat of grand debate, and the oracle of a nation's wisdom, become the arena of an exhibition, compared with which, the tournament, the bull-fight, and even the encounters of pugilists, would be rational and humane.

Far be it from me, sir, to represent the ladies as the cause, or any thing more than the occasion, of all this. The fault would attach not to the influence, but to the influenced. If the moon's pure and chaste beam find out every weak part in a human head, the consequent lunacy is to be charged not upon the moon, but upon the head.

Nevertheless, as it is much more easy to prevent than to cure, I beg to give notice that, if this resolution pass, to prevent these evil consequences, I shall bring in a bill providing that none but married gentlemen, or bachelors above the age of seventy, shall be eligible to seats in this House.

Speaker. The gentleman from Illinois has the floor.

Fourteenth Speaker. I shall oppose this motion, not from individual fear, as some gentlemen have done, nor, I pledge myself, from any party wish to prevent the friends of the administration from reaping deserved popularity, by passing a welldevised measure, if this were one; but from a deliberate conviction that the discipline of this House -ay, and the very constitution of this House- are at stake. Sir, we are obliged at times to enter into secret sessions. Are we to allow the ladies to remain on such occasions, or is the Speaker to politely request them to quit the hall? Sir, he may request them, but will they go when they are requested? Will not feminine curiosity be an overpowering inducement to them to stay, and to learn what secret business the House can have in hand? And then, sir, if under an oath of secrecy we allow them to remain, who is so credulous as to believe that a hundred women would keep an oath, which (Cries of order!-order! shame! &c.)

I am not to be put down, sir, by the hootings of those whose sharpest rhetoric is a howl of dissent, and whose most powerful retort is a hiss. I maintain it, the ladies are not to be trusted with the business of our secret sessions. The ladies are very well in their places, but the floor of this House is not their place. I shall vote against the resolution. (Several members try to get the floor.)

Speaker. The gentleman from Kentucky.

Fifteenth Speaker. Mr. Speaker, however men of sense

ON THE ADMISSION OF LADIES.

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and feeling may differ as to the propriety and expediency of the present resolution, they must be all agreed as to the impropriety and inexpediency of making this discussion a medium of depreciating and vilifying a sex which can not be too highly appreciated and honored; a sex to which we are under such unspeakable obligations; to which we owe not only existence, but all that adorns and endears existence a sex in whose exaltation we are exalted, and in whose degradation we must be still more deeply degraded.

I have heard of silly boys, who seemed to think the first and best proof of incipient manhood was to sneer at woman; but I certainly did not expect to find a folly, unworthy of a schoolboy, sanctioned by the authority of a member of this House. The honorable gentleman who remarked that ladies were all very well in their places, in a sneering tone, which implied that he thought meanly of those places, must surely have forgotten the period of his boyhood; the days when, after receiving a thousand insults, after being elbowed off by one, pushed away by a second, and made game of by a third, he came home to his mother, and found that his own fireside was the happiest place on earth to him; when his mother did what no one else would have condescended to do, conversed with him, treated him like a rational being; and, by so doing, contributed to make him one. The honorable member surely forgot all this, forgot that mothers are women, when he spoke as if the sex were of an inferior order, and required to be kept in their places. The only doubt the only reasonable doubt is, whether this House is worthy of ladies, not whether they are worthy of it; whether their entrance upon this floor would not be a descent, rather than an ascent; whether their duties are not of too elevated and sacred a character, and their time too valuable, to allow of their honoring us with their presence in this House.

my

Speaker. The gentleman from California.

Sixteenth Speaker. Sir, whilst I cordially sympathize with honorable friend's glowing testimony to the merits of woman (a testimony, sir, which does equal honor to his head and to his heart-ay, sir, to his heart and to his head), I yet do not see, sir, that those merits supply any reason for passing the present resolution. I will yield to no man, sir, in admiration, respect, ay, sir, affection, for the ladies.

AFFECTION,

"Old as I am, for ladies' love unfit,

The power of beauty I remember yet."

Yet, sir, surely I may desire not to be diverted, sir, by the pres

ence of ladies, sir, in a house of business, -a character which I hope this House, sir, will ever maintain, sir,—but a character, sir, which the adoption of this resolution, sir, must inevitably destroy. Why, sir, we shall have for the order of the dayflirtations! Flirtations, sir! I repeat it, sir, flirtations! Gentlemen will be chatting small talk, sir, when they ought to be studying the appropriation bill. They will be ogling when they ought to be meditating questions of state-questions of state, sir. They will be sighing like a pavior, sir, when they ought to be working like a beaver like a beaver, sir. Sir, the resolution would convert this hall into a boudoir.* Gentlemen would have to come with bouquets † in their hands. It will never do, sir

the people, sir, would never stand it. Had I fifty votes, I would throw them all against a resolution so fraught with danger.

Speaker. The gentleman from New York.

Seventeenth Speaker. After the- the extraordinary— speech of the honorable gentleman who spoke that is, who addressed the House-last-I feel called upon to speak — that is, to address this House - also. Sir, I feel that my constituents will expect that I will expect that I-will expect that I — (Cries of "Will expect that you will sit down!" "What will they expect?" etc., accompanied with coughing and scrapings of feet.) Sir, this interruption is as ungentlemanly as it is-(Ugh! ugh! ugh!) Sir, the conduct of honorable members - (Ugh! ugh! ugh!) Sir, what did my constituents send me here for what did they send me here for, sir? — (Cries of “ Heaven only knows!" 66 Ay, that's a puzzler! "Who can tell?" etc.) — I do not mean to say, sir, that any thing I can say will have any effect upon the House-(Cries of " Certainly not I don't think it will," etc.-ugh! ugh! ugh!)—or that it will have any thing to do with the matter in hand. (A general coughing and scraping of feet, during which the honorable member sits down.)

Speaker. Order, gentlemen! order! The member from Pennsylvania.

Eighteenth Speaker. (Oldest member) Sir, during the thirtyfive years that I have had the honor of a seat in this House during the whole course of my congressional experience, in office or out of office- I have never witnessed an exhibition more unbecoming, more unparliamentary, more inconsistent with the spirit of our institutions, than that which has just transpired. Sir, I remember once secing in the House of Commons the celebrated Mr. Burke coughed down and prevented from speaking; but, sir, it remained for gentlemen now present to introduce into an Ameri+ Pronounced boo-kays'.

* Pronounced boo-dwar'.

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can Congress this outrage upon good manners and fair dealing. Allow me to express my surprise, that the Chair did not more promptly rebuke the impertinence - that he did not at once

come to the relief of the insulted member.

Speaker. If the gentleman will allow me, I will explain. I was at the moment arranging business with the Clerk, and did not fully comprehend the nature of the disturbance.

Eighteenth Speaker. Sir, every member of this House has the right to be heard; and in silencing any member, you tell his constituents that their rights are scorned and made light of on this floor.

Sir, one word more. During the disgraceful altercation which roused members to their feet, a short time since, I saw one gentleman -gentleman, did I say?—well, let it passI saw one gentleman draw a revolver, and another a bowie-knife. It strikes me, sir, that these arguments, though no doubt very potent, are hardly the kind of reasoning for a deliberative assembly. Shame on the passions that require such appeals, and shame on those who resort to them! I beheld two grown men, sir, shaking their fists at each other, their countenances distorted with rage, and they losing, in their im'becile anger, all sense of the presence in which they stood, all reverence for parliamentary rules, all consideration for the supreme legislative hall of the republicfor the popular majesty as here represented. Sir, such scenes would disgrace a couple of bullies at a prize-fight. I see the gentlemen chafing under my rebuke; but, sir, they know in their hearts it is just, and I will not retract a single word.

Fifth Speaker. (Angrily.) The gentleman's age is his shield. Eighteenth Speaker. Well, sir, I am glad that there is any shield, which that gentleman respects, against ruffianism. Sir, it Idid not need his reminder to make me aware that I am in the vale of years. Sir, my age and increasing infirmities (here the member coughs asthmatically) will soon oblige me to retire from my position in this House; but, sir, during the brief remainder of my stay here, I will, at all hazards, and while I have breath to speak, stand up for the decencies of debate, and for the rights of every member, however humble.

The Opener. Sir, before the question is put, I beg to make a few observations in reply to the objections which have been brought against my resolution, and under cover of my resolution against the ladies themselves. Some of these objections were evidently feigned - yes, sir, feigned. The facetious gentleman who was apprehensive that the Speaker would have no eyes for members of this House, while ladies were present

and the equally facetious gentleman who was apprehensive that the ladies, instead of listening to speeches, would be playing off their arts of conquest, having had the full benefit of their jests, will, I am persuaded, give me their votes.

One honorable member, with equal sagacity and learning, has discovered that because the Furies were women, women are furies. Unhappy man! whose disordered fancy, or guilty conscience, has invested even beauty with deformity, and armed I even gentleness with terrors. He need not fear furies from with

out he carries them within.

Another with equal originality has complimented the ladies with being "Goddesses of Discord!" I will accept part of the compliment. I will take the divinity, and my friend may keep the discord.

An honorable and gallant colonel spoke under a highly nervous apprehension that the presence of ladies would rob him of the power of speaking. Let me assure him that his apprehension is purely nervous. The ladies appear formidable only at a distance. A nearer acquaintance with them will dispel all his fears. They are specially indulgent to modest merit.

Allow me to trespass a few moments longer upon your attention. You have been already reminded of the claims which that sex derives from the maternal relation. I beg to remind you of the less strong-yet very strong - claims it derives from another relation, and of the still stronger from a third. Who can enumerate a brother's obligations to a sister? - her pure, disinterested affection - her softening, refining influence, richly repaying what she receives in protection, fashioning and qualifying the youth for a still dearer relation. Mark a youth of coarse, rugged feelings, temper, and manners, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred you will find he has no sister.

In regard to the conjugal relation, I can speak only from observation and hearsay; but so far as these enable me to judge, I do not hesitate to pronounce it the purest and most ennobling source of happiness to man.

One word more, Mr. Speaker, and I have done. The members who are opposed to me upon this question will remember that lists of the division will be printed; that bright eyes will be upon them, and that the least they can expect from the ladies will be a sentence of perpetual banishment from their society, of which society they will, by this evening's vote, have pronounced themselves unworthy.

Speaker. Is the House now ready for the question? Gentlemen in favor of the resolution will say ay. (A clamorous and