PAIRING OFF.
At this time, and in the House of Representatives, was exhibited
for the first time, the spectacle of members "_pairing off_," as
the phrase was; that is to say, two members of opposite political
parties agreeing to absent themselves from the duties of the House,
without the consent of the House, and without deducting their per
diem pay during the time of such voluntary absence. Such agreements
were a clear breach of the rules of the House, a disregard of
the constitution, and a practice open to the grossest abuses. An
instance of the kind was avowed on the floor by one of the parties
to the agreement, by giving as a reason for not voting that he had
"_paired off_" with another member, whose affairs required him to
go home. It was a strange annunciation, and called for rebuke; and
there was a member present who had the spirit to administer it; and
from whom it came with the greatest propriety on account of his age
and dignity, and perfect attention to all his duties as a member,
both in his attendance in the House and in the committee rooms.
That member was Mr. John Quincy Adams, who immediately proposed
to the House the adoption of this resolution: "Resolved, that the
practice first openly avowed at the present session of Congress,
of pairing off, involves, on the part of the members resorting to
it, the violation of the constitution of the United States, of an
express rule of this House, and of the duties of both parties in
the transaction to their immediate constituents, to this House, and
to their country." This resolve was placed on the calendar to take
its turn, but not being reached during the session, was not voted
upon. That was the first instance of this reprehensible practice,
fifty years after the government had gone into operation; but since
then it has become common, and even inveterate, and is carried to
great length. Members pair off, and do as they please--either remain
in the city, refusing to attend to any duty, or go off together to
neighboring cities; or separate; one staying and one going; and the
one that remains sometimes standing up in his place, and telling
the Speaker of the House that he had paired off; and so refusing to
vote. There is no justification for such conduct, and it becomes
a facile way for shirking duty, and evading responsibility. If
a member is under a necessity to go away the rules of the House
require him to ask leave; and the journals of the early Congresses
are full of such applications. If he is compelled to go, it is his
misfortune, and should not be communicated to another. This writer
had never seen an instance of it in the Senate during his thirty
years of service there; but the practice has since penetrated that
body; and "pairing off" has become as common in that House as in the
other, in proportion to its numbers, and with an aggravation of the
evil, as the absence of a senator is a loss to his State of half its
weight. As a consequence, the two Houses are habitually found voting
with deficient numbers--often to the extent of a third--often with a
bare quorum.
In the first age of the government no member absented himself from
the service of the House to which he belonged without first asking,
and obtaining its leave; or, if called off suddenly, a colleague was
engaged to state the circumstance to the House, and ask the leave.
In the journals of the two Houses, for the first thirty years of
the government, there is, in the index, a regular head for "absent
without leave;" and, turning to the indicated page, every such name
will be seen. That head in the index has disappeared in later
times. I recollect no instance of leave asked since the last of the
early members--the Macons, Randolphs, Rufus Kings, Samuel Smiths,
and John Taylors of Caroline--disappeared from the halls of Congress.