THE VETO MESSAGE HISSED IN THE SENATE GALLERIES.
The Senate chamber, and its galleries, were crowded to their utmost
capacity to hear the reading of the veto message, and to witness
the proceedings to which it would give rise. The moment the reading
was finished hisses broke forth, followed by applauses. Both were
breaches of order, and contempts of the Senate; but the hisses most
so, as being contemptuous in themselves, independent of the rule
which forbids them, and as being also the causes of the applauses,
which are only contemptuous by virtue of the rule which forbids
manifestations of satisfaction as well as of dissatisfaction at
any thing done in the Senate: and because a right to applaud would
involve a right to judge; and, by implication, to condemn as well
as to approve. The President of the Senate heard a disturbance, and
gave the raps on the table to restore order: but Mr. Benton, who was
on the look-out for the outrage, was determined that it should not
go off with raps upon the table: he thought there ought to be raps
on the offenders, and immediately stood up and addressed the Chair.
"Mr. President, there were hisses here, at the reading of
the presidential message. I heard them, sir, and I feel
indignant that the American President shall be insulted. I
have been insulted by the hisses of ruffians in this gallery,
when opposing the old Bank of the United States. While I am
here, the President shall never be insulted by hisses in this
hall. I ask for no such thing as clearing the galleries, but
let those who have made the disturbance be pointed out to
the sergeant-at-arms, and be turned out from the galleries.
Those who have dared to insult our form of government--for in
insulting this message they have insulted the President and our
form of government--those ruffians who would not have dared to
insult the King, surrounded by his guard, have dared to insult
the American President in the American Senate; and I move that
the sergeant-at-arms be directed to take them into custody."
This motion of Mr. Benton was opposed by several senators, some
because they did not hear the disturbance, some because it was
balanced, being as much clapping as hissing; some because they were
in doubt about the power to punish for a contempt; and some from an
amiable indisposition to disturb the people who had disturbed the
Senate, and who had only yielded to an ebullition of feeling. This
sort of temporizing with an outrage to the Senate only stimulated
Mr. Benton to persevere in his motion; which he did until the object
was accomplished. The Register of Debates shows the following
remarks and replies; which are given here to show the value of
perseverance in such a case, and to do justice to the Senate which
protected itself:
"Mr. RIVES regretted that any disturbance had taken place. He
doubted not but the senator thought he heard it, but must say,
in all sincerity, he did not hear the hiss. At all events,
it was so slight and of short duration, that the majority of
the Senate scarcely heard it. He hoped that no proceedings of
this kind would take place, and that this manifestation of
disturbance, when so deep an interest was felt, and which was so
immediately quieted, would be passed over. The general opinion
of the senators around him was, that the honorable senator was
mistaken.
"Mr. BENTON. I am not mistaken--I am not.
"Mr. RIVES. He hoped they would pass it by, as one of those
little ebullitions of excitement which were unavoidable, and
which was not offered to insult this body, or the President of
the United States.
"Mr. BENTON heard the hisses, and heard them distinctly; if a
doubt was raised on it, he would bring the matter to a question
of fact, 'true or not true.' No man should doubt whether he
heard them or not. He came here this day prepared to see the
American President insulted by bank bullies; and he told his
friends that it had been done, and that they never could proceed
in action on a bank, when the American Senate would not be
insulted, either by hissing on one side, or clapping on the
other. He told them, if it was done, as sure as the American
President should be insulted this day, by bank ruffians, just
so sure he should rise in his place and move to have those
disturbers of the honor and dignity of the Senate brought to the
bar of the Senate. He would not move to clear the galleries, for
a thousand orderly people were there, who were not to be turned
out for the disturbance of a few ruffians. He would tell the
senator from Virginia that he (the senator) should hang no doubt
on his declaration; and if it were doubted, he would appeal to
senators near him. [Mr. WALKER. I will answer, most directly,
that I heard it, and I believe the same bully is going on now.]
A national bank (continued Mr. B.) is not, as yet, our master,
and shall not be; and he would undertake to vindicate the honor
of the Senate, from the outrages perpetrated on it by the
myrmidons of a national bank. Were the slaves of a national bank
to have the privilege of insulting the Senate, just as often
as a vote passed contrary to their wishes? It was an audacity
that must be checked--and checked before they went with arms in
their hands to fire on those who gave votes contrary to their
wishes, or assassinate them on their way home. He put the whole
at defiance--the entire bank, and its myrmidons.
"Mr. PRESTON said if any thing had occurred in the gallery out
of order, it should be strictly inquired into and punished.
He himself did not hear the manifestations of disapprobation,
alluded to by the senators on the other side; but it was
sufficient for him that the senators heard it, or supposed
that they heard it. [Mr. BENTON. We did not _suppose_ we heard
it; we knew it.] In this case (continued Mr. P.), a formal
investigation should take place. It was a contempt of the
Senate, and, as a member of the Senate, he desired to see an
investigation--to see the charge fixed on some person, and if
properly sustained, to see punishment awarded. Manifestations of
praise or censure were eminently wrong, and eminently dangerous;
and it was due to every member of the Senate that they should
preserve the dignity of the body by checking it. He hoped,
therefore, if a formal motion was made, it would be discovered
who had caused the disturbance, and that they would be properly
punished.
"Mr. BUCHANAN said this was a very solemn and momentous
occasion, which would form a crisis, perhaps, in the politics
of the country; and he should hope, as he believed that every
American citizen present in the galleries would feel the
importance of this crisis, and feel deeply sensible of the
high character to which every man, blessed with birth in this
free country, should aim. He heard, distinctly heard, the hiss
referred to by the senator from Missouri [Mr. BENTON], but he
was bound to say it was not loud and prolonged, but was arrested
in a moment, he believed partly from the senator rising, and
partly from the good sense and good feeling of the people in the
galleries. Under these circumstances, as it only commenced and
did not proceed, if he had the power of persuasion, he would ask
the senator from Missouri to withdraw his motion.
"[Mr. BENTON. I never will, so help me God.]
"He thought it better, far better, that they proceed to the
important business before them, under the consideration that
they should not be disturbed hereafter; and if they were, he
would go as far as the senator from Missouri in immediately
arresting it. He would much rather go on with the business in
hand.
"Mr. LINN reminded the Senate that when the bank bill had passed
the Senate there was a loud manifestation of approbation in
the gallery, of which no notice was taken. He believed on the
present occasion there was approbation as well as hisses; but
both were instantly suppressed. He had distinctly heard both.
No doubt it was the promptness with which his colleague had got
up to check the disturbance, which had prevented it from going
further. He had no doubt some law ought to be passed making it
punishable to commit any outrage of this kind on either House of
Congress.
"Mr. MERRICK thought with the senator from Pennsylvania, that
this was a very solemn occasion. There had been tokens of
assent and dissent. The President of the Senate at the moment
rapped very hard till order was restored. The disorder was but
momentary. He trusted some allowance would be made for the
excitement so natural on the occasion.
"Mr. KING suggested the difficulty that might arise out of
pursuing the matter further. He had witnessed something of the
kind once before, and when the offender was brought to the bar,
great embarrassment was created by not knowing how to get rid
of him. He thought it would be better to pass over the matter
and proceed to the consideration of the message, or to the
appointment of a time for its consideration.
"The CHAIR explained that having heard some noise, without
considering whether it was approbation or disapprobation, he had
called the Senate to order; but could not say that he had or had
not heard hisses.
"Mr. RIVES explained that he did not mean to say the senator
from Missouri did not hear the hisses, but that he himself did
not hear them, and he believed many gentlemen around him did not
hear any. But as the senator from Missouri had avowedly come
prepared to hear them, no doubt he did, more sensitively than
others. He would ask the senator to be satisfied with the crush
which the mother of monsters had got, and not to bear too hard
on the solitary bank ruffian, to use his own expression, who had
disapproved of the monster's fate. He hoped the senator would
withdraw the motion.
"Mr. LINN observed that the senator from Virginia, by his own
remarks, doubting that there were any hisses, had forced the
senator from Missouri to persist in having the proof. However,
he now understood that point was settled; and the object being
accomplished, he hoped his colleague would withdraw the motion.
"Mr. PRESTON again expressed his concurrence in the propriety of
the motion, and hoped effectual steps would be taken to prevent
the recurrence of such a scene.
"Mr. ALLEN made some appropriate remarks, and concluded by
stating that he understood the offender was in custody, and
expressed his sorrow for having done what he was not at the
time aware was an offence; as, therefore, all the ends had been
accomplished which his friend had in view when he refused to
withdraw his motion, he hoped he would now withdraw it.
"Mr. WALKER said, when the senator from Missouri [Mr. BENTON]
pledged himself not to withdraw his motion to arrest the
individual who had insulted the Senate and the country by
hissing the message of the President of the United States,
that pledge arose from the doubt expressed by the senator from
Virginia [Mr. RIVES] whether the hissing had taken place. That
doubt was now solved. When the senator from Missouri appealed to
his friends as to the truth of the fact stated by him, he [Mr.
WALKER] had risen, and pointed to that portion of the gallery
from which the hissing proceeded. Our assistant Sergeant-at-Arms
had proceeded to that quarter of the gallery designated by him
[Mr. W.], and this officer had now in his possession one of the
offenders, who acknowledged his indecent conduct, and who was
prepared to point out many of those who had joined him. The
object of the senator was, therefore, now accomplished; the
fact of the indecorum was established, and the offender, as
moved by the senator from Missouri, was now in custody. This,
Mr. W. hoped, would be sufficient punishment, especially as
Mr. W. understood the offender expressed his penitence for the
act, as one of sudden impulse. As, then, the formal trial of
this individual would occupy much time, Mr. W. hoped the matter
would be dropped here, and let us proceed, as required by the
Constitution, to consider the message of the President returning
the bank bill, with his objections. This message, Mr. W. said,
he regarded as the most important which ever emanated from an
American President, and under circumstances the most solemn and
imposing. The President, in perfect and glorious consistency
with a long life of usefulness and honor, has placed his veto
upon the charter of a National Bank, and, Mr. W. said, his
heart was too full of gratitude to the Giver of all good for
this salvation of the country, and rescue of the Constitution,
to engage in the business of inflicting punishment upon an
individual, said to be respectable, and who had in part atoned
for his offence by the expression of his repentance. Let him go,
then, and sin no more, and let us proceed to the consideration
of that Veto Message, which he, Mr. W. had confidently predicted
at the very commencement of this session, and recorded that
opinion at its date in the journals of the day. Many then
doubted the correctness of this prediction, but, he, Mr. W.
whilst he stated at the time that he was not authorized to speak
for the President of the United States, based his conviction
upon his knowledge of Mr. TYLER as a man and a senator, and upon
his long and consistent opposition to the creation of any such
bank, as was now proposed to be established.
"Mr. BENTON said he had been informed by one of the officers
of the Senate [Mr. BEALE] that one of the persons who made the
disorder in the gallery had been seized by him, and was now
in custody and in the room of the Sergeant-at-Arms. This the
officers had very properly done of their own motion, and without
waiting for the Senate's order. They had done their duty, and
his motion had thus been executed. His motion was to seize the
disorderly, and bring them to the bar of the Senate. One had
been seized; he was in custody in an adjoining room; and if he
was still acting contemptuously to the Senate, he should move
to bring him to the bar; but that was not the case. He was
penitent and contrite. He expressed his sorrow for what he had
done, and said he had acted without ill design, and from no
feelings of contempt to the President or Senate. Under these
circumstances, all was accomplished that his motion intended.
The man is in custody and repentant. This is sufficient. Let him
be discharged, and there is an end of the affair. His motion
now was that the President direct him to be discharged. Mr. B.
said he had acted from reflection, and not from impulse, in
this whole affair. He expected the President to be insulted:
it was incident to the legislation on national bank charters.
When they were on the carpet, the Senate, the President, and
the American people must all be insulted if the bank myrmidons
are disappointed. He told his family before he left home, that
the Senate and the President would be insulted by hisses in
the gallery this day, and that he would not let it pass--that
it would be an insult, not merely to the President and Senate,
but to the whole American people, and to their form of
government--and that it should not pass. He came here determined
to nip this business in the bud--and to prevent an insult to
the President in this chamber from being made a precedent for
it elsewhere. We all know the insolence of the national bank
party--we know the insolence of their myrmidons--we know that
President Tyler, who has signed this veto message, is subject
to their insults--beginning here, and following him wherever he
goes. He [Mr. B.] was determined to protect him here, and, in
doing so, to set the example which would be elsewhere followed.
He repeated: an insult to the President for an official act,
was not an insult to the man, but to the whole American people,
and to their form of government. Would these bank myrmidons
insult a king, surrounded by his guards? Not at all. Then they
should not insult an American President with impunity whenever
he was present. In the Senate or out of it, he would defend
the President from personal outrage and indignity. As to the
numerous and respectable auditory now present, his motion did
not reach them. He had not moved to clear the galleries; for
that would send out the respectable audience, who had conducted
themselves with propriety. The rule of order was "_to clear the
galleries_;" but he had purposely avoided that motion, because
the disorder came from a few, and the respectable part of the
audience ought not to suffer for an offence in which they had
no share. Mr. B. said the man being in custody, his motion was
executed and superseded; its object was accomplished, and, he
being contrite, he would move to discharge him.
"The President of the Senate ordered him to be discharged."