Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 November 1859 — John Randolph on Doughfaces. [ARTICLE]

John Randolph on Do ughfaces.

The Alton, (Illinois.) Courier of last week says: “John Randolph, of Roanoak, added the above word to our’language. It had never been heard till uttered by him on the floor of Congress; but the term i.s one of those expressive words which once uttered, die only with the language into which it becomes incorporated. “Its origin was in this wise: One day a member of Congress from one of the Eastern States made a.speech, in which, to ingratiate himself with the Southern Delegation, he said much in favor of slavery, going further in the praise of the institution than Southerners were accustomed to do. At that period. the prominent men of the South took the same ground as Jefferson. In listening to the Nori ern advocate of Slavery, there was merely a humorous smile playing around the !i ps of the other members from t lie South, but the whole countenance of John Randolph was a perfect study, so expressive it i was of indignation, mingled with unutterable scorn and contempt. He sat uneasy in his seat, changing his posture continually. Randolph was at that day in the full meridian of his powers, mental and physical. Those who were thoroughly acquainted with the tall, eccentric Virginian, knew by his , looks and manner, that a storm was.gather- . ing which would launch a thunderbolt at the head of the favor-seeker Slavery advocate from the North. When the latter concluded liis speech and sat down, he cast a very complacent glance around iipon the Southern members, confident that his offering at the shrine of Slavery must have won all their hearts.

“No sooner was lie seated than his ‘eci'Z ywious' in the shape of John Randolph, of Roanoak, slowly and deliberately-rose to his feet. His thin lips were tightly compressed, his Indian-like eyes glistened, and his lower- . ing brow was dark as midnight. He made the usual complimentary address of ‘Jfr. Speaker,’’ but his face was not turned towards the chair. His eyes were intensely riveted upon iiis victim. For a brief moment there was a pause, ominous as that, which precedes the earthquake. Then raising his" right arm, he shook at his opponent his long, bony fingers in his peculiar menacing manner, witii a rapid vibratory motion which bore no | faint resemblance to that of a rattlesnake on the point of striking the fatal blow with its fangs. And then burst forth his shrill concentrated tones so unlike the sound of any other human voice. “For more than an hour. Randolph held the audience spell-bound with his reply. He poured forth upon Northern advocates of Slavery a perfect torrent of indignant sarcasm, hot and withei ing as melted lava. He said ‘that every human being had an inalienable right to liberty—to the ownership of his own body and soul, wax a doctrine impressed by the Greator upon every human heart—that the South did not originate African Slavery—it was entailed upon them against their will, by the Governinemt that has since passed away. The servile race had so increased that emancipation was no longer possible. Slavery at the South was justifiable on the ground that it had grown, without their own agency, into an institution which they could not shake off if they would.” “He said that -he knew of none except the natives of the Eastern States, who advocated Slavery as Slavery, and not as an evil from which there was no escape. The descendants of the pilgrims, he said, ‘were trained up in all the practices and doctrines of the j s raightestjsect of the Pharisees,’ regarding it as a mortal sin for a man to shave his head, or a woman to kiss her child on fi e ‘Sbbaday.’ Yet the great majority of them with whom it had been his good or ill fortune to i become acquainted, are DouyhJarcs, who countenance Slavery the moment they think it their interest iu do so, although they have : been taught from infancy to detest it-. 1 Not-

withstanding their noisy declamation in favor of the institution, to remain bitterly hostile to it, in the secret recesses of their hearts, to the last hou- of life. Had they been at Jerusalem in the days of the Savior, thev would h ave cried 1 crucify Him! crucif y Him!' louder than did the Jews, the moment they had made the discovery tfiat that was the popular side.” “Mr. Randolph drew a very eloquent but very bitter contrast between the Doughfaces and the sons of the Old Dominion. He said: : 'While those Doughfaces have cringed and crawled, violating every instinct of conscience, to curry favor with the South, what has my own native Virginia been doing! The great and glorious commonwealth, the largest Slave-holding State in the Union, gave to the confederacy the ‘Territory north-west of the Ohio,’ a Territory broader th in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ire-, land. Ami then by the Ordinance of 1787, which was carried by her votes and her influence, she consecrated that wide realm forever to human freedom. It was she, , glorious Old Virginia Slave-holding as she is, that wrung from the confederacy a solemn pledge that Slavery should never plant its feet upon that virgin soil. How looks. ; the cringing Doughface by the side of such men as these?’ “I have given but a brief sketch of that speech drawn from Cotton's’ Weekly Chronicle, published at that time, but which paper was discontinued at the close of the first year. I have copied from the report of that speech only just sufficient to give the reader a correct idea of the origin of the word ■ Douuyhface.” ’ I have not the presumption to express any 7 opinion as to tiie views of such a man as John Randolph, of Roanoak.