John Randolph by Henry Adams
Not once or twice only, but day after day, and especially during his short senatorial term, he would take the floor, and, leaning or lolling against the railing which in the old senate chamber surrounded the outer row of desks, he would talk two or three hours at a time,with no perceptible reference to the business in hand, while Mr. Calhoun sat like a statue in the Vice-President's chair, until the senators one by one retired, leaving the Senate to adjourn without a quorum, a thing till then unknown to its courteous habits; and the gallery looked down with titters or open laughter at this exhibition of a half-insane, half-intoxicated man, talking a dreary monologue, broken at long intervals by passages beautiful in their construction, direct in their purpose, and not the less amusing from their occasional virulence. These long speeches, if speeches they could be called, were never reported. The reporters broke down in attempting to cope with the rapid utterance, the discursiveness and interminable length, the innumerable "Yes, sirs," and "No, sirs," of these harangues. Mr. Niles printed in his Register for 1826 one specimen verbatim report, merely to show why no more was attempted. In the same volume, Mr. Niles gave an account of a visit he made to the senate gallery on May 2, 1826, when Randolph was talking. Lolling against the rail, stopping occasionally to rest himself and think what next to talk about, he rambled on with careless ease in conversational tones, while the senate chamber was nearly empty, and the imperturbable Calhoun patiently listened from his throne. Mr. Niles did not know the subject of the debate, but when he entered the gallery Randolph was giving out a plan to make a bank: -
"Well, sir, we agree to make a bank. You subscribe $10,000, you $10,000, and you $10,000 or $20,000; then we borrow some rags, or make up the capital out of our own promissory notes. Next we buy an iron chest - for safety against fire and against thieves - but the latter was wholly unnecessary - who would steal our paper, sir? All being ready, we issue bills - I wish I had one of them [hunting his pockets as though he expected to find one] - like the Owl Creek bank, or Washington and Warren, black or red - I think, sir, they begin with 'I promise to pay' - yes, promise to pay, sir - promise to pay."
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John Randolph by Henry Adams
Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston and New York, 1898, pages 295-297