Mr. Tracy regretted that so much time should be lost on trifling subjects. We had seen the National Convention of France diminish their dignity, by spending three or four days on the business of giving a name to the late Duke of Orleans, and hardly had they finished, by giving him the name of Egalité, before in substance he became so bad that they cut his head off. What good did his renunciation of title do, excepting that it afforded him a short opportunity of deceiving his fellow-citizens? Mr. T. said he was fully convinced, and had been so from the beginning of the debate on the Naturalization bill, that a length of time was the only valuable probation of an alien, and the only successful mode of discerning his principles, and the justice and propriety of his claim to be naturalized. He thought the sentiments of the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Giles) were highly commendable, when he said we ought to avoid extremes in politics, and adopt a sober medium of political reasoning, suited to the steady and rational temper of Americans, equally removed, on the one hand, from tyranny, and on the other from anarchy. And he would ask, whether a solemn abjuration of all foreign allegiance, with proofs of a good moral character, and attachment to the principles of our Government, would not secure us, as to the principles of the heart, as thoroughly, without the farce of renouncing his title, as with it? He considered titles, in this country, as very empty, unmeaning things; and they would go into disuse of themselves, having no solid support, either in the habits or constitution of this country. But, by the Constitution of the United States, any citizen might receive and enjoy a title from a foreign prince or sovereignty, and Congress could not prevent it. The words of the constitution are:
"No title of nobility shall be granted by the United States; and no person holding any office of profit or trust, under them, shall, without the consent of Congress, accept any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State."
Mr. T. supposed it was clear that Congress had no power respecting this matter, but what was expressly delegated by the constitution, and that had given them a check only on officers of their own appointment, leaving every other citizen, not an officer of Government, at liberty to retain a foreign title if he pleased. And an alien might, even if this amendment should pass, renounce his title, become naturalized, and in an hour accept of the same title, or another, from any foreign Prince, and Congress can make no laws to prevent it. If it be a fault that our citizens can receive and enjoy titles, it is a constitutional one; Congress are not blamable for it, but they would be blamable were they to arrogate powers not given them, upon this or any other subject. Mr. T. repeated, that there could be no danger in this country from titles; they were universally considered as trifles, and it would be dignifying them too much to legislate about them. He asked the gentleman who brought forward this motion, whether it was not, in a measure, a departure from his former declaration, of sober, rational temper, in politics, to insist so much upon its importance as he did? He was sorry the yeas and nays were insisted upon with so much spirit; it looked like party, in a very unimportant matter: he did not mean to accuse any man, or men, and mentioned it with diffidence, but it really struck his mind in this way. Much had been said about adhering to the constitution strictly, on former occasions; but, from many things said now, it seemed as though there was no safety for the people, unless the House of Representatives absorbed the whole governmental power. Mr. T. said, if that House should become political cannibals, and attempt to devour both the other branches of the Legislature, he would oppose it, whether it was popular or not, for he considered the constitutional checks of the branches of this Government, upon one another, as containing the most complete security for liberty that any people could enjoy. If his construction was a just one, Mr. T. thought the amendment could do no good; it formed a test which might make hypocrites, but not proselytes: it stripped an alien for a moment of a trifle, which in the next he might resume and wear for ever.
Mr. Sedgwick.—Has it not been said that there was a party in the United States, not only for aristocracy, but even for monarchy? Is not the present a most favorable opportunity for holding up these people to popular resentment? He was convinced that the gentleman who moved this amendment had no design of doing any such thing, but that did not lessen the reality. He said that Mr. Giles had brought gentlemen into a dilemma, which he did not, or would not see. They had at first opposed the motion, as trifling, and this they had a right to do. The member (Mr. Giles) then moved his call for the yeas and nays; and if gentlemen who had already spoken against the amendment, were now to draw back, and vote for it, they would betray a disgraceful poverty of spirit. Their constituents would say that their votes had been given in terrorem of the yeas and nays. The motives for pushing this call could be nothing else but to stigmatize members of that House, as wanting to introduce a nobility, whereas they opposed the amendment on no such account, but merely because it was not worth their taking up. As to himself, he did not care. He could not wish to stand better with his constituents than he actually did. He was well known to them. But, in other quarters of the continent, it might be said that the Eastern States were represented by aristocrats. If this be a desirable object, said Mr. S., in God's name, let gentlemen persist in calling for the yeas and nays. It will be said, "There go the Eastern aristocrats! They want to import nobility here, when it can no longer exist in Europe!" Mr. S. said, that, at first, he gave but little opposition to the amendment, thinking it frivolous. He repeatedly declared, upon his honor, that he firmly believed it to be so, and that he had no other reason for opposing it. If he had been, upon this occasion, warmer than usual, he was sorry for it; but the mischievous and unconciliating consequences of this call for the yeas and nays, had hurt him exceedingly.
Mr. Madison denied the assertion of Mr. Sedgwick, that the amendment was trifling; and the member himself seemed to betray, by his behavior, a consciousness that he had not promoted conciliation. An abolition of titles was essential to a Republican revolution, and therefore such an abolition had been highly proper in France. The sons of the Cincinnati could not have inherited their honors, and yet the minds of the Americans were universally disgusted with the institution, and in particular, in South Carolina; yet a member from that State (Mr. W. Smith) has told the House that his constituents were under no fears of aristocracy, and that they could hear titles without emotion. Even the Chief Magistrate of South Carolina had told the Cincinnati that these distinctions ought to be laid aside.
Mr. Hillhouse thought it quite frivolous to spend time upon the motion. That was all his objection. It had been said that, allowing the amendment to be trifling, yet it was no harm to make an idle law, and that therefore it should be agreed to for the sake of conciliation. Supposing a man to make a will, bequeathing a hundred thousand guineas, when he was not worth a shilling, there would be one serious effect at least, for it would make the testator ridiculous. To legislate for the sake of expressing a sentiment, was very silly, and what he never should agree to. If Mr. Giles would make an amendment incapacitating all foreigners whatever from holding, upon any account, a civil office in America, Mr. H. would agree with him, because he did not want to see any of them in such offices, and conceived that Americans could legislate for themselves much better without any such assistance.
Mr. Lyman said, that whenever a member of that House called for the yeas and nays, it was a rule with him to rise and second the motion, because the people had, upon all occasions, a right to know their votes; and even if only one member desires the yeas and nays to be taken, Mr. L. conceived that it ought to be done, as the thing was in itself so highly proper. Since he had the honor of a seat in that House, therefore, he had always seconded every call for yeas and nays, that the public might understand, as fully as possible, what they were about, and how their votes went. He said that it was extremely improper to ascribe wrong motives, when gentlemen supported a call for yeas and nays. It was sacrificing the dignity of the House to cast out such insinuations. When the call had once been made and agreed to, it would be very mean to retract it, to gratify any member. The public had always, and without any exception, a right to know what their Representatives were doing, and how they were voting, and he, for one, should adhere to the call.
Mr. W. Smith said, that he had already put a question which nobody had answered, and on that account he should now rise and put it again. What are the emigrant nobility to renounce? When they come into this country, they possess not one privilege which is not possessed by every body else. He had expected that the gentleman from Virginia, (Mr. Giles,) when last up, would have explained this matter, but he had not done it. The great bugbear was, lest a ci-devant Lord may get a seat here, and that somebody may call him My Lord. But, even after you have got his renunciation of nobility, if other people choose to give him his titles, you can neither hinder nor punish them; so that the amendment is, to all practical intents and purposes, absolutely useless and nugatory. Some members of this House belong to the order of Cincinnati. If they come here with badges at their button-holes, can you forbid them? He wished that gentlemen would show what was to be renounced. There was nothing at all to renounce. The whole amendment is totally futile.
Mr. Dexter then rose, but the House had become so impatient for the question, that he was heard with difficulty. He only wanted to ask whether the call for yeas and nays was withdrawn or not?