What The Senator
Really Said
The l(‘|>(Mids ;iml Hit* iiiit*iiikt*lli.4ht*fl
f«it*ls off IVlix Walker's celebraled
“speefh for Buneombe."
By
1СК11Л1Ш
WALSFH
Of the more than half million words
in the unabridged English dictionary.
North Carolina has contributed but
few. mainly Indian words like scup-
pernong. Probably the best-known
non-Indian word is buncombe (bun¬
kum) or simply bunk, meaning hum¬
bug. empty talk, nonsense. Henry
Ford's famous "History is bunk"
makes use of a word which has quite a
history itself.
In Washington, during the beginning
decades of the republic, members of
Congress were expected not only to
make speeches, but to have them
printed in the newspapers. Constitu¬
ents back home demanded that their
district make itself "heard and known,
ay. and feared." And so. according to
the humorist Sam Slick, "every feller,
in bounden duty, talks, and talks big
too. and the smaller the State, the
louder, bigger and fiercer its members
talk." It didn't make any difference
what they were talking about.
Buncombe Day
Since Saturday provided little ex¬
citement in Congress, on that day
members were permitted to orate to
their heart's content, and have their
speeches taken down and printed. In
fact. Saturday got to be know n as Bun¬
combe Day. and this is how it came
about.
During Congressional debates on
whether Missouri should be admitted
to the Union as a slave state, tradition
holds that, in the heat of the discus¬
sion. western North Carolina's Felix
Walker rose and said he was going to
make a speech. Now. his fellow Con¬
gressmen knew that old Felix was
long-winded. They pleaded with him to
desist, they told him that the political
issue was too important, the time too
valuable, for him to address the
House. But Felix insisted on his rights.
was not disturbed when many mem¬
bers took leave of the Capitol, politely
informed those who remained that
they might go too. for. he said, he was
not speaking to them, but rather
"talking for Buncombe." the name of
one of the North Carolina mountain
counties he represented. Then he
launched into a prolix, inane, fiddle-
faddle harangue which lasted for sev¬
eral hours; and thus it was that such a
discourse came to be called bun¬
combe.
Another version of the legend is that
Felix Walker’s buncombe speech was
made early one morning before the
House had assembled. The only other
person in the empty hall was a servant
who was sweeping around and about
the Speaker's chair. Walker turned to
the spot and stcntoriously shouted.
"Mr. Speaker. I’m opposed to that thar
bill. It’s a transparency to alternate the
const y-tu-shy-on. Render unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar's and to Mrs.
Caesar the things that are hers; for a
man are a man all over the world, and a
hog are a hog. Mr. Speaker, damn
you!" The startled servant, thinking
the man gone daffy, said. "I think
massa's out of order, 'cause dar's no¬
body here 'cept me." The orator
glared at him. "Shut up! Shut up! I'm
talking to buncombe!"
Plain Facts
The unembellished facts are consid¬
erably more prosaic than what tradi¬
tion and legend have provided.
On Friday. February 25. IK20. after
a Representative from Maryland ob¬
served to the House that, although he
wished to present his views on the
Missouri Bill, he knew the members
were "weary of it. every one's opinion
was made up on it; and he was unwill¬
ing to consume the lime of the com¬
mittee by any remarks on the question.
He therefore forebore, and he hoped
the question would be taken." (This is
the account given the following day in
the City of Washington Gazette, a
forerunner of our Congressional Rec¬
ord. )
Immediately following the words of
the Maryland Congressman. Felix
Walker rose "to address the commit¬
tee on the question; but the question
was called for so clamorously and so
perseveringly. that Mr. W. could pro¬
ceed no farther than to move that the
committee rise ladjournj. The com¬
mittee refused to rise, by almost a
unanimous vote." The semiofficial
Gazette made no mention of Walker's
struggle to speak for Buncombe.
Many years later. Pennsylvania Con¬
gressman William Darlington, whose
seat in the House was near Walker's,
recalled the incident and the frantic
Felix Wolkcr. 1753-1828; it wo» not hi» tormol
orotion which hod on cHect.
effort of several members' begging the
old mountaineer to sit down. "He
persevered, however, for a while."
wrote Darlington, "declaring that the
people of his district expected it. and
that he was bound to 'make a speech
for Buncombe.' " From this account,
one would conclude that the oration
was begun but soon cut short.
Well-Reasoned Oration
Felix Walker, sixty-six years old at
the time, wasquitc a character. Born in
THE STATE, NOVEMBER 1981
11
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