At the end of a speech on the admission of Oregon to the Union in 1859, Georgia’s Alexander Stephens spoke of the states being “all bound together for general objects under a common thread, as it were, ‘a wheel within a wheel.’” And concluded dramatically: “Then, indeed, may the nations of the earth look with wonder at our career, and when they hear the noise of the wheels of our progress in achievement, in development, in expansion, in glory and renown, it will appear to them not unlike the noise of great waters, the very voice of the Almighty - Vox populi, vox Dei.”
With applause ringing in his ears, Stephens left the House chamber, and as he went down the corridor he overheard a man telling a friend: “You should have been there and seen him, his slight form quivering, yet erect, his shrill voice ringing through the hushed hall in that grand climax - Vox populi, vox Dei!”
”Yes, no doubt,” said the friend, who hadn’t been in the gallery for the speech, “but I’ll bet you ten dollars you can’t tell what Vox populi, vox Dei means.”
”I’ll bet I can,” said the first man. “Put up your money.”
So the two men put up the money and the second man said: “Well, what does it mean in English?”
”Why,” said the Stephens enthusiast, “it means, ‘My God, My God! Why hast thou forsaken me?’”
”That’s right,” said his friend disappointedly. “The money is yours. I didn’t think you knew.”
Source:
Boller, Paul F. “Comedy.” Congressional Anecdotes. New York: Oxford UP, 1991. 147. Print.
Original Source Listed:
Edward C. Boykin, ed., The Wit and Wisdom of Congress (New York, 1961), 395-96.
Further Reading:
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