ber, are not to be charged with refusing any terms, while I stand here affirming that I am ready, so far as I may be able, to carry out the suggestion which my friend from Mississippi made to me. Mr. FESSENDEN. I distinctly proposed to the Senator from Missouri, as he will remember -and I said I was sure my friends on this side possible for me to ascertain who wish to speak, and how long a time they will occupy, so as to arrive at the grounds on which an answer might be given to the proposition made to us. We are entitled to that consultation. Mr. President, I am not proposing to make any threat. I shall never make any in the Senate of the Chamber would agree to my proposition, || Chamber. I can promise for one-and I think for I had some concert with them-that if the Senate would adjourn until to-morrow morning after my friend from New Hampshire should have closed his speech, without attempting to coerce us, without forcing us to make an agreement tonight when we had no opportunity to consult with each other, we would meet to-morrow morning; and, if we should then fail to come to such terms as would be satisfactory to Senators on the other side, we should have no complaints to make if they reduced it to a contest of physical endurance, and endeavored to push the bill through at the next sitting. We have said that this evening such an attempt was not fair, not right; for the reason that we had not sufficient notice given to us so as to have a consultation with our friends to prepare our line of action. We told them that it came upon us by surprise late in the afternoon. If you had given us notice this morning that this was your intention, so that we could have had a meeting and consulted on the subject, we should have been able to give an answer; but that being impossible to-night, all we have demanded was to be allowed an opportunity for consultation in the morning; and then, if we failed to agree upon terms, it would be a fair contest, and we should have no complaints to make if the majority should exercise its rights and powers; but we did complain that this contest was sprung upon us at the hour of the day it was. I now understand from the Senator from Louisiana that our idea is one that he does not seem to think is very unreasonable. my whole course of action since I have been in the Senate will justify what I say that I not only shall not of myself institute any factious opposition to the transaction of the public business, but that it is not in the power of men or of associations to draw me into any. I will not be drawn into any such opposition. I can say also, upon a very thorough acquaintance with my associates, that I do not know, I do not believe, I have not the least reason for believing, that there is any member of the Senate on the part of the supposed minority who would be content to occupy, even on this great question, one moment of time more than was necessary to deliver himself of the views which he entertains, according to the sense of responsibility he confesses, for the instruction of the Senate, and for the information of the country, and his own justification to his constituents, acting in good faith. You may go on with the crushing process, but it will come to that at last, that every member will perform that duty, and he will do no more he will do no less. You may reverse the screw and suspend the crushing process, and you will arrive at the same result, and I think in the same time. Mr. SEWARD. I am not going, Mr. President, to-night, to undertake to make an agreement for my associates on this side of the Chamber, and I am not going to consent that they shall make an agreement for me. I take that stand upon this ground, that it is confessed and avowed that the party which supposes itself to be in the majority in the Senate has had a consultation, a deliberation to-day before we met, and determined upon its course, and that by degrees as the debate proceeds in this Chamber it is disclosed partially and problematically and suppositiously that the question is to be taken to-night, unless the minority withoutan opportunity for consultation other than can be afforded here in the Chamber, will agree upon a day when the vote shall be taken. Now, sir, I should be perfectly willing to fix a day when the question is to be taken, if I could; I am perfectly willing to consult on that subject; I should be perfectly willing to undertake to fix a day, if there was an opportunity for such consultation as I know to be necessary on the part of those with whom I am associated here, to determine and give an honest, direct, manly answer to the proposition. I know that is impossible now; it has been all day, for as you see, taken by surprise, a portion of our members are absent. Mr. DIXON. A large portion. Mr. SEWARD. A very considerable portion of our members are absent: some are away from the city; others are absent from the Chamber on account of sickness. There is no possibility of our answering the proposition made to us tonight, unless a minority of our own party shall undertake to determine the course of action by which we shall be bound when the others come in. In regard to those who are here and those who are absent, it is a matter of calculation how many gentlemen wish to be heard, and how long those gentlemen will desire to speak; how much time they will occupy in delivering their views; and from the aggregate of that time must be deducted the time which may be reasonably allowed for the answers which may be given on the other side of the Chamber to our arguments. Every suggestion that has been made I have met directly and distinctly by saying that I was unprepared, that I could not be prepared; that, sitting here and watching to take care lest the main question itself might be taken if I were absent for a moment from the Chamber for consultation, it is im Now, sir, this crushing process has no terrors for me; I am used to it. I have been here eight years; this is the ninth year of my service in this body; and I have been crushed continually; but notwithstanding all that I find that the party or the interest that has been crushed out here has grown larger and larger just in proportion as madness has directed the force and pressure of the screw; and that on the other hand the screw has grown weaker and weaker. If I wanted perverseness to be gratified with a speedy punishment, I should invite gentlemen to go on with this oppression and force a conclusion under the circumstances of this case, for I hold it to be most unreasonable as well as most unwise. This debate involves the admission of a State into this Union, or the rejection of an application for admission. Such a question, if you except the question raised under the Topeka constitution, has not been here since the year 1850. At that time, the admission of the State of California, together with the organization to be provided for the government of the Territories of Utah and New Mexico, came before the country and the Senate under circumstances not dissimilar. Then, sir, wise men, strong men, great men, were here, and they undertook to bring into the Union the State of California with conditions, which, in their judgment, the interests of the country under the circumstances required. A desultory debate on that great question began on the first day of the session, which was, I think, the 1st day of December,|| 1849; and every Senator was promised by the great leader in that movement, and the promise was faithfully kept, that he should be heard on that question, and when all were heard the vote should be taken; and the bill for the admission of the State of California passed the Senate on the 13th day of August, 1850. This debate began on the 1st day of March, and not before-just fifteen days ago; and of those fifteen days there have been two Sundays, thus reducing the number to thirteen; and there have been two week days when the Senate was not in session, and for the failure of the Senate to sit during those two days the majority of the Senate is responsible according to the confessions of the leader of the majority. Thus it appears that eleven days have been allowed to this debate when there are twenty Senators, all of whom desire to be heard in opposition; twenty Senators opposed to the measure, bound by their consciences, bound by their responsibility to their constituents, bound by the expectations of those constituents to protest against it and to assign their reasons for opposition. Eleven days is entirely too short for such a debate, if you allowed the whole of that period to the Opposition; and yet of those eleven days more than one half, SENATE. I think, has been occupied by the majority in delivering their opinions. Mr. GREEN. Less than one third. Mr. SEW RD. One third is enough for my present purpose; I will not dispute about fractions. I remember a case that happened in the House of Representatives, which admonishes me always not to stand upon fractions. My old friend Gideon Lee, who is now gone, was an eminently useful man, and a very useful and efficient member of the House of Representatives. When the great fire occurred in the city of New York, which burnt up a large portion of the city, the merchants sent on an application to Congress to remit the duties upon the goods which were destroyed by the fire. The memorial was a very eloquent one, but it was thought best to have it enforced by the eloquence of the most commanding and influential member in the House at that time, who was understood to be a celebrated orator from the State of Vermont, Mr. Horace Everett. Mr. Everett, after preparing his speech on that occasion, and being ready, entered the House. Mr. Lee, being a leading member of the New York delegation, sat beside him. Mr. Everett opened the debate on the presentation of the memorial in a very effective manner. He said that the sun of yesterday morning looked upon a great and prosperous city; the sun of this morning looked down upon the same city, and disclosed fifty acres of it covered with ruins. My excellent friend, Mr. Lee, rose and begged leave to correct the honorable member: it was fifty-three acres and a half. [Laughter.] I will not dispute about fractions of time upon such a question as this; but, sir, I wish to correct the idea that this debate began in the month of December, or could have been begun in December. The question is, whether Kansas shall be admitted into the Union under the Lecompton constitution? No man pretends, or did pretend, that the Lecompton con tution ought to be, or could be, submitted to Congress, until it was here, or that it could be here until it was brought here, and that could not be until after an election held on the 21st day of December, in the Territory of Kansas. For aught we knew, the constitution might be rejected in the election which the convention itself had appointed. We did not know but that the people might determine not to have it with slavery, or without slavery, or either way. What the constitution was, was not known. The President forestalled our action by recommending to us that we could settle this great disturbance in the country by waiving the objections which would exist when the question should come before us. Then, after the election was held on the 21st of December, every one knows that it was fourteen days before intelligence of the result of that election reached here, or before this constitution could get here; and then it was delayed because the Legislature of the Territory had appointed another election to be held on the 4th day of January, in which the question whether the Lecompton constitution should be adopted or rejected was submitted to the people of Kansas; and the president of the convention, who was to report whether this constitution was accepted or rejected at the previous election, remained in the Territory with the constitution until after the election on the 4th day of January was held; and so it required fourteen days more for intelligence to reach us here of the result of that election, and for the constitution to be received here by the President of the United States, and to be transmitted to the Senate. Were we, then, to debate that hypothetical question; and, if so, under what state of facts? If so, why was not the subject referred to the Committee on Territories in the beginning of December; and why did the Senate wait and suspend all official action upon it until the constitution was received here, and then refer it to the Committee on Territories? Was the reference a mere mockery, or did the Senate mean that its committee should examine the subject, and recommend a bill for the consideration of the Senate? The Senate acted in good faith, and the committee acted in good faith. I do not know on what day the bill was introduced; but the question was not before the Senate, so that it was proper, so that it was in order to debate the subject, or so that a practical legislator would debate it unless he had special reasons for departing from his customary course of action, until the bill was here. When the bill was brought into the Senate, the gentleman who presented it from the committee named a day, the 1st of March, when he would ask the Senate to take up the bill, and consider it, and continue to consider it from day to day, until every member of the Senate having a desire to be heard on the subject, and acting in good faith, should be heard; and then, without surprise, the question should be taken. So the debate began on the 1st day of March, and it has gone on until to-day, when, for the majority of the committee, or, as gentlemen imply, a majority of the Senate, are inclined to bring this question to a vote now. Well, sir, I am to assign the reasons why I think it is not best to come to a vote now. There are a large portion of the Senators who have not been heard, and who are entitled to be heard, and who desire to be heard, and who, therefore, ought to be heard on the subject. Then the question recurs, why shall they not be heard tonight. The answer is, that our entire experience shows that it is impossible for Senators to deliver themselves during the night, after the fatigues of the day, devoted to the public business in such a manner as to discharge their duty satisfactorily to themselves and to their constituents, and usefully to the country. That, however, is not the only reason. It is but to substitute the form and the mockery of a debate for an actual debate when you say that Senators shall speak under such circumstances as these; for the moment a Senator rises to address the House under such circumstances, all the chairs are vacant; the Senators are not here to hear. They are here to wait without hearing, until the empty form of a debate has been gone through, by addresses to empty seats, and then they can take the question. It is, therefore, unreasonable. I should not have dwelt on this subject at so much length, had it not been that a purpose or expectation seemed to be manifested on the part of the majority to submit a case to the country on this question. I have, therefore, shown the reasons why I shall vote for the postponement of this bill until to-morrow; and I close with giving my assurance, as far as I can do so in the absence of any consultation, that the subject shall be taken into consultation to-morrow, when the debate can be closed, and then an honest, direct answer shall be given in good faith, by which I suppose all parties making it will be willing to be bound; but for myself I do not require it, I do not need it, and it is left to the judgment of the Senate. If it come to a question of physical endurance, I shall not shrink from enduring. Mr. POLK. Why not let the gentleman from New Hampshire close to-night? Mr. SEWARD. Let him close when he can get the floor. the progress of business was concerned; in other Mr. DOOLITTLE. Will the Senator give way Mr. BROWN. Certainly. Mr. DOOLITTLE. The honorable Senator from Mississippi will bear in mind the important fact that, while we represent one party, there are, There is the American party-the Senator from Tennessee, [Mr. BELL,] the Senator from Kentucky, [Mr. CRITTENDEN,] the Senator from Tex[Mr. HOUSTON,] and I include also the Senator from Maryland [Mr. KENNEDY] in the call of as, the roll of Americans. Mr. BROWN. Never mind them. So far as the Senator from Texas is concerned, you need not give yourself any trouble. SENATE. what could be done, what they would agree to do. Mr. KENNEDY. Will my friend from Mississippi yield to me for an instant? Mr. BROWN. Yes, sir. Mr. KENNEDY. I merely wish to make a remark for my party. The American party do not mean to be factious in regard to the decision of this matter. They have no particular views to press upon the Senate, and they are prepared-I am at liberty to say so for them-to vote to-night, to-morrow, or any day when it may be the pleas ure of the Senate to take the vote. The American party do not want time on this question. We have been worn out with it already. The interests of the country are suffering. Mr. DOOLITTLE. Will the honorable Senator allow me to ask him a single question? Mr. KENNEDY. No, sir; I cannot. The Senator from Mississippi yielded the floor to me, and I cannot yield it to anybody else. I only say the American party does not ask time in order to be ready for the vote on this bill. We are prepared to vote now. Mr. BROWN. If Senators will allow me to conclude I shall say in a very few words what I designed to say in the beginning. First let me recapitulate; for what I said at the outset has already, perhaps, escaped the recollection of gentlemen. I understood the two Senators from Maine to state a proposition which had, to a great extent, the approbation of my own mind; and that was, that the opposition to this bill, whether you call it the Republican party, or the Repub fican party with its allies, some Americans, and some Democrats-I mean all opposed to this bill -should have a consultation, and conclude that Mr. DOOLITTLE. There is also another party, and an important party, to this question, in the Senate; and that consists of those who have acted hitherto with the Democratic party, but on this question do not act with them-the honorable Senator from Illinois, [Mr. DOUGLAS,] the honorable Senator from Michigan, [Mr. STUART,] and the honorable Senator from California, [Mr. BRODERICK;] and certainly, before we could mention a time definitely it would be necessary that we should have a little time to consult with those gentlemen on this question. As they oppose the measure, perhaps we should expect to consult with them as well as with our friends, for we do not know how much time they may desire to occupy in this debate. We have no desire to post-they could take the vote on Monday next, or that pone this question factiously, but to give a fair opportunity for the discussion of the question; and on consultation, as we can have the consultation doubtless to-morrow, we can give an answer which will probably be satisfactory. Mr. BROWN. Mr. President Mr. HALE. Will the Senator hear me a moment? I wish to make a suggestion. Mr. BROWN. Certainly. Mr. HALE. I want to have this matter dis- Mr. BROWN. You cannot. Mr. KENNEDY. I cannot consent for one Mr. HALE. I know that the Senator will not consent, and the time has not come for it yet; but I say it will be so ultimately, because we have been told here, I have been told a hundred times, that the country would not stand more than two parties. I see in my eye now a very honorable Senator, [Mr. BRIGHT,] who sometimes has been taken for me, he looks so much like me, [Laughter,] who suggested that I did not belong to a party having a sufficiently healthy organization to be put on the tail end of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds. He said there could be but two parties in the country, and at the time to which I allude, I did not belong to a healthy or Mr. BROWN. An hour ago I had some hope that, by a prudent and proper suggestion, we could come to an understanding of this question, and get along with this business without wearying and fatiguing ourselves, by sitting here all night. All must see that this is an exceedingly senseless proceeding. It results in no good. We weary ourselves and do no benefit to the country. I confess that the remarks of the Senator from New York have somewhat shaken my confidence in our ability to come to a proper understanding, because his mind seems to be in doubt as to what his party friends will agree to. When I heard the two Senators from Maine, their views accorded with my own as to what has been the prop-ganization. [Laughter.] I do not pretend to say osition submitted on the other side. I will restate it, and those Senators shall testify as to whether I am right or not; because if I am right, I mean to give my commendation to the proposition. I understood them to say that on to-morrow morning they would have a full consultation of their friends, and determine that they would take the vote on Monday next; or, if that could not be agreed upon, they would then notify us, the majority, on the meeting of the Senate to-morrow, that they did not agree to it; and that we might after that either sit it out or not as pleased us, and that they would make no opposition so far as calling for the yeas and nays, and resorting to technical motions under the rules of the Senate to avoid we are in a situation now to take care of these se- says. Mr. BROWN. I did not understand that any one here was stipulating or proposing terms which were to be absolutely binding, but that the other side proposed to hold a meeting to-morrow, or, in some way suitable to themselves, to ascertain they could not, and if they could not, they would notify us to-morrow morning, and that being so notified we could then proceed to-morrow to make this a question of physical endurance, if we chose to do so; and that on their part, if the proposition to take the vote on Monday next failed, they would not, so far as they as gentlemen are concerned, resort to technicalities, calling the yeas and nays upon motions to adjourn, and to postpone, and so on, so as to delay the taking the question; but that, so far as they as gentlemen are concerned, they could come here to-morrow with an honest purpose either to take the vote before we adjourned, or prepared to give a party pledge that it should be taken on Monday. So I understood the two honorable Senators from Maine; so I have understood other Senators on that side. We on our side have proposed to do-what? To take the vote at any time during this week. I think our friends have been prepared all the time to say that, while we want the vote to-day, and would greatly prefer to have it on Thursday at the latest, still we are willing to concede as far as Saturday. Then the extreme of the two propositions, as I understand them, is between taking the vote on Saturday and taking it on Monday; our extreme proposition, up to this time, being a vote on Saturday, and yours being on Monday. I submit that, upon such a difference, it is hardly necessary for Senators to be wearying themselves here in the witching hours of morning, and wholly unpreparing themselves for to-morrow's business. I believe honorable gentlemen will do what they say they will do. The honorable Senator from Maine [Mr. FESSENDEN] and myself differ in politics; but never, within my knowledge, has he sacrificed his word; and, in my opinion, he never will. His colleague [Mr. HAMLIN] has never deceived me, so far as his personal honor is concerned; and I am not prepared to say that he ever will. Other Senators on that side-I may name the honorable Senator from Michigan [Mr. CHANDLER]—have given a like pledge. I believe that they will come here to-morrow to redeem the pledge-the pledge that we shall either have the vote on Monday, or be notified by them tomorrow morning that it becomes a question of physical endurance; and for this night's delay certain members of the party pledging themselves that they will unite in no factious opposition, but let the debate go straight on-if we want to speak, let our side speak; if they want to speak, let their side speak; but refusing to cooperate in any prop osition to postpone the vote factiously. I think the proposition a fair one. I am not authorized to make any proposition or any motion here; but no caucus resolution, no obligations to party, can prevent me from saying what I believe, in a case like this, ought to be done. I think my party ought to accept this proposition. Mr. PUGH. If the Senator thinks so, I will move to adjourn, as I am under no such obligations. If he says he is satisfied, I will make the motion. Mr. BROWN. I do not ask the Senator to make any such motion; nor will I yield for that purpose. Mr. PUGH. I thought the Senator appealed to some gentleman who was free to make the motion, to make it. Mr. BROWN. I am speaking simply for myself. If there is anything like a tolerable understanding Mr. GREEN. There is none. Mr. BROWN. I think there is. I differ with Senators. When honorable gentlemen come and say they have consulted with their friends, and that there is a partial agreement to such an extent that it can be carried out, and will be carried out among honorable men, I am confident they will do it. The Senator from New York, I confess, in the outset of his speech, did a little shake my confidence, because I know his potent influence with his party friends-an influence to which he is fairly and justly entitled. His talents, experience, and seniority here, entitle him to weight and influence with his party; and I know he has it. He said he could enter into no agreements which could bind his friends, and that his friends could enter into no agreements which could bind him. Those were potential words, coming from that source. My friend from Michigan [Mr. | STUART] suggests that he said he could not do it to-night. SENATE. need not ask how many more will say that. If Mr. BROWN. Among gentlemen I so under- of this Union; and I would sooner die in my seat Mr. STUART. I wish to say a word or two, not because I think I have been hit at, in any allusions to faction-not at all; but I desire at the proper time, with the leave of the Senate, to review some of the reasons which have been given in favor of this measure, to show wherein I think they are without foundation. That I intend to do; but so far as the present question is concerned, I desire to say to gentlemen, in consequence of what has been remarked by the Senator from Wisconsin, that in any consideration which may grow out of an attempt at an arrangement, (in regard to which, by-the-by, I think the Senator from Mississippi is eminently correct,) they need make no count of me. Let Senators on the other side of the Chamber consult among themselves, as they are the faction that it seems are to be crushed out, or something else done with them. They need not count me at all in the arrangement. I have very great respect Mr. BROWN. I do not understand any of the for all those gentlemen, not only for their good Senators on the other side to enter into any posi-intentions, but for their ability; and I believe tive agreement by which they are to be bound to take the vote on Monday, but that to-morrow morning they will either give us notice that they will do it or not, ["That is it,"] that having had a fair consultation among themselves they will give us notice what they are going to do. Mr. SEWARD. That is it. I said that to-night I could not make arrangement to bind others, nor others to bind me. Mr. GREEN. That will not do. Mr. BROWN. My party friends some of them say they will not stand this. I am not going to submit any motion. I simply say that I think the proposition is a fair one, and it ought to be accepted. It commends itself to my judgment. Mr. GREEN. Who made it? Mr. BROWN. Senators on the other side; as honorable men, my friend, as you and I. They differ with us in political sentiment, but I am not to assume that they would violate their plighted faith as men of honor given in the presence of the Senate, and to the world. I do not believe it, and I will not believe it, until the thing has been done. Mr. CAMERON. If the Senator from Mississippi will give way, I will answer the question of the Senator from Missouri as to who said so. I said it for myself two hours ago. Mr. GREEN. Who speaks for the party? Mr. CAMERON. I said then, as now, that I for one would in good faith go into consultation with our friends to-morrow; we would debate the question, decide, and bring in a fair answer; we would either agree to fix a day when we should bring the debate to a close, or else tell the other side that we could not do so; and after that we should be governed by what the majority thought proper. Mr. BROWN. I have said about all I care to say. I simply declare to the Senate and to my party friends, that this proposition seems to me to be fair, and it ought to be accepted. I submit no motion, however, because I am not authorized to do it. Mr. WADE. Mr. President, I believe that words threatening to crush us out were used in the Senate to-night; and, so far as I am concerned, all hope of reconciliation with me is gone until these words are withdrawn. I can sit here and be outvoted, but I cannot be conquered or crushed out. stand here the representative of a sovereign State they will consider the subject in the spirit of faith Mr. MASON. If I understand the honorable Mr. FESSENDEN. That is it exactly. Mr. GREEN. It would be better to postpone Mr.WILSON. That is the pending motion now. Mr. TOOMBS. I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion to adjourn. Mr. MASON. I withdraw the motion to adjourn; and move that the further consideration of the bill be postponed until to-morrow morning at half past twelve o'clock. The VICE PRESIDENT. That is the motion now pending. Mr. TOOMBS. I ask for the yeas and nays on that. The VICE PRESIDENT. The yeas and nays have already been ordered. Mr. HAMLIN. I do not wish to be placed in any wrong position here. I want to understand others, and I want them to understand me; and then there will be no disagreement. I said, and I repeat, that I will use my individual efforts to produce the assent of my friends on this side of the Chamber to agree to take this question on Monday next, Give us time to consult; and, when we come together, and learn how many there are who desire to address the Senate, we can tell when the debate will end. My impression is, that we shall fix not later than Monday; but, if we fail to meet that proposition, and to-morrow you undertake to drive us to a vote, I do not mean as a Senator to yield up my constitutional rights here, or rights which I am entitled to by parlia Now, sir, I wish to say a single word to the Mr. FESSENDEN. I desire to say a word in Mr. PUGH. How many more will say that? Mr. PUGH. Then we might as well sit it out to-night. Mr. TRUMBULL. I should not have considered it necessary to say a word, but for a remark which fell from the honorable Senator from Maine. I do not mean to consider myself committed by the remarks of any Senator made upon this floor, unless I state that I concur in them. I shall not yield my assent to them; and when my associates and those with whom I act think proper to state their views and what they will do, it might be understood that those who do not rise to disclaim them are committed by them. I have already said that I did not believe there would be any factious opposition, or any disposition to delay this question unnecessarily; but I would much prefer, I must confess, to see gentlemen acting upon their individual responsibility and honor as to their course in the Senate, rather than to go into arrangements either of their own political friends or to be driven by their political opponents to make their speeches in any given time. I think the assurance given by the individual members of the Senate upon this side of the Chamber ought to have been satisfactory to the other side, for nearly every Senator here has expressed his opinion for himself, and stated for himself, that, so far as he was concerned, he was not disposed, nor would he unnecessarily delay this matter, unless the attempt was made to coerce him unreasonably. I should not have said this much but for the remarks of my very honorable friend from Maine, which might leave a wrong impression not only on the present occasion but on others. Mr. FESSENDEN. I wish to remark, in order that my friend will understand me, that I speak for myself only. Mr. PUGH. I am very sorry that within the last five minutes the hopes which I had of an adjournment have passed away; but certainly, although I have no doubt the honorable Senator from Maine would be quite as good as his word, he is not authorized to speak for those who ordinarily act with him. Now what does the assurance which has just been given by the Senator from Illinois and various other Senators amount to? It is a general suggestion that they have no disposition to delay unnecessarily; and they couple that with what is claimed by the Senator from Massachusetts and others on this floor, that every Senator has a right to express his opinions upon this bill; to express them, as they say, at reasonable hours, and at his own length. Why, sir, half a dozen Senators have spoken two days on this question. That was their own length and at hours which they chose. There are sixty-two members of this Senate, and according to this extraordinary proposal, every question should be debated one hundred and twenty-four days. SENATE. made professedly for delay, I was determined that! The Senator from Mississippi has expressed Now that gentlemen on this side say there are Now, sir, I want to deliver my views on this question, but if the majority in the Senate are ready to act, they have the right to act without hearing me. I do not understand that the Gov-fortable as it is to me, as to adjourn over in this ernment of the United States keeps a debating society here for gentlemen to make speeches to the country. I understand that it has sent men here to do the legislation of the country; and when those who are responsible for the legislation are ready to act and have the power to act, whether I am one of the majority or one of the minority,jority of this body, anxious to press the public that is not one of my rights. My right is to vote. That right cannot be taken from me. As to this assertion of the right of Senators to speak for two days on every question-to begin at one o'clock on every day, and speak until four or five o'clock, and then adjourn over-why, sir, no business would be done in this Government, no business can be done with such obstructions as these. There is no such right. I claim none for myself, and I am the peer of any Senator on this floor. I represent as much sovereignty as he does; but on any question where I am in the majority or minority, I do not claim it. I disclaim it, to stand here and talk against time, day after day and week after week, in order that my speeches may be taken down by that gentleman, and distributed throughout the country. If gentlemen want to talk, let them talk to their constituents, and at their own expense. I say I do wish to speak on this question; but if I find the majority of the Senate impatient for the question, and ready to vote on the question, I will give up my speech. If I cannot get a chance to make it some other time this session, I will go and make it to the people of the State of Ohio. Therefore it is, that when gentlemen assert that a great outrage is perpetrated on this or on any other question, it only amounts to this: that in making their speeches they are not allowed to select their own days, their own time, and their own length, and to begin from the very foundation of the world on every subject. Sir, I have had the honor of a seat in this Senate something more than two years, and I have heard speeches made here this session-twice made-that were made five or six times over during the last Congress. I name no gentleman; but I have heard the same speech over and over and over again. I do not know but what I could make it myself from memory. Sir, it is no debating of the question. We cannot have a question of the present condition of the bill for the admission of Kansas brought up but we must have gentlemen go back to the ordinance of 1787, to the Dred Scott case, to the old black-letter English law, and spread out over any number of hours; and if not allowed to do it, then a great outrage is perpetrated. Now, sir, I said to-night that I wished to give the Senator from New Hampshire, because he was a new member of this body, the utmost limit that has ever been conferred on any Senator within my memory, and I voted to adjourn two or three times, and several times did not vote. But when I saw those who are the minority, endeavoring not to spend the time which was given in debating the question, but in frivolous motions, uncertainty. Therefore, I insist that if no other business, will find that the word of promise may Mr. MASON. I do not know whether the The VICE PRESIDENT. It was made by the Senator from Massachusetts. Mr. MASON. I thought I proposed the motion. Mr. WILSON. But a single word in reply to the Senator from Ohio. The Senator speaks with some degree of feeling. Now, Mr. President, I am free to say that if I was in a majority, and sustaining any measure of public policy here with the responsibility that belongs to a majority, I should feel under obligations to press the matter properly along. I have no complaint to make of that; but, as has been stated to-day, over and over again, there is no disposition on the part of the minority in this body to throw any unnecessary obstructions in the way of the majority. I think the Senator from Ohio, and all other Senators, ought to be willing to take the responsibility, as the majority of this body, to adjourn over and postpone this question until half past twelve o'clock to-morrow, and give us of the minority, who never had any consultations at all upon this question, an opportunity to come together as we have proposed to do, and already indicated to each other. Mr. PUGH. I ask the Senator why they did not have a consultation? Does he not remember the notice given a week ago by the Senator from Missouri that an attempt would be made to take the vote to-day? Why have you not consulted? Mr. WILSON. I will tell the Senator from Ohio why we have not consulted. We held conversations with several gentlemen on the other side, leading men upon that side of the Chamber, and we were told it could not be expected that the vote would be taken to-day; but they thought it could be taken this week. Why, sir, I had a conversation with the distinguished Senator from Virginia, [Mr. HUNTER,] on Friday or Saturday last, in which he said he thought we could take the vote this week, but that it would not be taken to-day. I did not dream of such a thing, and I wrote to my colleague that the vote in all human probability could not be taken until the close of the week, and if he got here on Thursday he would be here in time to vote on the question. I wrote to him this morning. says that if we can close this debate in eight or ten or twelve days Mr. HALE. Two weeks. Mr. WILSON. He says he does not object if we fix some reasonable time. I have no doubt under heaven that we could close it in six days. I am ready to meet at twelve o'clock daily, and go regularly on with the subject until six o'clock in the evening. The Senator wants to know how long the speeches are to be. I have made inquiries of members of the Senate in regard to the speak ing. As I said, I find that fourteen members are preparing to speak in opposition to this measure. Some of them are ready to go on now; others will be ready to do so in one or two days. I suppose those speeches will not average two hours apiece. I think some of them will not exceed one hour, or an hour and a quarter, or an hour and a half. I think the majority here ought to have confidence, after the declarations made that there will be and shall be no factious opposition, if we have a fair opportunity; and all Task is an opportunity to meet to-morrow morning and consult. We will then give a frank and manly answer. The question being taken by yeas and nays, resulted-yeas 18, nays 23; as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Broderick, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, Doolittle, Douglas, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Hale, Hamlin, Harlan, King, Seward, Stuart, Trumbull, Wade, and Wilson-18. NAYS-Messrs. Allen, Bayard, Benjamin, Biggs, Bigler, So the Senate refused to postpone the consideration of the question. Mr. SEWARD. I move that the Senate adjourn. Mr. BROWN called for the yeas and nays on the motion, and they were ordered; and being taken, resulted-yeas 18, nays 22; as follows: YEAS-Messrs. Broderick, Chandler, Clark, Dixon, Doolittle, Douglas, Fessenden, Foot, Foster, Hale, Hamlin, Harlan, King, Seward, Stuart, Trumbull, Wade, and Wil son-18. NAYS-Messrs. Allen, Bayard, Benjamin, Biggs, Bigler, Brown, Fitch, Green, Gwin, Hammond, Johnson of Atkansas, Johnson of Tennessee, Jones, Mallory, Mason, Polk, Pugh, Sebastian, Slidell, Thomson of New Jersey, Toombs, and Wright—22. So the Senate refused to adjourn. Mr. DOOLITTLE. If the Senator from New Hampshire will allow me, I had intended to submit some remarks on the motion to postpone this question until to-morrow, and for the purpose of making them, it will be necessary that I should make a motion to postpone the further consideration of this subject until to-morrow at half past twelve o'clock. I make that motion, as I desire to submit some remarks upon it. Mr. GREEN. I rise to a question of order. The VICE PRESIDENT. The Senator will state his point of order. Mr. GREEN. I raise the point of order that this motion has just been voted down, and that an adjournment has been voted down, and that no motion has intervened. The VICE PRESIDENT. The motion to adjourn intervened. Mr. GREEN. I know it did; but no proceedings intervened. Mr. POLK. If the Senator from Wisconsin will allow me, I will state that I am inclined to think, if the Senator from New Hampshire is allowed to go on to-night and finish his speech, that the Senate is disposed to adjourn and take the chances. Mr. CHANDLER. Will you pledge your side to do it? Several SENATORS. No. Mr. POLK. I think it would be a good oppor tunity to take the chances of the gentlemen on the other side being able to-morrow to indicate to the Senate what conclusion they have come to if they come to any conclusion, and I believe they will have come to a conclusion. If they shall not have come to a conclusion then, I think we should sit it out, and several of them have said they would not feel it harsh if the majority then compelled them to sit until the vote was taken on this question. I hope, therefore, that the Senator from Wisconsin will not now press his motion, but will withdraw it, and let the Senator from New Hampshire finish his speech, and then the session for tonight can be closed. The VICE PRESIDENT: The Chair calls the attention of the Senate to the fact that the Senator from Wisconsin made a motion and has the floor. Mr. STUART. I hope the Senator from Wisconsin will adopt the suggestion made by the honorable Senator from Missouri, and let the Senator from New Hampshire finish his speech and then we can adjourn, and that side of the Chamber can caucus as they propose to do. Mr. DOOLITTLE. With that suggestion, I withdraw the motion. Mr. CLARK. Mr. President, I may say to Senators, if I had been permitted to have gone along in my argument I should long since have concluded what I had to say; but I find no fault with any Senator on either side of the Chamber. The sort of by-play that has been carried on, if I may be allowed the expression, has given me a little opportunity to rest, though I am somewhat in the situation of the boy who undertook to hoe a garden, and when he stopped work to go to dinner, he left his hoe standing against a wall and somebody stole it; and when he got back he did not know where to begin. I had gone along through a part of my speech, and did not even set up my hoe, and I shall have to begin as best I may, and as near as I may to where I left off. I want to say one thing to the honorable Senator from Georgia, [Mr. TooMBS,] if he is in the Chamber, in regard to the expression that he uttered here in reference to" crushing out" this side of the House. They tell a story in my country about a gentleman, of whom we have all read, that had a cloven foot; that he once undertook to straighten a nigger's hair, and somebody inquired of him how he got along. He said, it was very busy work, though it was not very hard. I think the honorable Senator from Georgia will find his work both busy and hard. It cannot be done. Twenty honorable Senators, or more, as we have, belonging to the Republican party, cannot be crushed out by any legislative force that can be brought against them. I do not know but that honorable Senators may be emboldened by the course which is taken by other honorable Senators, and that they suppose, because certain Senators yield to anything they propose, that certain other Senators are going to yield to what they propose. I want to tell that honorable Senator that different men are now coming from the North. We have had enough in the North of those people who bow down and yield. We have got, if I mistake not, not a Senator, but a President, who bows down and yields to exactly what is said. I say to exactly what is said; perhaps I should not put it precisely in that form; but he bows to do what is required of him. We have got certain other Senators who bow down to do what is required of them; but I want the honorable Senator from Georgia to understand that there are certain Senators in this Chamber that are sent now to the Senate, not to bow down, but to stand up. We have had enough of bowing down, and the people in my region have got sick of it. They will stand up, and they cannot be crushed out. The gentleman may put his heel upon their heads or upon their toes or anywhere else he pleases, but still there will be Senators in this Chamber demanding their rights and maintaining their rights; and you may crush and crush, and the more you crush the more those men will stand up. That is what I have to say upon that point; and if the process had gone on, and God had spared my life, I would have made this speech in the Senate if it took to the day of doom; but now, since there is a manifestation on the part of honrable Senators that when I have concluded this speech the Senate will adjourn, I have no disposition to prolong it. I will meet them half way; but when they show me their foot or their heel, I will show them my foot or my heel, and I will stand in my place, and they cannot drive me from it, nor kick me out of it. Gentlemen may just as well understand that in the beginning as not. It is about time that this talk of crushing out should be stopped. It does not become, in my judgment, honorable Senators, either to utter or to hear it. One thing I am sure of-it is to be a very difficult process. The man who attempts it will find that he has as much as he can do for one generation. SENATE. is certainly to me a very singular one--that constitution which was "done at Lecompton on the 7th day of November." Since then, it is known that the free-State Legislature of that Territory has been in session. It is known that they have repealed, or attempted to repeal, certain laws there; and yet this Lecompton constitution, by a single provision, reenacts, or attempts to reenact and put in force those laws. It contains a provision that all the laws of the Territory in force on the 7th day of November, 1857, shall be in force when this constitution takes effect. Then, if, in the mean time, the free-State Legislature, or any other Legislature, should repeal part of those laws, by the force of the constitution assuming the powers of legislation, which I contend they have no right to do, they reenact those laws and of addressing myself to that amendment by and by. I do not propose to discuss it at length now. I only mention it at this time that I may not seem to have passed it over without any notice, and will give it further attention hereafter. I think, Mr. President, when I was stopped in my remarks, that I was commenting upon the amendment of the honorable Senator from Ohio. Here is the amendment of the Senator from Mis-put them in force. I shall have an opportunity souri, uniting the Minnesota with the Kansas bill. Upon that, at the proper time, I shall have something to say. Here is the amendment of the honorable Senator from Ohio; and upon that, at another time, I will have something to say. I will defer it now, because I feel I ought not, after the manifestation that has been shown here, to delay the Senate. Here is an amendment which I have indicated that I propose to make; on which, at the same time when I offer it, I shall have something to say; and I have another amendment drawn up, here in my drawer, which I am going to propose. I have not asked to have it printed, because it is well known I am going to move to put on the Kansas bill at the same time the old Missouri restriction, and I am going to endeavor to bring the Senate to vote upon it. I do not mean that the matter shall be passed from before the Senate until all these amendments shall be separately and severally considered, and until we have the distinct action of the Senate upon the whole of them. I had laid down various propositions in my own mind why I would not vote for the admission of Kansas under this Lecompton constitution. One of those reasons was, that it will not give peace and quiet, and may engender civil commotion and war, destroy the confidence of many of our citizens in the Government of the United States, and lead to mischief. I desire to discuss that proposition for a short time, because I may not get another opportunity to do so. Senators on the other side seem to think that Senators on this side want to prolong the debate. I do not desire to do so. I only desire to say fairly, candidly, and clearly what, in my judgment, is proper to the debate, and when I have said that, I shall sit down; but I shall not sit down until I have said it. You may adopt this Lecompton constitution, and the President says it will give you peace and quiet. In my judgment, I tell you it will give no peace and quiet. Bring peace to whom? Peace to the country? How so? What has been the state of the country ever since you repealed the Missouri compromise? and if you would go back further, I ask what has been the state of the country since you adopted the compromises? Then everything was to be settled. We have heard a very great many times of this peace and quiet. Adopt this measure, and there will be peace and quiet. The dove has come with the olive branch. in its mouth, and we have taken the dove into the ark, and yet no peace and quiet have come. I am going to pass them by now. I understand I shall be in order, when those amendments come before the Senate, to debate them. I do not mean to be factious, but I want to debate them fully. There is another question which I propose to debate now. I was about to go into an argument to show that under the provisions of the Lecompton constitution it was out of the power of the people to alter that constitution until 1864. I know that honorable gentlemen take other positions, and say this State Legislature may alter it at once. I maintain the opposite of that; and say, and I was proposing to go into an argument to show, that it could not be altered, and to show the danger there would be of forcing that upon the people at the You tell us that peace and quiet will come now. present time with the idea that it could be alI tell you, in my judgment, this measure will bring tered. I forbear to do that until some future time, you no peace nor quiet. The sentiment of the because I am desirous to bring this speech to a country is aroused in a way that no admission of close. I shall have an opportunity to debate that Kansas with this constitution will quiet it. Why legitimately and properly, as I may do, and as I has it been aroused? Because the country feared will endeavor to do, under the amendment of the that, when you repealed the Missouri comprohonorable Senator from Ohio, or under the amend- mise, you were going to make Kansas a slave ment which I may propose, or to the Missouri State. That was the watchword. The object was restriction. I think it will be germane to either to make Kansas a slave State. The country beof those amendments to debate it then; but I will came alarmed. They said that that was the obforbear now, because I do not wish to keep Sena-ject. A great many Senators in this Chamber tors at this unseasonable hour of the night. said "no. An honorable Senator from North Mr. SEWARD. Not many. Carolina, Mr. Badger, said: Mr. CLARK. It is said by the gentleman from New York there are not many here. But I have quite as much regard to dismiss those who are here as those who are gone, because they have taken care of themselves. It does not make any difference to me that there are not many Senators to hear me. It does not make any particular difference to me that I speak at this time of the night. I have a duty to discharge, and when I have uttered what I have to say, whether men hear or forbear, whether they go away or stay, I shall have discharged fully my duty to my constituents, to my country, and to my own conscience; and that is all that I have to regard, I think, in this matter. I shall endeavor to do that duty fearlessly. I shall endeavor to do it independently. I do not mean to trespass on any other man's rights or any other man's duties, if I can understand them in the discharge of my duty. There is, however, Mr. President, another point to which I propose an amendment. I will call the attention of the Senate to it for a moment, and for but a moment, because I mean to debate it by and by. It is a provision of the constitution which "I have no more idea that slavery will go into the Territory of Kansas than that it will go into Massachusetts." Senators talked about the law of climate; that the law which regulated slave labor effectually prevented its going there. They said slave labor would not, nor could not, flourish in Kansas. That was the argument. Everywhere I went, on the stump, and elsewhere, I endeavored to controvert it; because I saw, as I thought, that slavery was to go into Kansas. When they said that Kansas was too far north, slavery cannot go there, I replied to them, is Kansas any further north than Missouri? and if slavery is profitable in Missouri it will be in Kansas. That was one reason why I wanted to draw out the Senator from Missouri to-night. I wanted to ask him if he was in favor of abolishing it in Missouri, and he at once said no, that slave labor was profitable there. He told you that in raising hemp and tobacco it was nearly equal to the cotton crop in value, and he did not want to get rid of slavery in Missouri. If slavery is profitable in Missouri, why not in Kansas? Is it not entirely idle, then, to talk about the law of climate, or anything of |