parations for deadly conflict. Senators should rely for defence upon the Senate, whose high duty it is to protect its members from injury or insult, and whose practice should furnish a perfect guarantee of such protection.

A different course would convert the halls of legislation into bloody arenas, and destroy the value, if not the existence, of the institutions from which spring our glory and our good.

The committee have searched the precedents and find that no similar scene has ever been witnessed in the Senate of the United States. Personal conflict has on several occasions occurred in the House of Representatives in and the British House of Commons. In the former body no punishment has ever been inflicted, the House being satisfied with the atonement of an ample apology. In the British Parliament the House, in one case, committed a member to the tower for striking another, but, in general, they have proceeded no further than to put the offending member in the custody of the sergeant-at-arms, and their decision has been made upon view, and not after the report of a committee.

In the present case, under all the circumstances, the committee forbear to recommend any action to the Senate. They hope that the strong condemnation of the personalities which led to threatened violence, their censure of the attempt by a member to avenge himself in the presence of the Senate, and of the practice of carrying arms in the Senate chamber, will be a sufficient rebuke, and a warning not unheeded in future.

Should this hope prove. vain, and similar scenes of violence again occur, they cannot doubt that the Senate will enforce prompt, stern, and effectual punishment.

APPENDIX.

UNITED STATES SENATE, SELECT COMMITTEE OF APRIL 17, 1850.

UNITED STATES SENATE, SELECT COMMITTEE OF APRIL 17, 1850.

Wednesday, May 1, 1850.

PRESENT-Mr. Pearce, Chairman,

Mr. Rusk,
Mr. Shields.

The following witnesses attended

Mr. Bradbury,
Thomas Ritchie,
Thomas L. Price,
Mathew H. Stevens,
Robert P. Anderson,
G. Bailey.

Mr. Benton and Mr. Foote also attended.
Adjourned until to-morrow at 10 o'clock.

JAMES J. DICKENS. Clerk to the Select Committee.

UNITED STATES SENATE, SELECT COMMITTEE OF APRIL 17, 1850.
Thursday, May 2, 1850.

PRESENT-Mr. Pearce, Chairman,

Thomas L. Price, summoned at the request of Mr. Benton, being duly sworn according to law, by Mr. Pearce, Chairman of the Select Committee, appointed to investigate the disorder in the Senate of April the 17th, testified as follows:

Examined by Mr. Benton.

Question 1. Were you in the Senate chamber on the 17th ultimo, at the time of the disorder in the Senate, and if so, what was your position in the chamber at the time of the disorder?

Answer. Witness was in the Senate chamber, standing in the rear of Mr. Foote, while he was speaking, on the 17th ultimo.

Question 2. How came you to be there at that time?

Answer. Witness was about to go out when Mr. Foote rose to speak, and stopped to hear him.

Question 3. Will you state his manner, looks, and actions, and tone of voice, whether loud or otherwise?

Answer. When Mr. Foote rose to speak, witness thought he seemed to be excited, and after a few minutes became very much so; first stamped with one foot, then with both; was looking towards Mr. Benton; afterwards pointed his finger towards him, speaking in an angry tone of voice, at the time evidently excited very much.

Question 4. Did you see Mr. Benton rise from his chair? and if so, which way did he go, and how far did he go before he stopped?

Answer. Witness saw Mr. Benton rise from his chair; supposed from the manner he rose that he pushed his chair out of the way; turned towards the left, and went about six or eight feet from where he started.

Question 5. Did you see Mr. Foote leave his place, and if so, how long after Mr. Benton rose, and which way did Mr. Foote go, and was his movement slow or quick?

Answer. Witness saw Mr. Foote leave the position he occupied when speaking, about the time Mr. Benton stopped advancing in that direction; Mr. Foote went towards the stand in the direction of the President's desk,

and stopped near the secretary's desk; went in a pretty direct route; his movement quick.

Question 6. Will you tell all that Mr. Foote did, after leaving his place? Answer. Witness saw him run his hand into his bosom before he left his position; saw something, took it for a pistol; his back was towards me; when he left the stand he was surrounded; could see little of him. Question 7. Did Mr. Foote stop, or look back, or turn round, until he got near the secretary's desk?

Answer. Mr. Foote looked back once, after leaving his seat, before he got to his position, but did not stop or turn round.

Question 8. Did you hear Mr. Benton say that he was unarmed, and call upon by-standers to examine him?

Answer. Yes.

Question 9. Did you hear Mr. Foote say he was unarmed, at any time after the pistol was given up, or hear him offer to be examined?

Answer. Witness did not hear Mr. Foote say he was unarmed, or propose to be examined.

Question 10. Did you observe anything that might have been a weapon upon him after the pistol was given up?

Answer. After the difficulty was over, while Mr. Foote was speaking, I observed something hanging just below his vest, about the width of two fingers, and thin; do not know what it was.

Question 11. How long have you been in Washington, and have you seen Mr. Benton frequently and intimately; and have you seen, or known him to have or to carry pistols, sticks or clubs, or weapons of any kind? Answer. Witness has been in Washington since the evening of the 14th of April; has seen, and been with Mr. Benton frequently; never knew him to carry weapons of any kind.

Question 12. Are you now Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, and have you long been intimate with Mr. Benton?

Answer. Am now acting Lieutenant Governor of Missouri; have known Mr. Benton seventeen years, most of the time intimately.

Cross-examined by Mr. Foote.

Question 1. Did you say you were just behind Mr. Foote when he commenced speaking?

Answer. Yes.
Question 2.

Was his back turned towards you?

Answer. Yes.

Question 3. If so, how could you ascertain the precise direction in which his eyes were turned?

Answer. He was looking towards Mr. Benton; his head was turned towards Mr. Benton; saw the side of his face.

Question 4. Are you certain that Mr. Foote stamped in the way described by you?

Answer. I am very certain.

Question 5. You say Mr. Benton was unarmed; did you see where Mr. Jones and Mr. Fremont were located at the time, and do you know whether or not they, or either of them were armed?

Answer. Witness does not remember that Col. Fremont was there. Mr. Jones was there; do not know whether Mr. Jones was armed or not.

Question 6. Had not Mr. Jones and Mr. Fremont been attending in the Senate for several days; and on such occasions, were they not located just in the rear of Mr. Benton's seat?

Answer. Witness had formed no acquaintance with Mr. Jones until that day, after the difficulty; does not know of Mr. Jones being there before that day; do not recollect seeing Mr. Fremont in the Senate on that day, or any day before.

Question 7. Did you ever hear Mr. Benton threaten Mr. Foote with personal violence of any sort ?

Answer. I never did.

Question 8. Was Mr. Benton's manner, in approaching Mr. Foote's chair, such as to indicate a violent in his heart, or otherwise?

Answer. Witness thought that Mr. Benton's manner, when he rose from his chair, was that of much excitement.

Question 9. Could Mr. Foote have fired, in his own defence, from the position which he first occupied, towards any part of the line along which Mr. Benton was approaching, without endangering the lives of others?

Answer. If Mr. Foote had fired, from his first position, in the line on which Mr. Benton was approaching, there would have been danger to persons on the sofa.

Question 10. Were not the sofas crowded at the time?

Answer. There were persons on the sofas; but witness does not know whether they were crowded or not.

Re-examined by Mr. Benton.

Question 1. If Mr. Foote had stood still in his place until Mr. Benton had got in reach of him, would any person or persons then have been between them?

Answer. There would have been no person or persons between them. Question 2. If Mr. Foote had fired at Mr. Benton from the place where he stopped and turned, would he have been in less danger of hitting other persons?

Answer. There would have been more danger of hitting other persons.

Further examined by Mr. Foote.

Question 1. Did Mr. Foote attempt to fire from his position in front of the President's chair? Did he not, on the contrary, content himself with cocking his pistol, and holding it quietly at his side, with the muzzle pointed to the floor?

Answer. Saw very little of Mr. Foote after he got to his position; did not see how he held his pistol.

Question 2. Did Mr. Foote utter any threatening or violent language during the whole scene, or indulge in menacing gestures?

Answer. None, except as before described.

Robert P. Anderson, summoned at the request of Mr. Benton, being duly sworn, testified as follows: