Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 20.pdf/88

 LESTER BURRELL SHIPPEE

80

be well to wait until an Executive Session otherwise the British

government would know the whole situation as well as the Americans did, and the United States would have exposed its hand while the adversary kept hers concealed. This point appealed to Benton and he agreed to wait before he spoke on the 34

subject.

A

request of the eleventh of April for copies of late correspondence produced the reply that there was nothing new to submit.

Literally this

was true but the Senate might have

received a great deal of information had the President chose to transmit copies of some of the letters received from Mc-

Lane.

With

or without

new

letters,

however, the Senate was

wearying of its protracted debate and fixed a day upon which it should end, but not so early that Sam Houston, the

at last

new Senator from Texas, could not add notice, 54 40', and war if necessary.

On

his voice for a

naked

April sixteenth, the day for the vote, Allen moved that resolution be taken first, but Reverdy Johnson's

House

the

motion that resolutions, which were essentially Crittenden's preamble and bill, be adopted as amendments to the House resolutions showed the Senate alignment on the whole topic. The amendment was adopted by a vote of 30 to 24. The minority was the number.

Democratic, with twelve western Senators in The majority rallied the Whig vote from all

all

together with six Democratic votes Calhoun and McDuffie of South Carolina, Haywood of North Carolina, Lewis of Alabama, Speight of Mississippi, and Westcott of sections

Florida.

The

result of the vote

provoked Allen to lecture the Senate

stand; he said the preamble was inconsistent with the resolutions for the President had called upon Congress to

on

its

advise him, and

him

now

the Senate referred the matter back to

after having accused him of want of discretion in the past. Great Britain would drag out the negotiations until after

Now

the adjournment of Congress, 34 Polk, Diary,

I,

324-5.

make

further military prepara-