SPEECH

UPON THE RESOLUTION OF MR. CLEMENS, OF ALABAMA, CALL-
ING UPON THE PRESIDENT FOR INFORMATION IN REFERENCE
TO THE APPOINTMENT OF A MILITARY GOVERNOR FOR CAL-

IFORNIA, ETC., AND IN ANSWER TO REMARKS MADE BY
MR. CLEMENS.

DELIVERED IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES, January 17, 1850.

[A portion of the preliminary proceedings, sufficient to show the occasion and the grounds of debate, is given.

The resolution came up in order, and was read by the Secretary. Mr. CLEMENS. I stated the other day that I thought it probable that the information called for by this resolution would be furnished in answer to the resolution which has been adopted by the House of Representatives. If this should be the case it would be unnecessary to adopt this resolution; and I thought it better, therefore, to wait and see the answer to that inquiry.

Mr. DOUGLAS, of Illinois. I trust the resolution will be adopted. If the answer made to the House cover the entire subject, it will be a very small affair-a matter of very little difficulty-to send a copy of it to us.

Mr. SMITH, of Connecticut, moved to lay the resolution on the table, but withdrew the motion at the request of Mr. Douglas.

Mr. CLEMENS. I hope no Senator will be influenced in his action on this subject by any desire to extend courtesy to me. I ask nothing of the kind at the hands of any man. I desire them to vote according to the dictates of their own judgment, and to understand, too, what they are voting for. It has become so much the fashion here to discuss everything but the precise question before the Senate, that it has come to be regarded as the regular practice and custom, and the Senator who objects to it is considered captious and ill-natured. The question is not now whether this resolution shall be adopted, or whether I or anybody else is in favor of it, or even whether we want the information proposed to be obtained. That is not now the question. It was the question

the other day, however, and the Senator from Illinois [Mr. DOUGLAS] voted against it. It is his fault that the information has not been furnished to the Senate; and I must be permitted to express my surprise at the new-born zeal to obtain it which seems to animate him now. Why did he not vote for its adoption at the time he caused it to be laid on the table? Who prolonged this matter and prevented us from receiving this information before this time? It was the Senator from Illinois. He moved to lay it on the table, and his vote carried it there. I say the question is not now whether we want this information, or whether it is necessary, or will be of public utility, but whether it has not already been furnished to the House of Representatives; and if so, is it not an unnecessary requirement to call upon the Departments again to furnish it to us? That, sir, is the only question here now. I think it is very probable that the information has been already furnished, and I want the resolution passed by now for the purpose of ascertairing whether it has or not.

I move, Mr. President, that the resolution be laid on the table.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I claim the privilege of making a single remark. As an act of courtesy, will the Senator from Alabama give me the opportunity by withdrawing his motion ?

Mr. CLEMENS. No, sir.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I ask the privilege, then, of the Senate, as an act of courtesy.

The VICE-PRESIDENT. There is no way of obtaining what the Senator desires, except by a vote of the Senate.

Mr. DODGE, of Iowa. I ask then, sir, a vote of the Senate.

Mr. KING, of Alabama. I hope my colleague will withdraw his motion, and allow the Senator from Illinois to proceed.

Mr. CLEMENS. Very well; at the suggestion of my colleague, I will withdraw the motion.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I will not say that I regret-though I did not expect -yes, I do regret that the honorable senator from Alabama has given the turn to this matter which he has. He has charged me with being responsible for the delay of this subject, because the other day when he was anxious to have it acted on, I moved to lay the resolution on the table, at the same time assuring him that I would move to take it up in an hour. The reason I gave was, that it had come up accidentally on a motion of mine to suspend the order of the day to get at the consideration of another subject; but I pledged myself that I would move to take it up in an hour, and would vote for it. With what fairness, then, can the honorable Senator from Alabama charge me with having postponed it to this time, and with having caused this delay? Can he with fairness charge me with having voted against this inquiry, when he heard me, and every Senator heard me, offer to vote to take it up in an hour; especially, when I went to him in fifteen minutes, and offered to

move to take it up, and he told me he did not want me to do it, because it was laid on the table by a sectional Northern vote, and he wanted to prove and use that fact at the South-that the North would not allow the South to have an honest investigation of this matter. He had accomplished his object, he said. I told him, if he had accomplished his object that I had not accomplished mine, and that I desired to see the resolution adopted. Hence, I expected that yesterday, when the subject might have been brought up, the Senator would let it go over, and I expect he will do so again. I wish to show that Senator that my object has never been concealment. I am anxious to see this resolution adopted, that it may not be said in the South that the North, as a section, has stifled investigation on this subject. That was my object today in laboring hard to get it up, and I am astonished that the Senator from Connecticut did not understand the movement that was playing and going on. It has been a matter of by-play which I have understood all the time.

Mr. BUTLER, of South Carolina, Mr. Downs, of Louisiana, Mr. DAVIS, of Mississippi, and Mr. BORLAND, of Arkansas, denied all knowledge of any such understanding.

Mr. DOUGLAS. Well, I will explain. Several Senators came to me -I do not know how many-and said they believed many were willing this resolution should be regarded as laid on the table and kept there by Northern votes. I was willing to reverse the vote of the other day. Other Senators, so far as I had spoken to them, desired to show on the record that they were not unwilling that the investigation should be made. And when it was whispered in private circles and here, that the North had been caught, and that it would be held up as a sectional vote against allowing this investigation, several Senators spoke to me, and desired to have the question taken up.

Mr. KING. I much regret the course this debate has taken. I had supposed that it was the wish of my colleague that this subject should be taken up and finally acted on, and I was not aware that he desired any postponement of it. As to the disposition manifested by any portion of the Senate with regard to this subject, of which the Senator from Illinois has spoken, I myself knew nothing; and if the Senator has been told that there was any disposition on the part of any Southern man to press this resolution with a view to effect an object different from what it expresses, let him name him.

Mr. DOUGLAS. I went to the seat of the Senator from Alabama, just after the vote was taken the other day, in the kindest feeling, and said to him that I would move to take up his resolution on that day. He said to me that his object was acccomplished; that it was laid on the table by an almost unanimous Northern vote; his object was thereby accomplished, and he desired the South to understand the matter. I said that mine was not, and that he ought not to make such a use of

my motion, because he knew I only desired to lay it on the table temporarily. He replied, you may have done so, but you are the only one. I was desirous, from that fact, that it should be taken up, and to have that vote reversed, so that no such use might be made of it, and I desired also to have it taken up, because I think the resolution should be adopted.

Explanations between Mr. King and Mr. Douglas, regarding the state of the question and the previous action upon the resolution, followed.

Mr. CLEMENS. I do not know that it is necessary that I should say more in relation to the merits of this question, but there is a matter between the Senator from Illinois and myself which requires that something should be said by myself. And I take occasion to say that a Senator who undertakes to retail private conversation ought to be cautious what he says in relation to it, because if it should happen that the memory of the individual and his own should differ, he might find himself awkwardly situated. But he runs no risk in retailing what I have said. My lips avow what I do, and my hand is ready to defend it. I said to the Senator from Illinois pretty much what he has related, and something besides, which he has not told. I did tell him when he came to me and offered to make a motion to take up this resolution from the table, that I did not want his help. I did tell him also that the North had proved what I always knew—that the Northern Democrats wanted to shield the President from this investigation, because the slavery question was involved in it.

Mr. SHIELDS, of Illinois. I disavow, for myself, any such imputation, that I gave a vote for any such purpose.

Mr. CLEMENS. The gentleman is perfectly at liberty to disavow it if he sees proper. I repeat that I said it, and I say it now, and I am responsible for what I say, sir; that the people of the Northern States were willing to shield the President from this investigation, because the question of slavery was involved in it; that on a resolution of this sort the entire body of Northern Democracy were found voting against it. I told him that I wanted to show to the people of the South that they were laboring under a delusion.

Mr. DICKINSON. I will thank the Senator not to include me. I voted against the motion to lay on the table.

Mr. CLEMENS. I beg your pardon, sir. I said the people of the South had been heretofore laboring under the delusion that the Northern Democrats were their friends. I said it was a delusion, and I was glad to have an opportunity of explaining it to them. God deliver me from such friends as the Northern Democrats! I would rather trust Northern Whigs to-day. They commenced the game earlier, and have not to go so far to get in a proper position. Look at the resolutions of Democratic Legislatures and the messages of Democratic Governors,

and the resolutions adopted by Democratic conventions, and then tell me about Northern Democrats being the friends of the South. They may vote in a body for the adoption of this resolution if they choose, but it will do us no good; because a similar resolution has already been adopted in the House, and this investigation must go on. They come forward now, with their aid, when we can afford to dispense with it. They tell us now they are willing to adopt the resolution, and the gentleman from Illinois says it is necessary to put himself in a right position. What is that position? It is to enable him to go before the country and to tell the South that he is still a friend of the South, and to deceive them a little longer. That is the position of the Northern Democrats. Put them to the test, put something practical before them, and where is the aid which we get from the Northern Democracy?

The junior Senator from Illinois [Mr. SHIELDS] has seen proper to disavow a declaration made by me in terms which I suppose were meant to be offensive. I repeat, therefore, for his especial benefit, what I said before, that I am responsible here and elsewhere.

Mr. DODGE. I call the gentleman to order. I wish to say that in debate such personal remarks should not be allowed.

Mr. SHIELDS. Will the Senator from Alabama allow me

The VICE-PRESIDENT. What is the point of order?

Mr. DAVIS. The point of order is to exclude all personal remarks, and I hope it will be enforced.

Mr. FOOTE of Mississippi. Will my friend from Alabama allow me? Mr. CLEMENS. Certainly, sir.

Mr. FOOTE. I hope my friend will allow me to say to him that I am sure one or two of his remarks must have fallen from him without due deliberation, as I know is the case with myself often in the heat of debate, and as I believe is the case with himself on this occasion. I have been here for some time, and I have had free and unreserved intercourse with certain Northern Democrats, whom I esteem, and whom I hope my friend from Alabama will hereafter have cause to esteem also. I could mention a great many names to him whose merits he would recognize at once.

Mr. Foote proceeded at some length in the same course of remark, naming several Northern Democrats as illustrating his statements.

Mr. SHIELDS explained that so far from intending anything offensive, what he said was with the express design of satisfying the Senator from Alabama [Mr. Clemens] that his vote to lay the resolution on the table was given without any reference whatever to the question of slavery in the South, or abolition in the North.

Mr. CLEMENS. I am glad to hear the honorable Senator's statement. I am glad that this episode is happily ended; and to the honorable Senator from Mississippi I will take occasion to say that there is no man in this body for whom I have a more sincere respect or kinder