EXPUNGING RESOLUTION: REJECTED, AND RENEWED.
The speech which had been delivered by Mr. Benton, was intended for
effect upon the country--to influence the forthcoming elections--and
not with any view to act upon the Senate, still consisting of the
same members who had passed the condemnatory resolution, and not
expected to condemn their own act. The expunging resolution was
laid upon the table, without any intention to move it again during
the present session; but, on the last day of the session, when the
Senate was crowded with business, and when there was hardly time
to finish up the indispensable legislation, the motion was called
up, and by one of its opponents--Mr. Clayton, of Delaware--the
author of the motion being under the necessity to vote for the
taking up, though expecting no good from it. The moment it was
taken up, Mr. White, of Tennessee, moved to strike out the word
"expunge," and insert "rescind, reverse, and make null and void."
This motion astonished Mr. Benton. Mr. White, besides opposing all
the proceedings against President Jackson, had been his personal and
political friend from early youth--for the more than forty years
which each of them had resided in Tennessee. He expected his aid,
and felt the danger of such a defection. Mr. Benton defended his
word as being strictly parliamentary, and the only one which was
proper to be used when an unauthorized act is to be condemned--all
other phrases admitting the legality of the act which is to be
invalidated. Mr. White justified his motion on the ground that an
expurgation of the journal would be its obliteration, which he
deemed inconsistent with the constitutional injunction to "keep"
a journal--the word "keep" being taken in its primary sense of
"holding," "preserving," instead of "writing," a journal: but the
mover of the resolution soon saw that Mr. White was not the only one
of his friends who had yielded at that point--that others had given
way--and, came about him importuning him to give up the obnoxious
word. Seeing himself almost deserted, he yielded a mortifying and
reluctant assent; and voted with others of his friends to emasculate
his own motion--to reduce it from its high tone of reprobation, to
the legal formula which applied to the reversal of a mere error in
a legal proceeding. The moment the vote was taken, Mr. Webster rose
and exulted in the victory over the hated phrase. He proclaimed the
accomplishment of every thing that he desired in relation to the
expunging resolution: the word was itself expunged; and he went on
to triumph in the victory which had been achieved, saying:
"That which made this resolution, which we have now amended,
particularly offensive, was this: it proposed to expunge our
journal. It called on us to violate, to obliterate, to erase,
our own records. It was calculated to fix a particular stigma,
a peculiar mark of reproach or disgrace, on the resolution of
March last. It was designed to distinguish it, and reprobate
it, in some especial manner. Now, sir, all this most happily,
is completely defeated by the almost unanimous vote of the
Senate which has just now been taken. The Senate has declared,
in the most emphatic manner, that its journal shall not be
tampered with. I rejoice most heartily, sir, in this decisive
result. It is now settled, by authority not likely to be shaken,
that our records are sacred. Men may change, opinions may
change, power may change, but, thanks to the firmness of the
Senate, the records of this body do not change. No instructions
from without, no dictates from principalities or powers,
nothing--nothing can be allowed to induce the Senate to falsify
its own records, to disgrace its own proceedings, or violate
the rights of its members. For one, sir, I feel that we have
fully and completely accomplished all that could be desired in
relation to this matter. The attempt to induce the Senate to
expunge its journal has failed, signally and effectually failed.
The record remains, neither blurred, blotted, nor disgraced."
And then, to secure the victory which he had gained, Mr. Webster
immediately moved to lay the amended resolution on the table, with
the peremptory declaration that he would not withdraw his motion
for friend or foe. The resolve was laid upon the table by a vote
of 27 to 20. The exulting speech of Mr. Webster restored me to
my courage--made a man of me again; and the moment the vote was
over, I rose and submitted the original resolution over again, with
the detested word in it--to stand for the second week of the next
session--with the peremptory declaration that I would never yield it
again to the solicitations of friend or foe.