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-
