in
the speeches he has made in the Senate--speeches that were carefully
considered, and by which the position of each Senator was stated;
but undoubtedly I shall feel it my duty, when the bill is called
up, to state what I regard as the actual practical effect of these
different propositions; and some of them, I will now say, I assented
to with great reluctance."

On the next day the bill was taken up in the Senate, and I then
stated the general provisions of the bill. I insert extracts from
my speech, which indicate the difficulties we encountered:

"Mr. president, some complaint has been made in the Senate and in
the country at the delay in the presentation, by the committee on
finance, of some bill covering the financial question; but a moment's
reflection will, I am sure, convince every Senator that there has
been no fault on the part of that committee. From the beginning
of the session to this hour that committee, under the direction of
the Senate, has been studying and discussing the various plans and
propositions which were referred to the committee; and I may say
that over sixty different propositions, either coming in the form
of petitions or in the form of bills, have been sent to the committee,
all of these suggesting different plans and ideas. It was impossible
to consider all these and to agree upon any comprehensive measures
until within a day or two.

"There was another consideration. The committee found itself
divided in opinion, precisely as the country is, and precisely as
the Senate is, into as many as three different classes of opinion.
There were, first, those who desired to take a definite and positive
step toward the resumption of specie payments. There were, second,
those who desired an enlargement of the currency, or what we commonly
call an inflation of the currency. There were, third, those who,
while willing to see the amount of bank notes increased and the
question of the legal tender settled in some form, were also desirous
that some definite step should be taken toward a specie standard.
There were these differences of opinion.

"For the purpose of ascertaining the views of the Senate, and not
involving ourselves in reporting a bill that would be defeated as
the bill of the last session was, we presented, early in the session,
resolutions of a general character which stated these three ideas:
First, the resolution of the majority of the committee that some
definite step should