bore so prominent a part that he gained his greatest
reputation. This bill and the manner in which he managed its course
through the senate, securing its adoption against the combined effort
of such men as Clay, Webster and Calhoun illustrates the characteristics
of the man more clearly than anything that could be said of him. When
reading the life of Andrew Jackson the reader will remember that the
senate passed a resolution condemning the action of the president, Mr.
Jackson, in regard to the distribution of the public funds in the
following language: _Resolved_, That the president in the late executive
proceedings in relation to the public revenue has assumed upon himself
authority and power not conferred by the constitution and laws, but in
derogation of both.

The motion of Mr. Benton was to strike from the journals of the senate
this resolution of censure. In support of the president's course and of
Mr. Benton's proposed method of vindication various public proceedings
were had in various sections of the country, and some of the State
legislatures not only voted in favor of the removal of the record of
censure but instructed their congressional delegations to use their
influence and votes in a similar direction.

Mr. Benton's resolutions rehearsed the principal points involved in the
past history and present aspects of the controversy quite at length, the
closing resolution being as follows: "That the said resolve be expunged
from the journal, and for that purpose that the secretary of the Senate
at such time as the Senate may appoint, shall bring the manuscript
journal of the session 1883-4 into the Senate, draw black lines round
the said resolve, and write across the face thereof in strong letters
the following words: 'Expunged by order of the Senate this--day of--, in
the year of our Lord--.'"

For three years successively did Mr. Benton bring forward on different
occasions his celebrated motion, and again and again he suffered defeat
after the most scathing debates that ever took place in any
parliamentary body, the Senate at this time containing an unusual amount
of oratorical talent and forensic power. But the last scene, and with it
victory to the great Missourian and his presidential master, was now
near at hand, and this scene, as described by Mr. Benton himself, was as
follows:

Saturday the fourteenth of January the Democratic Senators agreed to
have a meeting, and to take their final measures for