passing an
expunging resolution. They knew they had the numbers, but they also knew
they had adversaries to grapple with to whom might be applied the motto
of Louis Fourteenth: 'Not an unequal match for numbers.' They also knew
that members of the party were in process of separating from it and
would require reconciliating. They met in the night at the then famous
restaurant of Boulanger giving to the assemblage the air of convivial
entertainment. It continued till midnight and required all the
moderation, tact and skill of the prime movers to obtain and maintain
the Union in details on the success of which depended the fate of the
measure. The men of concilliation were to be the efficient men of that
night, and all the winning resources of Wright, Allen and Linn were put
in requisition. There were serious differences upon the method of
expurgation, while agreed upon the thing; and finally obliteration, the
favorite mover, was given up and the mode of expurgation adopted which
had been proposed in the resolution of the general assembly of Virginia,
namely, to inclose the obnoxious sentence in a square of black lines--an
oblong square, a compromise of opinions to which the mover agreed upon
condition of being allowed to compose the epitaph, "Expunged by the
order of the senate."

The agreement which was to lead to victory was then adopted, each one
severally pledging himself to it that there should be no adjournment of
the senate after the resolution was called until it was passed, and that
it should be called immediately after the morning business on the Monday
ensuing. Expecting a protracted session extending through the day and
night, and knowing the difficulty of keeping men steady to their work
and in good humor when tired and hungry, the mover of the proceeding
took care to provide as far as possible against such a state of things,
and gave orders that night to have an ample supply of cold hams,
turkeys, rounds of beef, pickles, wines and cups of hot coffee ready in
a certain committee-room near the senate chamber by four o'clock on the
afternoon of Monday.

The motion to take up the subject was made at the appointed time, and
immediately a debate of long speeches, chiefly on the other side, opened
itself upon the question. As the darkness of approaching night came on
and the great chandelier was lit up, splendidly illuminating the chamber
then crowded with the members of the house, and the lobbies and
galleries