A Report of the Debates and Proceedings in the Secret Sessions of the Conference Convention / For Proposing Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, Held at Washington, D.C., in February, A.D. 1861

by L. E. Chittenden

Mr. HOUSTON:—I respectfully appeal from the decision of the President.

Mr. MOREHEAD:—I move to lay the whole subject on the table.

Mr. FIELD:—I ask for a vote by States.

The PRESIDENT:—It is somewhat difficult to decide what motion has precedence. What was the motion of the gentleman from New York?

Mr. FIELD:—I moved a reconsideration of the action of the Convention admitting Mr. Stone. Let us have a vote on that motion. It is as good a test as any.

Mr. MOREHEAD:—I insist that the question is upon my motion to lay the whole subject on the table.

The question was taken upon the motion of Mr. Morehead, with the following result:

Ayes.—Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Virginia—10.

Noes.—Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Vermont—9.

Mr. CLAY:—I would ask, as a matter of courtesy, not to say of common decency, that Mr. Stone may be permitted to state how and why he came here.