Mr. Johnson, of Kentucky, moved to amend the resolution reported by the committee so as to reverse it and make it favorable to the petitioner, and followed his motion with a speech of some length in support of the claim.

An earnest debate ensued on this question, which occupied the Senate until nearly four o'clock, in which the various facts, and numerous papers, adduced in support of the claim, were minutely examined and elaborately commented on, pro and con. Messrs. Johnson of Kentucky, Brown of Louisiana, Van Buren, Talbot, Smith of Maryland, Benton, and Holmes of Maine, supported the allowance of the claim; and Messrs. Ruggles, Van Dyke, Chandler, and Lanman, opposed it. Mr. Barton also spoke against its allowance, not on its merits, but because he thought it in the first instance a more proper question for a court of justice between Messrs. Morrison and Buford.