Minnesota weekly times. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1859, 1856-02-23
wASHINGTON.
Yrsn our, regular Correspondent.
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Prem eur regular Correspondent.
a.' - '"e WAsHrScroN, Feb. 3, 1856.
Lsus Dec! the long agony Is over, and Nathan.
lei p. Banks Is Speaker of the House Of Repre-
sentatives Of the 34th Congress-. But what
struggle AMI how came an election 70 taks
place at last 2 mctbinks hear you ask, very
natural question: will answer it.
A good deal of voting had taken place on Friday:
various resolutions declaring this member and
that mcmber-Smith, Of Va, Oliver, Of Missouri,
Porter, of Missouri, Banks, of Massachusetts,
and Aiken, of s. c., Speaker of the House, eve-
ry one of which failed. But the resolution declar-
ing Banks Speaker was lost, l03 to rs, while
that declaring Mr.. Aiken Speaker was lost lo2
to no, ,-l2 in the one ease, 10 in the other. This
led the Democrats to believe that in a contest be-
tween Banks and Aiken, all the National Amer
leans would vote for the latter and thus elect
him. >'@ isfs .13fi a3fa 5000
Thus stood matters when the House adjourned
ON Friday. The impression generally prevailed
that Aiken would be elected the next day. Ac-
eordinglv, the next morning. yesterday, MIR.
Smith, of Tenn, Dem, believing, as the Union
Acknowledges, that Mr.. Aiken stood at least An
equal chance Of being elected with Mr.. Banks,
Q,eieving more, that his char ce was almost ceT-
fai,.fyl submitted resolution declaring that the
House should proceed to vote for Speaker r1ra
voce, and if in voting three times one had .
m .jprity, another vote should be taken and the
person having the largest number of votes should
be declared Speaker Of the House. The resolu-
ton was adopted, II to l04.
The House accordingly proceeded to vote, amid
much excitement and continual onfusion, the gal
eries I'D passages being densely crowded by
an anxious multitude, .,-t...,,,. 1919. "a
On the 133d vote, and the 4th unler the reso-
luton, Mr.. Ranks received LOB votes, Mr.. Aiken
loo, Alr. Fuller 6, Mr.. G .mpbell 4, AMI Mr..
Wells /. Ths excite nent during the taking of
this vote iptense,a ,aal m ,phsrs were like dis
turbed hive of bees, it 50 sned almost impossible
for about fifty of the most restless AMI exctable to
keep their seats, or r.msin in ons place two min
utes at time, c'SE': a1 +7Ft : @2a.0 .,ia Bliss
Upont the annunci alton of the result, tho salle-
ries broke oat into loud AMI prolons ID cheers,
and the lalies waved their handkerchiefs in to-
ken of their joy, al Of their being Banks men.
This took place about half past FIVE O'Clock.
Those who voted for Mr.. Fuller to the last,
were Mcssrs. Broom, of Pa, Davis, of Nd, Gull
len, of DI., Clark, of New York, Millward, Of
Pa, and Whitney, OF N. Y. '>'' e
For Campbell, Messrs. Dunn, and Scott, Of
Ind. Harris on and Moore, Of Ohio.
For Mr.. Wells, Hickman, of Pa. ''-..'
Nearly all these, the Dem ocrats confidently be-
heved would, in the last resort, vote for Mr..
Aiken, and with their votes they knew he would
be elected. Here was the mistake they made,
and the way they came to propose the plurality
| rule and they were led into this error by the
fact that Messrs. Broom and Whitney had, ON
Friday, voted for the resolution declaring Mr..
Aiken Speaker. This vote tho two gentlemen
found was mistake on their part, and if repeat
ed would be fatal mistake. They were alarm
ed and took tn, a,liest opportunity to back out
from voting for Democrat, Southern man,
and one of the largest slave holders in the Uni
ted States. Ho i~ Fol I.ffa
Had more votes been required to elect Mr..
Banks, to the number Of five or six, perhaps
more, he would have received them or this /
was made aware before the assembling Of the
House yesterd ", SO l kne,c what the result woul1
be, though the. Democrats were confident OF
elect;ng Mr.. Aiken up to thcvcry last vote. p
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