this scene, as described, mainly, 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 passing the expunging resolution. They knew they had the numbers; but they also knew they had adversaries to grapple with whom might be applied the proud motto of Louis the Fourteenth: "Not an unequal match for numbers." They also knew that members of the party were in the process of separating from it, and would require conciliating. They met in the night at the then famous restaurant of Boulanger, giving to the assemblage the air of a convivial entertainment. It continued till midnight, and required all the moderation, tact and skill of the prime movers to obtain and maintain the union upon details, on the success of which the fate of the measure depended. The men of conciliation were to be the efficient men of that night; and all the winning resources of Wright, Allen of Ohio, and Linn of Missouri, were put into requisition. There were serious differences upon the mode of expurgation, while agreed upon the thing; and finally obliteration, the favorite of the mover, was given up, and the mode of expurgation adopted which had been proposed in the resolutions 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 then adopted, each one severally one severally pledging himself to it, that there should 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, was 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 filled to their utmost capacity with visitors and spectators, the scene became grand and impressive. A few spoke on the side of the resolution-chiefly Rives, Buchanan, Niles-and, with an air of ease and satisfaction that bespoke a quiet determination, and a consciousness of victory. The committee room was resorted to in parties of four and six at a time, always leaving enough on watch; and not resorted to by one side alone. The opposition were invited to a full participation-an invitation of which those who were able to maintain their good temper readily availed themselves; but the greater part were not in a humor to eat anything-especially at such a feast. The night was wearing away; the expungers were in full force-masters of the chamber-happy-and visibly determined to remain. It became evident to the great opposition leaders, that the inevitable hour had come; that the 'damnable deed' was to be done that night; and that the dignity of silence was no longer to them a tenable position. The battle was going against them, and they must go into it, without being able to re-establish it. In the beginning, they had not considered the expunging movement a serious proceeding; as it advanced, they still expected it to miscarry on some point; now, the reality of the thing stood before them, confronting their presence, and refusing to "down" at any command. Mr. Calhoun opposed the measure, in a speech of great severity. The day (said he) is gone; night approaches, and night is suitable to the dark deed we meditate; there is a sort of destiny in this thing; the act must be performed, and it is an act which will tell upon the political history of this country forever. Mr. Clay indulged in unmeasured denunciation of the whole thing. The last speech in opposition to the measure was made by Mr. Webster, who employed the strongest language he could was there. Expectation, and determination to see the conclusion, were depicted upon every countenance. It was evident there was to be no adjournment until the vote should be taken-until the deed was done; and this aspect of invincible determination had its effect upon the ranks of the opposition. They began to falter under a useless persistence, for they alone now did the speaking; and while Mr. Webster was yet reciting his protest, two senators from the opposition side, who had been best able to maintain their equanimity, came round to the mover of the resolution, and said: "This question has degenerated into a trial of nerves and Resolved that the President in the late Executive pr edings in relation to the publi authority Lower Constitution FAC-SIMILE COPY OF THE EXPUNGING RESOLUTION. command, condemnatory of an act, which, | muscles. It has become a question of he declared, was so unconstitutional, so derogatory to the character of the senate, and marked with so broad an impression of compliance with power. But, though thus pronounced an irregular and unconstitutional proceeding, by Mr. Webster and the other senators with whom he sided and voted, Mr. John Quincy Adams, who was at the time a member of the house, and in direct antagonism, politically, to Mr. Benton and to the Jackson administration, held a different opinion. Midnight (says Mr. Benton, in continuing his account,) was now approaching. The dense masses which filled every inch of room in the lobbies and the galleries, remained immovable. No one went out; no one could get in. The floor of the senate was crammed with privileged persons, and it seemed that all congress a dead silence, and an intense feeling. Presently the silence was invaded by the single word, "question "-the parliamentary call for a vote-rising from the seats of different senators. One blank in the resolve remained to be filled-the date of its adoption. It was done. The acting president of the senate, Mr. King, of Alabama, then directed the roll to be called. The yeas and nays had been previously ordered, and proceeded to be called by the secretary of the senate, the result showing a majority of five on the side of the expungers. The passage of the resolution was announced from the chair. Mr. Benton rose, and said that nothing now remained but to execute the order of the senate, which he moved be done forthwith. It was ordered accordingly. The secretary thereupon produced the original manuscript journal of the senate, and opening at the page which contained the condemnatory sentence of March twenty-eighth, 1834, proceeded in open senate to draw a square of broad black lines around the sentence, and to write across its face in strong letters these words: "EXPUNGED BY ORDER OF THE SENATE, THIS 16TH DAY OF MARCH, 1837." Up to this moment, the crowd in the great circular gallery, looking down upon the senate, though sullen and menacing in their looks, had made no manifestation of feeling. Things were in this state when the secretary of the senate began to per form the expunging process. Instantly a storm of hisses, groans, and vociferations arose from the left wing of the gallery, over the head of Mr. Benton. Anticipating the possibility of violence, some of the senator's friends had gone out and brought arms into the hall. No use, however, was made of them, the mob being intimidated by one of the ringleaders being seized by the sergeant-at-arms and brought to the bar of the senate; and the expunging process was performed in quiet. The gratification of General Jackson was extreme. He gave a grand dinner to the expungers and their wives; being, however, too weak to sit at the table, he only met the company, placed the 'head expunger' in the chair, and withdrew to his sick chamber. That expurgation (remarks Mr. Benton,) was the crowning glory of Jackson's civil, as New Orleans had been of his military, life. XXXIII. MAGNIFICENT AURORA BOREALIS ENCOMPASSING THE WHOLE FIRMAMENT TO ITS FARTHEST BOUNDS.-1837. A Vast Canopy of Gorgeous Crimson Flames Encircles the Earth.-Arches of Resplendent Auroral Glories Span the Hemisphere-Innumerable Scarlet Columns of Dazzling Beauty Rise from the Horizon to the Zenith.-The Face of Nature Everywhere Appears, to an Astonished World, as if Dyed in Blood.-Uncommon Extent and Sublimity.-Remarkable Duration and Aspects.-Intensely Luminous Character.-Universal Outburst of Luster.-Preceded by a Fall of Snow.-First Signs of the Phenomenon.-Exquisite Rosy Illumination-The Snow Appears Deep Red.-A Fiery Vermilion Tinge to Nature.-Alarm Produced by the Scene.-Great Moving Pillar of Light.-Vivid Streamers in All Directions.-Pure White and Brilliant Colors.-Contrast of the Glowing Tints.-Wide Fields of Rainbow Hues.-Radiant Beauty Heaven-Wide.-Superlative Pageant of Splendor.-Perfection of the Stellar Form.-Millions of Wondering Observers.-Visible Nearly the Whole Night.Accounts from Different Points.-Europe's Share in the Display. "Depth, height, breadth, Are lost in their extremes; and where to count FEARS of observation, covering many centuries, and embracing all zones and latitudes, give no record of any display of auroral glories equal, in sublimity, magnificence, and extent, to the aurora borealis of November fourteenth, 1837. Of the various accounts of this phenomenon, as furnished by observers in different parts of the land, the following will suffice to show its marvelous beauty and grandeur,-remarkable for its amplitude, its duration, its intense luminosity, and the brilliancy of its colors. Scientific observations of the phenomenon were made by Professors Barnard, Herrick, Twining, Joslin, Silliman, Gibbs, Henry, Dewey, Redfield, and others, and these were republished in all parts of Europe, attracting universal attention. SINGULAR FORM OF AURORAL ARCH. The city of New Haven had been visited, during the day of the fourteenth, with a moderate storm of snow, which began to subside between the hours of five and six in the evening. The heavens continued, however, to be more or less obscured by clouds during the entire evening; on which account, the splendors of the aurora, as they manifested themselves to observers more favorably situated, were here in a great degree concealed. The veil of snow-clouds, which, at sunset, and for some time afterward, covered the sky, was nevertheless exceedingly thin; and it was through this, and even Of this appearance, Professor Olmstead, then of New Haven, says: The snow, which at sunset had covered the earth and all things near it, with a mantle of the purest white, closed, early in the evening, with a most curious and beautiful pageant. About six o'clock, while the sky was yet thick with falling snow, all things suddenly appeared as if dyed in blood. The The entire atmosphere, the surface of the earth, the trees, the tops of the houses, and, in short, the whole face of nature, were tinged with the same scarlet hue. The alarm of fire was given, and the vigilant firemen were seen parading the streets in their ghostly uniform, which, assuming the general tint, seemed in singular keeping with the phenomenon. The light was most intense in the north-west and northeast. At short intervals it alternately increased and diminished in brightness, until, at half-past six, only a slight tingo of red remained on the sky. On account of the light being thus transmitted through the snowy medium and a thin veil of clouds, the aurora borealis was diffused like the light of an astral lamp, covered with a red shade of ground glass. That the stratum of clouds was very thin, was inferred from the fact, that, before halfpast six, a few stars were discernible as when seen through a fog; and such was the appearance of the moon, which rose about the same time. Within ten minutes from the time the heavens began to assume their fiery appearance, the whole clouded hemisphere shone with that marvelously brilliant light, which, reflected in rosy tints by the snow on the ground, produced a scene indescribably gorgeous. To some observers, the auroral flush seemed to overspread all parts of the sky almost simultaneously. East of New Haven, the storm was more protracted. At New London, the snow was falling copiously, and continued so, unabatedly, during the whole evening. But, notwithstanding the storm, the heavens seemed as if they were on fire,—a lurid light on all sides, from the zenith to the horizon, casting a most vulcanean hue on the fallen snow. The light seemed the same in every portion of the firmament, but without any apparent cause. In the city of New York, the display, as witnessed from an eminence which commanded an unobstructed view of the horizon in every direction, was, in the latter part of the evening, magnificent beyond description. description. At about a quarter before six, the attention of observers was attracted by a most unusual appearance of the heavens. The sky was wholly overcast, as in New Haven, at the same hour; though the cloud was not sufficiently dense, absolutely to obscure all the stars, of which quite a number were seen from time to time, faintly glimmering through. At the time of the first observation, the whole heaven was suffused with a lovely carnation, brightest, apparently, at the commencement in the zenith, but soon afterward rather toward the north-east. This tint, reflected on the snow, clothed all nature with a red-tinted garniture, of supernal beauty. It gradually faded, though at the end of an hour it was still slightly perceptible. The sky then rapidly cleared, and all traces of the aurora passed away. But at about half-past seven, the north and east being still overcast, and some stratified clouds extending themselves along the horizon around toward the west, a brightness began to appear in the northwest, which, in a very short time, extended itself upward forty-five degrees, in a column of diffused light, quite broad at the base, and tapering to a point. This column moved very slowly southward, and at length became divided into two of similar |