Mr. Fairfield, from Maine, Mr. Niles, from Connecticut, and others, voted against it, and the vote was lost.  That is, these gentlemen,—­some of them very prominent friends of Mr. Van Buren, and ready to take the field for him,—­these very gentlemen voted not to exclude territory that might be obtained by conquest.  They were willing to bring in the territory, and then have a squabble and controversy whether it should be slave or free territory.  I was of opinion that the true and safe policy was, to shut out the whole question by getting no territory, and thereby keep off all controversy.  The territory will do us no good, if free; it will be an encumbrance, if free.  To a great extent, it will produce a preponderance in favor of the South in the Senate, even if it be free.  Let us keep it out, therefore.  But no.  We will make the acquisition, bring in the territory, and manage it afterwards.  That was the policy.

Gentlemen, in an important crisis in English history, in the reign of Charles the Second, when the country was threatened by the accession to the throne of a prince, then called the Duke of York, who was a bigot to the Roman Catholic religion, a proposition was made to exclude him from the crown.  Some said that was a very rash measure, brought forward by very rash men; that they had better admit him, and then put limitations upon him, chain him down, restrict him.  When the debate was going on, a member is reported to have risen and expressed his sentiments by rather a grotesque comparison, but one of considerable force:—­

    “I hear a lion, in the lobby roar! 
    Say, Mr. Speaker, shall we shut the door,
    And keep him out; or shall we let him in,
    And see if we can get him out again?”

I was for shutting the door and keeping the lion out.  Other more confident spirits, who are of the character of Van Amburgh, were for letting him in, and disturbing all the interests of the country.  When this Mexican treaty came before the Senate, it had certain clauses ceding New Mexico and California to the United States.  A Southern gentleman, Mr. Badger, of North Carolina, moved to strike out those clauses.  Now you understand, that if a motion to strike out a clause of a treaty be supported by one third, it will be struck out; that is, two thirds of the Senate must vote for each clause, in order to have it retained.  The vote on this question of striking out stood 38 to 14, not quite one third being against the cession, and so the clause was retained.  And why were there not one third?  Just because there were four New England Senators voting for these new territories.  That is the reason.