The gentleman, sir, in declining to postpone the debate, told the Senate, with the emphasis of his hand upon his heart, that there was something rankling here, which he wished to relieve. (Mr. Hayne rose, and disclaimed having used the word rankling.) It would not, Mr. President, be safe for the honorable member to appeal to those around him, upon the question whether he did in fact make use of that word.  But he may have been unconscious of it.  At any rate, it is enough that he disclaims it.  But still, with or without the use of that particular word, he had yet something here, he said, of which he wished to rid himself by an immediate reply.  In this respect, sir, I have a great advantage over the honorable gentleman.  There is nothing here, sir, which gives me the slightest uneasiness; neither fear, nor anger, nor that which is sometimes more troublesome than either, the consciousness of having been in the wrong.  There is nothing, either originating here, or now received here by the gentleman’s shot.  Nothing originating here, for I had not the slightest feeling of unkindness toward the honorable member.  Some passages, it is true, had occurred since our acquaintance in this body, which I could have wished might have been otherwise; but I had used philosophy and forgotten them.  I paid the honorable member the attention of listening with respect to his first speech; and when he sat down, though surprised, and I must even say astonished, at some of his opinions, nothing was farther from my intention than to commence any personal warfare.  Through the whole of the few remarks I made in answer, I avoided, studiously and carefully, every thing which I thought possible to be construed into disrespect.  And, Sir, while there is thus nothing originating here which I have wished at any time, or now wish, to discharge, I must repeat, also, that nothing has been received here which rankles, or in any way gives me annoyance.  I will not accuse the honorable member of violating the rules of civilized war; I will not say that he poisoned his arrows.  But whether his shafts were, or were not, dipped in that which would have caused rankling if they had reached their destination, there was not, as it happened, quite strength enough in the bow to bring them to their mark.  If he wishes now to gather up those shafts, he must look for them elsewhere; they will not be found fixed and quivering in the object at which they were aimed.

The honorable member complained that I slept on his speech.  I must have slept on it, or not slept at all.  The moment the honorable member sat down, his friend from Missouri rose, and, with much honeyed commendation of the speech, suggested that the impressions which it had produced were too charming and delightful to be disturbed by other sentiments or other sounds, and proposed that the Senate should adjourn.  Would it have been quite amiable in me, Sir, to interrupt this excellent good feeling?  Must I not have been absolutely malicious, if I could have thrust myself