entary position of the question,
at the moment he committed the blunder of voting, was advantageous to
him on the record. The Senate had defeated by a majority of two the
declaration that he was not entitled to a seat, and the declaration
in his favor, even after Mr. Morrill's negative vote, stood at a tie.
Nothing therefore had been done to unseat him, and if he had left it
at that point he would still have remained a member by the _prima
facie_ admission upon his regular credentials.

These proceedings took place on Friday and the Senate adjourned until
Monday. Meanwhile the obvious impropriety of Mr. Stockton's vote upon
his own case had deeply impressed many senators, and on Monday,
directly after the Journal was read, Mr. Sumner raised a question of
privilege and moved that the Journal of Friday be amended by striking
out the vote of Mr. Stockton on the question of his seat in the Senate.
He did this because, being on the defeated side, he could not move a
reconsideration; but Mr. Trumbull and Mr. Poland, who had sustained
Mr. Stockton's right to a seat, both offered to move a reconsideration,
because they believed that he had no right to vote on the question.
Mr. Poland made the motion and it was unanimously agreed to. Then,
instead of urging the correction of the Journal of Friday, Mr. Sumner
proposed a resolution declaring that "the vote of Mr. Stockton be not
received in determining the question of his seat in the Senate," which
was agreed to without a division. The original resolution being again
before the Senate, Mr. Clark renewed his amendment declaring that John
P. Stockton was not elected a senator from New Jersey, on which the
_yeas_ were 22 and the _nays_ 21. As thus amended the resolution
passed by 23 _yeas_ to 20 _nays_. Mr. Riddle of Delaware voted with
the majority for the purpose of moving a reconsideration on a
succeeding day--a privilege from which he was excluded by the action
of Mr. Clark of New Hampshire, who made the motion at once with the
object of securing its defeat and thereby exhausting all power to
renew the controversy. Mr. Clark of course voted against his own
motion, and with its rejection Mr. Stockton ceased to be a member of
the Senate.

More than half of those who sustained Mr. Stockton's right to his seat
were Republicans, or had, until the current session of Congress, acted
with the party. The majority of a single vote by which he was ejected
would have been neutraliz