‘Resolved, that a committee be appointed on the part of the house, jointly with such committee as may be appointed on the part of the senate, to consider and report to the senate and house of representatives respectively, whether it be expedient or not, to make provision for the admission of Missouri into the union, on the same footing as the original states, and for the due execution of the laws of the United States within Missouri, and if not, whether any other, and what provision adapted to her actual condition ought to be made a law.’ This resolution was adopted in the house by a majority of nearly two-thirds, and in the senate by a much larger one. The committee, Mr. Clay proposed, should consist of twenty-three, a number answering to all the states in the union, and so exerted his influence in their selection, as to secure a majority favorable to the settlement of the whole matter, in the manner and form proposed. The joint committees met on the twenty-fifth of February, 1821, and proceeded to consider and discuss the question of admission. Mr. Clay, with a vigilance that did not slumber for an instant, exerted himself to infuse into the members of the committees a portion of his own conciliatory spirit, exhorting them to mutual concession, and declared that it would be utterly futile to report any plan of adjustment in which they could not unanimously concur, when it should be submitted to the final test. So firmly convinced was he, that the effort which they were then making, was the last feasible one that _could_ be made for the settlement of the question on which they were deliberating, as to cause him to address individually the members of the committees, in order to make such thorough preparation as to preclude the possibility of defeat. And it was found on the next day that such preparation had been made; the resolution was adopted by a vote of eighty-seven to eighty-one in the house, and despatched to the senate, which unhesitatingly agreed to it, and thus the question which had convulsed congress for three sessions, and nearly distracted the land, was at last settled, and mainly through the influence of Mr. Clay. The proclamation of the president was issued, and Missouri took her place among her sisters of the confederacy. This event was greeted with the highest demonstrations of joy, and Missouri, beautiful Missouri, from her majestic forests and broad prairies, from her ancient mounds and mighty rivers, pealed her loud anthems of grateful praise to her and her country’s deliverer, hailing him as the second Washington, as one who had plucked the brand of discord from the hands of ten millions of enraged and exasperated people, and put in its place the olive branch of peace. The incense of exulting hearts was lavished on Mr. Clay like rain. His agency in settling one of the most difficult and dangerous questions that ever has arisen since the adoption of our present