Mr. Sherman insisted upon his motion, and said: “It is unusual to read documents in this way.” Mr. Doolittle, of Wisconsin, called attention to a remark of Mr. Sumner, which he thought he ought “to qualify at least, if not altogether retract.” The objectionable remark was then stated. “Speaking of the message just received from the President of the United States, he said that it was like the whitewashing message of Franklin Pierce, to cover up the transactions in Kansas.… Now, Mr. President, I think the Senator from Massachusetts must have let fall that expression without due consideration”; and he concluded by saying: “I believe, Sir, certainly I think I ought to believe, that the honorable Senator from Massachusetts will at least modify or qualify, if he does not wholly retract, this strong expression.” Mr. Sumner followed:-- MR. PRESIDENT,--I have nothing to retract, nothing to modify, nothing to qualify. In former days there was one Kansas suffering under illegal power; there are now eleven Kansases suffering as that one; therefore, as eleven is more than one, so is the enormity of the present time more than the enormity in the day of Franklin Pierce. Mr. Dixon, of Connecticut, said: “A charge has been directly made here by the Senator that the President has sent in a whitewashing report.… When such a charge as that is brought in the Senate, I think it calls for some notice, and I take the liberty, with all my respect for the Senator from Massachusetts, to deny that there is anything in that report of a whitewashing character.” Mr. Doolittle spoke again: “I was not pained because the honorable Senator differed from the President; I knew he differed from the President on this question; but I was pained, and I confess very much disappointed, to hear that Senator, as I should be to hear any other Senator on the floor of the Senate, question the truth, the integrity, or the patriotism of the President, however much he might disagree with me in opinion.” Mr. Sumner spoke again:-- MR. PRESIDENT,--I am sorry that I have given pain to honorable friends. I certainly did not intend it. They suggest that a question has been raised as to the policy of the President. I have raised no such question, and have expressed no opinion in regard to it. The Senator from Wisconsin dwells on that point, and reminds the Senate that the policy of the President was not in question. I knew it was not in question, and therefore I expressed no opinion upon it; for, when I speak here, I try to speak directly to the question. There was then no question on the policy of the President. Had there been, I should have been ready to meet it. At the proper time I shall meet it fully, plainly, unequivocally, I trust, as becomes a member of this body.