Calhoun pleaded now for at least a pause of twenty-four hours, and this appeared not unreasonable, since the documents that supported the Message had not yet come from the printer; but the party caucus had resolved upon a course of action, and Benton and Allen, chairmen of the committees on military affairs and foreign relations, announcing that consideration had already been given to both aspects of the war measure, favored immediate action. Cass made an effective speech in the same sense; and, although a test showed that eighteen Senators objected to the preamble, the bill, somewhat amended, was passed finally by a strong majority--forty against only two. Calhoun, Berrien of Georgia and Evans of Maine did not vote. Crittenden and Upham answered to their names, "Aye, except the preamble." Webster and a few others were absent. In the evening the House accepted the amendments, and the next day at about one o'clock Polk received and signed the bill. Later some of the Whig Congressmen pretended that all they had voted for was to save Taylor's army; but the 50,000 soldiers and ten millions of money were not asked for a mere rescue party, and it was pointed out in the discussion that the General's fate would be decided long before the bill would give him troops. By an overwhelming majority in both houses, then, voting in full accord with the President and his Cabinet, war on a large scale was provided for. "The gates of Janus are open," wrote Alexander H. Stephens.[9.4] [THE MOTIVES OF CONGRESS] At every stage of these proceedings flowed a tide of real national feeling, but there were also devious currents that need to be mentioned. Probably few, if any, of the chief actors expected very serious trouble with Mexico. Polk for his part assured Benton that if Congress would recognize the war and provide large forces, he believed the affair could speedily be terminated; and he promised to use no more funds and men than should prove "absolutely necessary to bring the present state of hostilities to an end." Many Congressmen, who talked with members of the Cabinet, were told that without firing another gun the United States would have a satisfactory treaty within four months.[9.5] The Washington correspondent of the New York _Tribune_, an anti-slavery Whig journal, reported that on learning of the action taken by the House Polk said, "I shall now give you peace--I have the power." "The war was declared as the means of peace"--as a part of the President's policy of intimidating Mexico into making a settlement, wrote the correspondent of the New York _Journal of Commerce_. So thought the New York _Herald_. Merely passing the war bill will be enough, it said; and, especially since Polk's Message exhibited the same combination of sword and olive branch as his employing Slidell and Taylor jointly, so to speak, one cannot well reject this view, which is supported also by evidence previously offered.[9.10]