The Illinois Free Trader And Lasalle County Commercial Advertiser

Judge Young's Vote on the Bankrupt Bill.

The Late Quincy Herald publishes the following letter from Judge Young in explanation of his vote on the bankrupt bill, with the remark: "It was stated in many of the whig papers that he voted for the bill upon its final passage, and that impression had become current and generally believed to be correct by the people of the state. Such, however, is not the fact, as the following will show, and we take pleasure in laying it before our readers."

Quincy, Ill., Sept. 26, 1842.

Dear Sir—Having understood that my vote on the final passage of the bankrupt bill through the senate of the United States was not generally understood by the people, owing to the circumstance of my explanation not having been republished in the newspapers of our own state, I take the liberty of addressing a few lines to you on the subject, for the purpose of correcting misrepresentations which I understand have been made to my prejudice, by persons unacquainted with the facts, and of setting myself right before the public.

The bill passed the senate in the first instance on the 25th of July, 1841, by the following vote:—

YEAS—Messrs. Barrow, Bates, Berrien, Choate, Clay (Ky.), Clayton, Dixon, Evans, Henderson, Huntington, Kerr, Merrick, Miller, Morehead, Mouton, Phelps, Porter, Simmons, Smith (Ind.), Southard, Tallmadge, Walker, White, Williams, Woodbridge, and Young—26.

NAYS—Messrs. Allen, Archer, Bayard, Benton, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay (Ala.), Cuthbert, Fulton, Graham, King, Linn, McRoberts, Nicholson, Pierce, Prentiss, Rives, Sevier, Smith, (Conn.) Sturgeon, Tappan, Woodbury, Wright—23.

At this stage of the proceedings I was induced reluctantly to vote for the bill, against my own judgment of its propriety, in consequence of petitions numerously signed, from Chicago, Alton, Galena, and a few other places in our state, and there being no petition from the state against it.

The bill was then sent down to the house of representatives, and passed that body with sundry amendments, on the 18th of August 1841, by a vote of 110 for to 106 against it. It was returned to the senate on the same day, when senator Allen, of Ohio, moved the postponement of the bill until the 1st of February 1842. The motion, if carried, was tantamount to a rejection of the bill. During the interval, from the 25th of July to the 18th of August, time was afforded for a full consideration of the different provisions of the bill, when I became satisfied that many of its features were highly objectionable, that its tendency was to encourage fraud, immorality, and a disregard for the binding obligation of contracts, and that it ought not to become a law. I believed, furthermore, that a large majority of the people of Illinois would be opposed to it when it come to be practised upon and its deformities exposed. I did not doubt but that many good men, who had been reduced to poverty and hopeless insolvency, by misfortune, would be benefitted by its enactment, but I believed then, as I do now, that the evil would greatly outweigh the good to be derived from it.—With this opinion, I voted for Mr. Allen's motion to postpone the bill, with a view to its final rejection.

The vote of the senate stood as follows:

For Postponement,—Messrs. Allen, Archer, Benton, Buchanan, Calhoun, Clay, (Ala.) Cuthbert, Fulton, Graham, King, Linn, McRoberts, Nicholson, Pierce, Prentiss, Preston, Rives, Sevier, Sturgeon, Tappan, Woodbury, Wright, and Young—23.

Against the Postponement.—Messrs. Barrow, Bates, Bayard, Berrien, Choate, Clay, (Ky.,) Clayton, Dixon, Evans, Henderson, Huntington, Kerr, Mangum, Merrick, Miller, Morehead, Mouton, Phelps, Porter, Simmons, Smith (Ind.) Southard, Tallmadge, Walker, White, and Woodbridge—26.

The amendments of the house were then concurred in, and the bill became a law, so far as the two houses of congress were concerned.

From this statement you will perceive that my vote would not, at any stage of the proceeding, have made a difference in the result: and that I voted on its final passage through the senate, and before it became a law, against it.

I need scarcely add that I voted for its repeal at the last session.

Very respectfully, &c.,
R. M. YOUNG.

Hon. J. H. Ralston, Quincy, Ill.