Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1836-03-03

9nu -
nlied with The journal of the resolution condemn
inc The President of violation Of tho Constitution ano
the Laws was kept and Pubished; anu 'nc fA"Ie,.
neople have examined it und made up verdict ana pro
nounced udynent upon it, that II IS vi
constitutional acl and contains base SANDER on the
sident and is disgracrfu 10 the Senate ana, Tic o'y
question now is how shall this judgment be rxecutea
The object of the Constitution having been comPeu WI"
by the Senate in Ibis instance IN keeping anu Puo''.
ing their journal, the question arises what ,ailhei uIs
can be- made of It, and whom does belong: "oo.u
answer that ii belongs TO the American people, lI.
of no value but rs record of their true history anu I'D
such only is worth preserving that II 1t contains res'
luton (suc they decided that the ooe undel c
alteration is Unconstitutional untrue ana oisglacei
the Senate and the country, they have the fght ~ nav
i, expungrd ia such way that the journal may COM
nue true history, both Of its proceedings ana oi ei
oninion in relation to il; which would be completely ac
complisled if The resolution the Journal OF lie SENATE
was literally expunged, as The e1punyins leso'u n''
would rccite rertam the resolution exPunSeu' Dus'
the gentleman from Wyihc asks, where IS the cons''u
,ional mower TO cxpunge: would answer, that nave
shown 1t is not contrary the Constitution, and ina.
is ruht derived from the principles OF our hepfeseh4
tive Government that tue sovereignty resides WIN ~"
Deope and thew have power TO do amy thing when Is
not forbidden by the Consuliu when 1t Is Tor the puf
pose ofcorectng pa pable and agant violation OF tne
Constitution. Sir, this argument applies WIN
force 10 the present case, because the Schale ne o
violated the Constitution in adopting this rcSoIuoh' pu'
they did it in open violation Of expressed instructions 10
Sufficient number Of the Senators from the Legislatures
of the States have defeated its adoption NOW, s'f'
agreeabIy to the State Rights doctrine, that the Scha
tots are the agents representatives Of e SUITS
sovereignty in the Federal Government, ana hat tHeH
votes are the of their States the votes OF te eales
by their Senators for this resolution, winch had
ed them beforehand 10 vote against H. were nun u''u 'o'
al ntio and consequently the adoption OF The resolution
BY such votes, (Which necessary for It's ndoPIon
rendered the act ITSELF eb nitio null aud vesd = .
But the right to expupge is opposed upon the groun1,
that i, will be greatly abused The exercise Of the tight
pf Inc g.
RIGHTS might be objected to with much PToprety on
the same ground, for zach Of these rights is SUBJECT 10
as much abuse the right 10 expangc Sir, inns ooec
tim is founded upon The principle fear, TOO common
to The party that made it, that Inc people are nconpe
tent either for want OF sufficient
intelligence virtue, both When the Representa-
lives and Senators can, with mpunIty, rXpuhge tht
Journal for the corrupt purpose indicated by the gehte
man from kanawha, the people will have hccote so de-
PRAYED and corrupt that they will no longer he ut to DC
free, and il will then be quite inmaeria whether they
expunse not, what form Of government they may
have Such state Of things, trust and believe, never
will exist in this country butt sir If 1t did the expuns-
ing could do no personal injury, for the gentleman
knows that there legal principle, as OLD as Tic COM
mon law that when the best evidence dcstroJcd or
be procured secondary evidence can be resort
ed to; and in country like this where thousands OF
copies OF the Journal are printed, no personal INJURY can
from cypunginy the manuscript JOURNAL Us the
printed copies could would be used in Courts OF JUS
tcc as the best evidence But sir, suppose tor tic
sake Of argument, that it unconstitutional TO oDlterae
any part Of the journal literally rxpungc It, lie
resolution in ycur hand obnoxious 10 that Objection,
because it shows plainly lis face that does no" con-
template literal cxpungng OF the journal. ii IS true,
tina, instrucs Senators to introduce ana vote ioi
resolution expunge the obnoxious resolution from the
journal Of the Senate; but to prevent lis being literally
expunged, il directs how it shall be done, "by causing
black lines 10 be drawn around the SAID resolution us
stands the orig na manuscript journal! :nd these
words written plainly across the face OF the SAD 'csou
ton and entry, EJpungcd by order OF ihr Senate OF inc
United States Now all will admit presume that TINS
can be done without dciacng rendering illegIblc one
word OF this resolution the journal OF the Senate; ana
that the Senate have ght to place resolution on their
Journal declaring that this resolution IS expungcd, re-
scnded, annul!cd repealed If they have THIS Ignt,
which no deny, who claims Tor them the rght
to place tic obnoxious resolution their Journal 1t ne
ccssarily follows that hey have the right TO make al
entry part Of their journal, that 1t does mol
obliIcrate render icgblc that which had been pre-
vouSly entered consequently they have The right 10
black lines TO be drawn around this resolution and
the words expungcd BY order Of the Senate t. he writ
ten its face and the date of this entry say March
2Slh 1895, added Would not the journal then, sir, be
literally true record u the proceeding OF the
he resolution condemnng the President VIII remain
perfectly lcgib" and not word canT"a from what
%hsn i, wS5nsoy %Ien rrs , and h win also eng
hoit the black lines and the words "eypungcd Ivy order
OF the United States Senate March 18th, 1886, written
across II and ON turning to the journal OF that DAY,
you Will lind the exPunging resolution rn.ercd.-
The gentleman from Norfolk objects 10 this resolution,
the ground that it confirms its face ialselood
That puports 10 expungc when actually 1t docs not
expunge. This seems to very iaacIuuS objection.
1t well known that the mode Of expungng has vacd
al different tunes In the British Parliament has been
done sometimes by canccing drawing black lines
across each other, and at other times by literally caslng
rubbing out; and in the Massachusetts Legislature,
the expunging resolution simply entered upon their
journal, and the proposed TO be eXpunged, left
touched Now the gentleman could say with equal pro-
prety that the Massachusetts resolution contained a
talseood because it declared resolution 10 be eApunc
hen mt ft tuc vr1S nj urb-
D9es not the gentleman see that the object in that
case, is in this to gn,aze the obnoxious resolution
with the strongest mark OF rcprobaon and produce the
moral consequences Of cXpuTgalon, although not
literally expunged: Words also frequently used in
parliamentary technical and in their literal sense
for instance, The word Iescnd, is strong in lis lite
raj sense the word eSpunge, it being derived from
the Latin word r'Scnaerc TO cut off, cut OUT yet it is
used IN courts OF Justice different sense, echDi-
caly is used syn"ny mously with tue words repeal
and annul so IS the word cxpungc sometimes used in
technical parliamentary sense, believe that it is
sometimes used in parliamentary proceedings to express
with great strength what is by the words repeal
and annu; and the Virginia Legislature, in using this
word, have right 10 define what they mean OF intend
BY it. This, all they have done, aud there is
thing Inconsistent improper or false, in this resolution.
have established, that the resolution adopted by the
Senate, is both unconstitutional and false, and that the
nstructing resolution yuu hold in your hand is both
s,itutIona aud properthat the parliamentary mode is
to e1punge that the peculiar circumstances under hc
the Senate adopted that resolution imprriousy call for
such 10 destroy its effect, will ufx to il, the
strongest mark Of reprobalun; especially its adop
ton, both the Constitution and the sacred right Of i'll
structon palpaby aud hagranlIy violated, il is
essential that such means should Lc adopted, will most
cteclually restore the Constitution, and indicate the
great right Of instruction. Here will remark that al.
though believe that Of the Senators from This State
recently elected by the palpabIe violation Of
written instructions, the last Spring elections clearly
proved and both Of them opposed in principles and
feelings to m'o! Of III! psepa Of yoESSHs y yurno sr
not support cIS from their seats; but for the ppoue
OF otiV's .i"g obnoxious resolution txpunsed !
ain perfectly willing that they shall continue in their