Southern telegraph., 1838-03-27
Of course be foreseen aud provided for b,

for the filling of these periodical vacancies
In the office Of Representative, was clearly
placed with the State Legislatures, suhjuct
10 the control Of Congress. Blu, inasmuch
ne vacancies might happen in tho Repre-
Sentasion from a State, chosen according
70 law to filt the terin-by contingencies Of
various sorts, such as death, resignation,
&c. and inaslnuch as the State Legsla-
ture, not being always in session, could not
conveniently provide for or act upon such
unforeseen contingencies, 1t was thought
proper to make il the duty Of the Stale En-
ecu,ivc to notify the People, and direct an
election to he held when such an event oc-
CURED. For though the People know, by
the general election law, when they shall
convene and elect their Representatives for
each Congress, vet, having once e.ectei
them, they cannot be supposed to know when
a vacancy happens in such representation,
neither can any law notify them. tits there
fore rendered the duty ofthe Executive to
issue his writ for the purpose OF informing
them thata vacancy has happened. This
of itself shows that il was not intended to
10 give the Executive the power to order an
election to fill the regular periodical vAcan-
cies which consttutionally occur every two
wears in the Office OF Representative, but
only such vacancies as 'happcn in the rep
scsentation from S.a,e," after such rep
Yesantation was created under the general
election law; for if so, what necessity for a
writ to notify the People Of that of which
by the constitution, they are already appri-
zed9 The terms of the Constitution, which
clothe the Executive with all the power
which he possesses on this subject, are Pc
culiar, and have neyor before formed the
subject Of direct decision. The phraseol
cgy ciffers remarkably from that used in re-
lation to senatorial vacancies, TO be provi-
dcd for hy Executive appointment. The
language in the latter case is: "And it va
cancies happen by resignation or otaeruise,
during recess of the Legislature of any
State, the Executive thereof may make
Temporary appointments, until the next mce
ting of the Legislature, which shall then
Gil such vacacies" Here the term vacan-
cy is generally used, and might, with some
show Of propriety, perhaps, be applied to
the office ITSELF But not so in relation
to the provision under discussion; the term
vacancy, in this case, applies not to the
office, but to the representation. 1t is not
"wken vacancy happens" nor, "when
vacancy happens in the office of represen-
tntive," bu',s'when vacancies happen in the
representation from any State, the Execu-
tive authority SHALL" &c. Now, | hold that
the Office is one thing, and the representa-
ton, which exercises or fills the office, an
other; and that, though there cannot be Il
vacancy in the representation without a
vacancy in the office, yet there may be a
Al
the representation. The representation
from State consists Of the persons chosen
to fill the Representative Offices of that
State.
This representation expires or goes out
Of Office on the Sd Of March biennially, bv
constitutional limitation; at least such is the
construction which has always been recog-
missed by the government. Messrs. G. and
&. constituted the representation from the
State Of Mississippi in the 24h Congress.
Their term of ofservice and the Oath Congrss
both expired on Sd Of March last. In July
the Governor issued his writ to fill vacan
cies in the representation from the state to
the 25th Congress. How, then, could there
have been a vacancy in what had never ex-
listed: in other words, how could there be a
vacancy? There was, when the Governor
issued his writ, and ever had been. from the
state, but a total vacancy of representation
not vacancies in the representation to the
25th Congress.
Whatever may be the correctness Of my
views upon this point, no one will deny
that the language, spirit and interest of the
constitution combine to place, as far as
practicable, the matter Of elections for rep
resentatives and Senators under the control
Of the state Legislatures, and not under The
control Of the State Executives. The
power of the State Executive was manifest
~ intended to complete and perfect the sys-
tenn, by embracing that portion Of the sub
jcct upon which legislative action would
be inconvenient or impracticable. Indeed
30 vitality important was it considered to the
independence of the States that the Iegs-
latures should be entirely untrammelled in
presiding the time, place, and manner of
elections, that it was with great difficulty
that the States were persuaded to acquies-
CO in the controlling power given to Con-
gress to make or alter by law the State re-
gulations. If you will look, sir, into the
debates in the different conventions upon
the adoption of the Federal Constitution,
you will find that no provision was more
debated or received with greater jealousy.
All the States took the ground that the most
important of their political powerr consisted
in the control thruogh their Legislatures.
over the time, places, and manner of cleo
ton; and the ultimate supervisory power
was reluctantly placed with Congress, up-
on the express ground that it was necessary
foe tkaon 81 ~. ~