Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1839-12-09

hah sent w. TINS House the proper certificates ~ :
lection, and II was incompetent Tor this House ioAo
eide upon the validity ol tins election un,l !, -
properly organized and the usual oath had been Al
minisiorcd Ia the members. lie rontendcd tb,t H.
certificate oithe Governor was pri,aa far,e ey,cn1
OF the right TO scat in the frs, place and that ~,
House could not decide upon the validity of The ,l.
lection until II was properly organized The 70.
,ihca,e OF election conferred upon a gentleman Al
the privileges OF member Of the House m ibe H.,
instance. As he had shown. II protected ocp,i.
man from arrest and # II protected hum iron =,
rest, certainly no man can refuse him any o,lo, -
the privileges which It might confer upon Inn,
These gentlemen had a certificate of the oooo, -.
thor1ed by law 10 give certificate, and il seemed
TO him that 1t must be the common sense of ,,,
man, that they were entitled to their sca,s until ,L
House decided upon the matter in the Mual and
proper manner.
Mr. Fillmore wished that the law of New Jer.cy
relative TO the elections of members Of Congress
and the credentials of the other five members uo,
be read
Mr. Slade asked to what purpose i, would be 10
read the law Was it for the purpose of any acto,
by any body IL so, by whom The clerk had
made out list OF certain persons whom he supposed
to be members of the House of Representatives We,
he had nothing more in mos, cases, than newspaper
evidence TO 90 upon. He had acted according In
usage both in making the roll and calling il. lie
had called the names in the usual order according
to the order OF the states but he might at pleasur,
have adopted any other order He might have ar.
ranged the same alphabetically, and IN that case the
name of one of the Jersey members commissioned.
would have been az the very bottom of the list
mr.. Norke lie had called one of these memben
and none had objected, and then he had mentioned
five others who had similar credentials.
In what position were gentlemen placed Wcrc
they To decide who were pyina jdcie members from
n Jersey, and who were not This question Law
Immediately before them they could not proceed a
step until it was decided. But how could it be de-
cided =! There no House TO decide it, True
some so or 30 names had been called but tho hall
was filed with others whose names had not. Who
could tell who were entitled to vote When QUO
rum had been formed and duly sworn, Them and no,
till then, could the question be settled. There was
no use in specuating-he for looking at tho
case practically. He could have wished that the
Clerk, instead of referring the question the House
(and there was no housed had said 81 take the
possibility" and settled the question himself lie
saw no other practicable way.
But gentlemen said Ego through the roll and YOU
will have quorum" But would the others have
right to decide The gentleman from n Jersey
commended that they had not. lie said that the mo-
ment there quorum called and ascertaned to
be present, then there would be a House of Repre-.
sentaves and that house it was which must decide
who were prima fdcie members from New jersey.
Five gentlemen on one side insisted they must vote
in the organization. Five others on the other side
that they must, and the others must not As soon
as there was quorum, there was body which was
pro hoe Uice house Representatives, and they
entitled, under the constitution to settle the ques-
ton. The constitution declared that ''the House Of
Representatives should elect Speaker" then they
were House before they elected a speakci-thal
is before they were organized.
MIR. Mercer, IN the course OF his remarks, conten-
ded that usage and precedent, as well as duty, re-
CURED the clerk to take the certificate of the Cover
nor OF n. Jersey prima lace evidence of election,
and to enroll and call over the Of those mem
bcrs from that state who presented such certificate.
! Messrs Johnson Of Maryland, Randolph and Scar
gcant, followed on the side of the question,
| guing on the same grounds.
Mr.. Bidde said that if the rule TO lie adopted
| that every member whose seat was contested was
| thereupon to be excluded from taking part in the
proceedings OF the house, il would lead TO
and intolerable consequences 1t would be I'M effect
a disranchisement of the states whose members
were excluded. 1t would be only necessary to say,
THE seat of this that member is disputed" and he
would lose his seat. The Clerk was bound to call
the name OF those who produced valid certificates.
He had already done it III regard to many members,
and ought not to shrink from pursuing the same du-
ty in regard to the others
Mr.. Slade said the Clerk had to do Of two
things IN the present case he must take the respon
slbility of deciding which ofthe ten conestng mem
bers from the state of New Jersey were entitled to
their seats, or say his judgment was at fault and thai
]
/ (Alr. S's) mind, there could be no dispute that
/ point.
! Mr. Mercer was understood TO inquire by what
power the first house organized. There was no
/ Clerk there.
Mr.. Slade said, neither was there any usage
! They might have organized by calling some gray
! haired man to the char-by doing as was done at
| tho meeting in Faneuil Hall or at Philadelphia
They might have called some one to the char as
moderator or a speaker-that resulted from the ne-
cessity OF the case. lie did not say that the mere
fact OF one man coming to contest seat, would
make such a case as would justify the clerk IN act
! ing. by no means. There must be "A color Of clam
do not mean the color of an idea, as once sug
Gested here. but color of claim 70 Justify the clefS
IN acting at all. lie must act here upon his con
science.
/ Mr.. Bynum replied to Mr. Biddle, and argued al
some length TO show that the course taken by un
Clerk was a correct one. He cOntended that ih'
was not the proper stage ofthe proceedings 70 enIs
upon the merits ofthe question 10 the validity o.
the credentials of gentlemen contendng for the seas
Of the state Of New Jersey, but avowed his beiel
that when the proper time came il would be ioue1
that the Governor of n. Jersey, in giving his cehln
Gates, had not acted with such conformity 70 We
laws OF New Jersey, and the constitution Of the =
States as gentlemen seemed 10 suppose This was