Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1843-12-09

Their wrilt,n preud ,nent of the whole question. II
was n extraordinary Of procedure, adopted by
gentlemen, which, alone, had ea'ed MN up al IN ;
Stage of the question. AS one, whose right t his seat
was s,ed he had been ind sposed 10 have any thing
to say in the primary proceedings, out ne snouid o.
prepared the question when IT'S merits shond
be fairly, fully brought before inc HOUSE, IN us Juo-
cal character.
Then in reference I, what had already, most lrregu-
larv as he respectfully contAnded, found place upon
The Journal he suggested to the House. 10 the consde
ration of those gentlemen whose signatures were al,
tacled 10 this paper whether 1t beht'ed the Judicial
character IN l;cb alone this question came before them
for decision thus TO have formed not only preudg-
men but further have il recorded on me journal OF
this body whether those whom The CONSTITUTION OF the
country had made Judges upon this SUBJECT shonl1 mol
withdraw from the Journal OF inc nouse Tue P',-Juog
ment of the which they had thus caused to be
entered upon it, Mr.. c. concluded by renewing the
motion OF Mr. Dromgoole TO correct the journal OF yes
terday by striking from it this paper
A point of order was raised ny MI b!A"'I,nD o"
the motion oil MIR. ChaPpeii, WHICH was o'eio'ea y
the Chair.
"a message was received from the Senate, by
Dckins, Esq, Secretary, stating that that oooy hai
adopted additional joint rule Ill when II asked the
concurrence of this House
| Mr. CAVE JOHNSON expressing the opinion that
| too much time had already been consumed upon this
question, moved lay The whole subject on the table,
| but subsequently withdrew the notion.
Mr. BOWLlN of Missouri, as one OF the party con-
cerned in this difficulty said he hoped that the gen
tlemen who had signed this protest would permit the
subject 10 come up fairly for discussion Indeed, he
and those connected with him did not wlsh 10 shrink
from it, 1t had already gone before the people, and
in every instance where legislative oooy naa spoken
of IT, they had spoken in condemnation o, the n oil
CONGRESS They were not afraid of this dscollon,
bu. they did soemny protest against tho course oi
plper claiming 10 be protest, ana winch was "ol re
soectul To members who had been elected by general
ticket being published upon The journal anu sen.
| he
| House lie hoped the regular course would be pur-
sued let their elections 20 TO the COMMITTEE OIL Eec-
tons; let them make their report and Then let ihe
House debate the subject lie could not see the rea-
sun-lustice there was none; there was nothhg IKE
it in the proposition OF gentlemen on the other SIDE
of the Iouse-lhat they should draw up protest. not
only disrespeclul 10 gentlemen on this floor, out
strong and violent argument against the right o gen.
tlemen to seats this floor md then send u orth on
The journal of the House 10 the people OF the u ates
II was unfair and unjust u suffer fifty members OF
this House to combine and d.aw up judicial decl'
sion lift was proper ca so, with arguments IN sup
port of it, and the public documents oil the coun-
try to spread before the people in advance OF the ar
gumens against it. 1t unfair, whether II was ne
val or not 1t was unjust to send forth sided ar
gumen of the question where those vitality interested
IN The subiec, could not be heard which charged directly
that they here acting and voting in this House IN
defiance of the Constitution and laws OF The country.
Whenever gentlemen were prepared 10 BRING up Inc
constitutional question, he was ready to meet Them up
on il, and upon the question OF expedency. tie was
ready to meet them upon all the questions connected,
and examine theD and lay them fairly before Inc Peo-
pe that they might read both sides OF the question
Tie appealed - gentlemen, at least those who oeeveo
elected by general ticket were here with
lust claims 10 their seats give their votes according
their opinions of the fact that by the or
derng Of the yeas and nays this paper would 90 twice
on the Journal let it go twice fifty times upon the
Journal but with the seal Of condemnation OF this
m Hal a..
of condemnation of the people, ana Mr. b was under
tod s,y if the Journal could not be cleared OF by
motion TO strike it out, they had a method by which
they could arrive al 1t.
Mr. BELSER Of Alabama said, that the question
now before the House grave one, could not be
doubted and for one he must say that he did not ad
mre the feelings displayed by certain gentlemen on
this subject IL not the proper time TO 60 INTO the
merits of the question whather the members elect by
general ticket had right TO their seats on this floor
but it was q proper time to determine whether they
would keep correct journal OF the proceedings of this
House; and the only question now before the House
whether not they should keep correct journal
OF their proceedings -whether they should obey the
Constitution OF the U. ) which they had solenniy
sworn I, protect and defend. The evident object OF
the gentleman from New York. aud those who had
signed the paper with him, was TO have spread upon
the Journal of this House paper which had never
been read to this House. Mr. B had examined the
Journal and was satisfied that the Journal OF yester
day rected precisely wha. had taken place in the House
on that occasion. They had been reminded by The
gentleman from North Carolina M. Rayner) that they
had sworn TO support The Constitution of the U. s.
Were they take for granted that this was The paper
which the gentleman from New York had alluded TO 10
his argument No one knew, and no one could know,
what the character of the paper was except those who
had signed il.
This was protest, couched he admitted, in respect.
full TERMS hut he had vel t, be informed, by what con-
s;ltutional right authority gentlemen this floor
Lola cd to-
nothing in the Constitution of The United States,
or the rules Of this House, which he had seen, that
authorised il. There language couched in this
protest which, for one, he could not permit with his
sanction TO go upon the journal OF The House II
bel,ev as il states, (said Nj b. hat had com.
mited legal fraud by placing you in that Chair,
should conceive myself unworthy Of seat on this
floor. The language there used was strong language
language which had emanaled from respectable gen.
tlemen. They had preiudged this question, and could
not be Indifferent The issue when the House came t.
determine upon the validity Of the claims OF these gen.
tlemen 10 seats as members Of this House Whether
this was an act of notification whether the act oil
Congress was mandatory supervisory whether the
Constitution authorised Congress 10 district the States
IN the first instance, to direct them TO district them
selves, they could not discuss here at this time. lie
! would not say that the law was mare nullty. lie
had read the argument of The gentleman from South
Carolina, (Mr. CampbellO which he had found on his
table, il was plausible, he would say specious lie
he was not willing to have placed on the journal what
did not occur.
MIR. BARNARD wished to offer but word He oh
served, from what had fallen from number of The gen.
tlemen personally interested in The subject TO which
The paper he had offered REFERRED that they considered
the terms of that paper as amounting to pre- judgment
of The question touching the validity of their election;
and, certainy if there were justice in such charge,
t would be very grave But what the case
To his mind it presented simply the case OF certain
persons from various States of the Union, who pre-
sened themselves here, claiming to act members
elect in this House, not only without title, but without
even color oftlte. They here under direct act
of nullifcnt'on-in manner which completely NULL
fed law of Congress, the meaning and terms Of
which perfectly PLAIN and explicit; so plain,
that in the nation, if possessed of his Senses
could by possibility misunderstood it For this reason
it that he said they here without even colos
of nr Yetthey contendcd tina, though they had thus
been elected, not only without law but against law, he
bound to them on this focr as equals for The
organ cation of the House The paper Mr., b. had
presented would be found, if examined TO be address
ed mainly to these gentlemen particularly and person
ally, because there Fl II existed The minds of some