The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1845-12-08

by a technical requirement Of the law. thew -,
constrained by virtue OF their own duty ~ ~"
to furnish certificates in cases where ,h.n NS,
that the party TO whom the certificate is given ~aIw
be ousted, after inquiring into the election sm
IN fact, he had not been legally elected. Wa 10
too strong propositions He would ask he - -. uu
ton of the House whilst he illustrated NJ, r, a.n'
in order TO test its accuracy. Il might h. W.
in the State of Florida, or any other Maj, !,
the Unioni or any district, in cases where ms,n, "
| were elected by districts, that the officers cLsp'
with inquirng into elections OF candidates for 80
bership in that House, might have before Them q
returns from all the counties, with the excsn,;",
one; or, to suppose another case il might /, ~.
the clerks oiice-a place of deposit Of votes n !,
particular county, and from which the re,n,.
should have been made to them of hat por,;on y,
the State--had been burned down. and the rero,i \,
the votes been destroyed. What would the rs,,. VI
| ing officers be obliged to do in such casep WI"
Of course make return according to the data h,
fore them, and furnish certificate accordingly /.
cause they acted ministeriay. They knee; ' S ~
the question would be ultimately settled bv I 49,
final tribunal-that House--and that there would 1.
decided who had received the greatest numbe,o
legal votes. He held therefore, that the issue !. y
the legality Of the returns was merged in the MIN
itely more important question as to who had b,,,
really elected. Ii seemed to him that the s,,H,
member had presented prina Jacie evidence Of l,,,
membership the issue as to the eeaIiv MI.
return was not properly before the House-thatG,
only question was, had he been legally elected Ani
he (Mr. 81 was therefore opposed to the resoulon,
Of the gentleman from Virginia. Theinquiry sougS,
by the resolution, was, in his opinion, as ooIsS,
that would be on writ Of ejectment which wouldb,
instituted for the purpose of tanning, no, whs,
the deed was legal and good for anything, but when.
err il was written on blue or white paper.
Mr.. MILTON BROWN rose to offer yerv t.v
remarks OH the subject under debate. The mem.
bers of that House were there in the character AZ
| Judges in the case then before them He saw n,
reason why the ordinary course of reference to
committee should be departed from. There was
contest between the two gentlemen, aud should h
left to them each to make up his own issue beiou
the committee, so that ii could come before n,
House and give the members proper understand
ing of it, in order that they might decide upon il H.
telligibly as judges. A remark had fallen from Il,
friend from Virginia, which, he must say he REGARDED
asrather remarkable. He intimated--indeed he saa
distincty-that the object Of the motion was 10 trans
fer the seat from the present occupant to the memo
rialist, and thus to make the former the conesir,
candidate. Well, that certainly was extraordinary
course for judges to pursue. In doing So would n,
House really decide who was entitled to the seat
Would they have settled the question: who is ii,
legally qualified representative from Florida, No.
They would, in that case, do very much as a juds
would do, who, in any case Of contest about Il.
right Of property, would take the property from h,
party showing the prima taeie evidence Of legal DOS
session, and bestow it upon the other, imposing
upon the former the whole onus of furnishing liz
proof necessary to establish the propretorshlp
That, surely, would be very extraordinary prc
cedure. But il was not more extraordinary than
the course contemplated by the resolution Of III.
gentleman from Virginia It was said that an op
pose course would involve great delay, as in som.
former cases, to which reference bad been made We.
was not the delay calculated to prove as ninriou,
to one gentleman as to the other! But he would ask
on what ground could gentlemen insist that the 7
House was called upon TO PREJUDICE the whole case, |
and proceed in that summary way to decide who +
was entitled to the seat, merely to avoid delay.
Disguise it as they might, that aimed at ID
the resolution, was summary procedure
a departure from the ordinary rules Of Ii,
House. He had himself no opinion as to who
was entitled to the seat II was too soon for them
| as judges, to have any opinion on that point Hi .
friend over the way, Mr.. BAYLY,] threw the whole
weight of his legal influence at into the scale 10
favor Of the contrasting member. So did another
gentleman. His friend over the way had said that
he had examined the case carefully and deliberately,
and pledged his legal knowledge-for which he mr. '
BRowN) entertained the utmost respect-that Tho |
contesting member was entitled to the seat. He ask
GU luC HOuuIauiO RCILcuuu WHCtllcT nc unu eAam
ined both sides Of the question: Had the sitting |
member been allo we'd hearing' Common justice |
required that both sides Of the question should y
heard by the gentleman before he made up hn |
mind, and undertook to pronounce such an author
| tative decision. Let them enter, with hrne. and .
impartialy, on the investigation Of the main ques
tion--who was the legally qualified representative
One gentleman had said that he did not care for pre-
cedents. He differed from that gentleman in m
opinion. He thought that they should care for pre-
cedents. At all events, they should not PrtJjafss
| the case. He for one, whatever other gentlemen
might think with respect to themselves, did not b.
lieve that he was then qualified to Judge IN the case
that he was prepared to decide the question
As a Judge on that floor, he had to decide io
himself, and not judge according to the OPINION
Of any gentleman, no matter what his ,, Iesa
ability might be. What was proposed why
| to prosecute the issue which each party was
make before the committee. That was manlles
| ly unjust. Each party should be left to make "
his own issue. And then, after thus presenting
each party the issue, the House was to be cals
upon to decide \! One party was virtually thus ~
dressed: "We will strip you Of your pr'ms, ta'
evidence Of right to your seat, and then we VIII a
ing member" Was that just Was that the =, y,
guage which would be used by any judge! n
never would vote for any resolution when woui
thus deprive one party of his rights. ne oesls
the question to be left open--to be decided on w
principles of common justice. What was IN 4,
posed to decide now' Merely the question o. VI
returns. After that still existed the subs' Az
question, Whs is the legal representative oil fDn
da' As to the objection grounded on the o'ca
renee ofundue delay, he, for one, would be Inc in
to proclaim against any such procrastin,auon' ~
matter which was chargeable. He considered y
the motion was contrary to precedent, ana un]'N
and therefore he would oppose it. ,a..
Fiere there were loud cries Of "Questlon, q"'
| TOM
The previous question was then moved. IA
Mr. BOYD asked il the effect Of the motion wvD'
cut off reference 10 the committed
The SPEAKER replied that that was sepN'
| question.
The question on referring to the committee
then put, and carried. Ia
Then came up the question on reference WIN
structions.
/ Mr.. GRAHAM called for the yeas and nays,
| The yeas and nays were accordingly orderco' :"
the vote being taken, resulted as follows;
| YEAs-Messrs Stephen Adams. Atkinson, Bayly' ~ ~
niger, Briggs, James A. Black Bowlin, Boyd bm. rn
ben Chapman, Cobb, Constable, Cullom, Cnmn on I'm
bingham, Jefferson Davis, Dobbin. Douglass Edssh, In
Ficklin, Foster Fries, Garvin Giles, Goody aS,A
Grover, HARRISON, Harmanson, Hoge, Hopkihh ms
g. g. Houston, T.. w. Hubbard, Hunter Charles y ns
Jenkins James II. johnson, Joseph Johnson veos
Jones, seabom Jones' Kennedy Lawrence Le vns los