Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1856-03-27

few
at is obvious that power must be lodged
somewhere to Judge of the elections, returns,
and qualifications of the members of each
House composing the Legislature; for 9TH
erwise there would be no certainty as to who
were lcgitimately chosen members indeed,
elections would become under such circum-
stances a mere mockery; and legislation the
exercise of sovereignty by any self-constitu-
ted body. The only possible question on such
4 subject is as to the body in which such n
power shall be lodged. If lodged IN any
other than the Legislative body ITSELF its in
dependence, its purity, and even its exis-
tence and action, may be destroyed, or put
into imminent danger. No other body but
itself can have the same motives to preserve
and perpctuate these attributes; no other
body can be so perpetually watchful to- guard
its own rights and privileges from infringe
mcnt, to purify and vindicatc its own char
acter, and to preserve the rights and sustain
the free choice of its constituents. Accor-
dinghy, the porcr has always been loClged IN
the lcgislatirc body By hc uniform practice
of England and Amrric0." 0."-.Story.
"Thc whole of the law and custom of
Parliament has its original from this one max
i'm, rthat whatever matter arises concerning
either House of Parliament ought to be ex-
amincd, discussed, and adjudged in that
House to which it relates, andnot elsewhere.'
Hence for instance, the Lords will not suffer
the Commons to interfere in settling the elec-
tion of Peer of Scotland the Commons
will not allow the Lords to judge of the elec-
tion Of burgess; nor will either House
permit the subordinate courts of law to ex-
anime the merits of either case. But the
maxims upon which they proceed, together
with the method of proceeding, rest entirely
in the breast of Parliament itself, and are
not defined and ascertained by any particu-
lar stated laws"
r. Blackstone, sec. lG3.
"Thc two Houses must decide according
to the established law of Parliament. ibid.
"Each House is made the sole judge of
the election, returns, and qualification of its
members. The same power is vested in the
British House of Commons, and in the Leg
islatures of the several States; and there is
no other body known to the Constitution to
which such power night be safely intrusted.
And as each House acts in these cases in a
judicial character, its decisions, like the de-
cisions of any other court of justice, ought
to be regulated by known principles Of law,
and strictly adhered to for the sake of uni
formity and certainty."-Kem.
Such being the common law of legislative
bodies under our system, we must suppose
that Congress acted under this knowledge,
and intended to confer, and did confer, this
power on the Territorial Legislature of Kan
sas I assume this to be fact, and I SUBJ
nit that the legality of the elections Of the
Territorial Legislature has been authorita-
lively passed upon by the appropriate and ex-
elusive tribunal, and that it is not competent
for us now to 60 into this question.
But it seems to me, of all objections, this
is the last Governor Reeder should have
raised Did he not give certificates to two
thirds of this very Territorial Legislature {?
1t strikes me I have heard so. Why, sir, is
it not the most extraordinary spectacle that
we have ever been called upon to behold {?
Is there a spectacle in the history Of party
politics in the mother country, or in our own
country equal to it? Was not Governor
Reeder the Governor Of Kansas? Was he
not bound by his oath-an oath registered
in ITeavcn-to exercise and perform his duty
Justly? And did he not, in the execution
and performance of that duty, give certif
Gates to two-thirds of the members of the
Kansas Legislature? Docs it, then, lie in
his mouth now to undo all that? Why, sir,
he must have estimated the intelligence of
| members of this House very low indeed, if
he thinks we can take the excuse from him,
that he did not know then the illegality Of
this election, and that he only acquired the
knowledge afterwards. Why and how is it
that he did not know it? Was he not on the
ground? Had he not cognizance Of every
thing? Where was he that he did not know
of the invasion of the Missouri army, of
which we hear so much now? And if he
did know these things which he now testi6es
to, he was traitor to his country, to his mis-
sion, to history, in giving these men their
certificates, knowing that they were not enti-
tied to their seats. He should rather have
dared every extremity, have retired under
the guns of Fort Lcavenworth, or perished
by the swords of assassins, than thus to have
ignored his high trust. In charity, must
presume that these things did not exist, but
that Gov Reeder has since lent too facile an
car to the tales of infamed partisans.
I submit that Governor Rcederi estopped
from raising this question.
But it is said that Governor Recder should
not be estopped because he presents himself
in representative capacity, speaking for GER
tain of the people of Kansas. But l submit
that, whatever force there might be in this
idea, abstractly, it has no application to Gov
ernor Reeder's case; because those whosent
him did not act under the law, but in viola
tion of the law; and by such irregular ac-
tion cannot imputc any representative charac-
ter to him.
As to the second objection, it is said that
the law is void, because the Territorial Leg
islature removed their sessions from Pawnee
| City IN Shawnee Mission At the outset II is