Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1857-1858, 1857-09-02

- eN~oi VI ouf government cOntemDiateS that
tue SENATE should be permanent body always in
existence. The Constitution provides that if va
ea"cies happen by resignation otherwise during
Tue recess OF the Legislature OF any State, the Ex-
ecutVe thereof may make temporary appointments
uDT :, tne next meeting of the Legislature which
snah then NIL such vacancies. The object of this
provision is evidently to insure full Senatorial rem
fesentaton to each State at all times But suppose
| an emergency had arisen requiring the convention
| OF the Senate at any time since the 4th of March
asbi Tue vacancy by reason Of the expiration of
GOV. Jones commission occurring during the tern,
OF Office Of the Legislature elected in Auoust 1S56
and that Legislature being competent to fill said
vacancy 1t would have been clearly without the
power OF tue Governor Of Tennessee to fill it by ap-
POin'heh' or IN any way except by calling
ira sefsoh o. the General Assembly, to elect his
! successor. Indeed an extra session of the Senate
odS convened on the 9th of March last, at which
StI'g-oee Senators were personal---very. State in
the Union except Tennessee having her full repre-
oen'aUon: In as much, however, no matters
Inc oeiOfe that session of sufficient moment TO
justify the calling Of an extra session of the Legs-
iatuAe, It was not done and still without
tull representation.
II this argument determines anything, it
is, that the Legislature of Tennessee does
not meet at proper periods, and that its
time of assembling ought to be changed.
But, for this there is no necessity. The
contingency of called session does not
often occur, and the State cannot lose much
! by not being represented in a mere execu:
tive session like that which conYenes eve
ry four years on the Inauguration of Presi-
dent. However, for an answer to the
Union and american on this head, we refer
our neighbor to speeches made by some of
the Immortal Thirteen" in the Legislature
of 1S4l-2. At that time Tennessee had
no representation an the United States Sen
ate. Her two seats were vacant; and
when the wings proposed to go into an
election to fill them, the proposition was
defeated by an extraordinary movement on
the part of the thirteen locofoco Senators,
and the State forced to go without repre-
sentation in the United States Senate for
two sessions. "The theory Of our govern
ment' which. 'contemplates that the Sen
ate should be permanent body, always in
existence" was disregarded by our neigh
boris confederates. They did not deem
the filling of the Tennessee vacancies mat
ter of any moment. Whether they were
filled or not, the permanence of the Senate
was not affected. Gov johnson, is re-
ported to have said:-''The wings had a
majority in the Senate, and therefore, there
was no need to hurry on the election" A
similar remark might now be made with
justice, to-wit-"The locofocos have ma
jority in the Senate of the United States,
and, therefore, there is no need to hurry on
the electiOn-especially as Mr.. Bells term
does not expire until 1859, and the next
Legislature meets in time to fill it."
But, the Union and american attempts
to bolster up its position by citing the &C
ton of the Wing Legislature of 1878,
in electing a successor to Mr.. Grundy be-
fore his term expired; and the election of
Judge White in 1927, in similar manner.
Ii former Legislatures committed errors,
that is no sufficient excuse for succeeding
Legislatures to do the same thing. The
locofoco members of the Legislature of
1878, "controVerted both the right" of
the Legislature to elect as proposed, and
the precedent. Mr.. Jo G. GUILD said, in
reference to the proposition, ''If not against
the letter Of the constitution, this extraordi-
nary step is against the spirit Of the repubH-
can institutions Of the country" But Mr..
GUILD is not the only one of the present
aspirantS to Mr.. BELLS place, who opposed
this extraordinary step" Mr. NICHoL-
| SON Of Many uoS aoroIIv ,ooIo,. I'M.
following extract from a speech made by
Mr.. BLEDsoE, of Sumner, gives the posi-
ton of the locofoco, or sham democratic
members:
ALLOW me, sir, to affirm, and that, too, without
hazard that if the exercise of doubtful powers is
discarded for aversion to which Tennessee has
always been distinguished, and we give prevalence
to the strict democratic doctrines Of the Federal Con-
stitution, the election Of Senator cannot be brought
nOV; but If, on the other hand, this sacred in
strument is violated the sovereign power Of the
people will be usurped, and the great Magma Char
ia Of American liberties made a sacrifice at the
shrine of party
''The movement which is now making by the
dominant Wing party, is directly at vaYiaHes teih
the usage of the State. The advocates of this reso-
luton have ransacked the archives of the State to
get presidents to bear them OPP, and the result of
their sedulous investigation has been the finding
of only the SINGLE case Of Judge White, who was
elected in 1927 to fill the Office in 1929; shiLe the
'Shois array Of instances, from 1877 up to this time
IS directly against them. In 1873 an effort was
made TO bring on the election of Senator 60 fill the
| Office in 1915. In 1888, a resolution was intro
duced to elect a successor to Judge White, who
was TO go out of Office in 1885; az these stated
times, the democratic republican, Jackson, Van
Busen party, the gentleman calls u.s. were in the
ascendauey, but they had high a regard for the
Constellation that they ordered Tie resolution to Eay
the table until the constitutional period has arrived
for filing the vacancy"
According to these locofoco authorities,
the step now desired aud intended" by
their brethren Of this day, was not in ac-
cordanee with the ''strict democratic doc
trines of the federal constitution" was vio-
lative of the spirit of the republican insti-
tutions of the country" and directly at va
rance with the usage of the State" and so
thigh regard for the constitution" had
the jackson democracy in 1888, they
Indignantly voted down similar PROPOSE
ton. The lOcofocos of the Buchanan era
have greatly changed They cast aside
the precepts of their forerunners, and pro-