Staunton vindicator and general advertiser. (Staunton, Augusta County, Va.) 1858-1860, 1858-04-24

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sce,Eber last also copies of the laws if any,
by which the soksc IF tle. people Of Kansas
en- the question u the proprirty Of their app
plying fol. admission as q State IL tsie Union
was authorized to be TAKEN, aud tthe vote
thereon slso copies Of the registration Of
voters for The election Of delegates to said
convention, as we'll as the appor!ieninent Of
delegates to the same. - p ~ ''-e@'ss*2
Now, sir, [ very respectfully submit to
those gentlemen who INSTRUMENTATION to
eavil at the action Of this eoufnattce whether
that proposition, Introduced and adopted by
the commmittcc at It's very organization,
does not cover all.the requirements contain
ed in the resolution Of the House as it was
passed and under which this committee act
ed? What have we omitted We have
gone back to the very organization, the in
cipient steps for the gathering together of
Ahis convention, and we have come down to
the close of the action in connexlnn with that
subject, when the very last act had been done
in the submission oft to bepopular vote and
the popular sentiment had been rronaunced
in regard to SO much Of it as had been pre-
scented to the people for their consideration.
Was there anything more to be done? Could
it have any influence on the action of this
House to ascertain whether the irst election
of delegates, under the territorial organiza-
ton to the territorial assembly was charac-
terized by frauds, or whether the second
election was characterized by frauds, or the
election of the 4th Of January And. be-
sides all that, under what authority, under
what law, would this House undertake to
look into questions Of this sort and to de-
eide upon them z? grant you that, so far
as The election OF a Iolsseto to fhis Uonse
is concerned, in that case, the House, being
the Judge Of the qualifications and returns
of its own members, can look into his case
and ascertain whether his poll has been
stained by fraud-wl ether he has, in other
words, been fairly and properly returned
member Of this House by the constituency
who claim the right to send him here. That
is the extent Of cur powers Bat what au-
thority have We to look into Legislative re-
turns ? Name that / can conceiye-none
whatever. And even if you could look into
them, they are matters which Dc not bear
upon this subject and that cannot influence
tho action Of any one member Of this House
If we had gathered up a thousand pages of
testimony-as the committee did year 20
the result in all probability would have
been identically the same as it is nc ". in
sist, therefore, that, so far as this commit.
tee is concerned, they have performed their
duty strictly up to the letter Of this resolu-
ton. They lodged nothing; they sought
to dodge nothing. But they were unwill-
ing to proerastinate the decision Of the q1les-
ton by the introduction Of irrelevant mat
ter that could not enhghten the ninl ofany
human being upon the question that is the
subject Of consideration here
Having thus placed myself and my col
leagues on the committee right III this mat
ter, SO that this statement may 60 upon the
record with the charges that have been pre-
fcrred aganst us, leave the subject.