Columbia Democrat and Bloomsburg general advertiser. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1850-1866, 1864-02-13

y" "NNOiuonVe W COutTdCJ anu law,
III the same currency hitherto paid, and in
that which the Federal governmon! pays
10 Its creditors, and thus preserve unsulied
the plighted faith of the Commonwealth.
Eor the purpose of considering this impor-
TINT question, the Senator from Bucks
CMr.. kinsey) on our behalf offered to
elect Speaker pro tempore, and you
should name the man, and the opposite
eide of the chamber turned their backs
scornfully upon the proposition rather
than temporarily surrender their present
claim to perpetual organization" With
whom rests the alleged odium of oppres-
sive taxation, the people will truly Judge.
And it will not be upon US. Upon one
side we have been all concession, upon the
other all ilibcrality. We hoped in this
spirit OF concession to organize the Senate,
1t we could, and to proceed harmoniously
with the ordinary business of legislation
We thought with compromise and liber-
atty in the onset the same generous feel
ing would perva9e US until the end of the
session. On the other side, they lave
held TO but one assumed fact, that this
Senate was permanently organized, that
the Senate Of 1868 was competent to elect
Speaker Tor the Senate of 1864. We
believed this was not constitutional nor
i'll accordance with law or precedant and
we have firmly resisted that assumption.
How have We been received 7 We have
seen Senator'S upon this floor, speaking by
common PERMISSION, by courtesy, den
ounce US almost day by day in language
at once discourteous and unparliamentary.
Outside of these walls the whole legion of
shoddy eontractors-men, as | have said
coming the blood of the battle-Ged the
walls OF widowhood and the starvation Of
the orphan, under the guse ofloyalty, into
filthy lucre, have denounced US. Men
have sought to drfle US who number their
broad acres by the hundreds, not one rod
OF which is the result Of honest gaiu, but
has been the accumulation of years OF per
jury, forgery and public robbery. We
have been denounced by men who have
risen from the bottom of society, as the
purifying, fostering corpse rises in the
stream, by their own bloastcd corruption.
to position where their disgusting put
tresccnce ohends the eye and the nosirils
Of ALL But, sir, the discourte.y within
these walls, the defamation without, will
not move US from our unaterable resolve
to stand by the Constitution, the landmarks
of the past and The precedens OF those
who have gone before Us in this Senate.
The issue, sir, is whether you, the
Speaker elected at the close Of the last scs-
sion, lave the light to hold over without
a re election whether you are an institu-
ton permanent and unalterable; whether
You sir are constituted by higher power
than the people whether you, sir, are
there in obedience to the organic law, the
statutory law and precedents of the SEN
ate. We deny that position; the Sena-
tors upon the opposite side affirm it, Now
| sir, let US look at the charter by which we
occupy our scat, as Senators, Let US ex-
anime the fundamental law of this State
upon which is builded all our institutions
except those that are delegated to the Fed
eral government.
The Constitution of Pennsylvania, sec
ton l, vests the legislative power of this
| Commonwealth in a General Assembly
| WLich shall consist of Senate and House
Of Representatives. Then provision is
made for the election annually of those
Senators. In the subsequent portions OF
the Constitution the Senate and House OF
Representatives are designated respectively
as "each house" The word "house" is
applied to this as well as to the CO. coordinate
branch Of the legislature. That is mani
lest in every section in which the term is
used. "Each house shall choose its
/ Speaker and other officers' each
house shall judge of the qualifications Of
its members" "a majority of each house
shall constitute a quorum each house
may determine the rules of its proceeding:
punish its members, expol member and
| shall have all other powers necessary tOr q
I branch Of the Legislature Of afee State. .
Now, sir, the Supreme Court, in 8 Harris
in constituting these words which | have
just read from the Constitution, uses thi:
language, SO as to show clearly that tht
word house is applied 10 the Senate a
well as to the coordinate branch of the
General Assembly;
"'lhese words are not to limit the pow
ors Of the General Assembly but TO confer
certain parliamentary privileges on The
separate branches, so that each hose wher
in session could without the concurrenc,
of the other,promptly protect itself agains
indeocncy, disorder, corruption or misbe
hayior OF members and stranger Her
then wo have the language Of the ConSti
tuition, authorta.iyely construed, designa
sing both branches OF the General Assem-
bly, by the general name of "house." s.
that when we refer to the powers Of tin
Senate, in the language OF the ConstitutcI
we must interpret the word "house" t.
apply to the Senate as well as to tn
House of Representatives, Under thi
view of that instrument then, what does
say? That "The General Assembly
"each ouse"-"shall meet on the FRS
Tuesday Of January III every year, uni es
sooner convened by the Governor" as di
rected in section 10. Now, immediate
following the section providing for conven
In, ,Lo 4 n,.;el,,,,.o g., eno,;n, ,vo L 4,