The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1866-04-18
What is the Congress.

:
that great compend 4of political wis
dom. belneathed, to theie country.
men by Hamilton, Madison and Jay
that sit is against the enterprising
ambition of the Legislative, depart
ment that the people ought to indulge
all their jealousy, and exhaust all
their precautions" and further bear
ing in mind the fact that, at the pre-
Fsent time, it is the veto Of the Presi-
dent on which the people are com
PEELED chiefly to rely to restrain this
dangerous ambition, the following
extract from the New York World,
discussing the constitutional validity
of the acts of the Senate now sitting
at Washington, is we'll deserving Of
attention:
9The composition of Congress is
prescribed in the Constitution. The
Constitution declares that Congress
shall consist of Senate and House
of Representatives The Senate of
the United States we quote the Ian
guage Of the instrument) shall con-
s'st Of too Senator'S iron, each .Stt1as.
Have we any such Senate? Are there
two Senators from each State?'
There is q similar provision in rela-
tion to the House of Representatives;
but as the same reasoning will, in the
main, apply to both Houses, it will
suffice to discuss the legality of one.
We take the Senate in preference,
because that is the branch which has
already passed thu civil rights bill
over the veto. 1t is clear, on the
mere reading of the words, that we
have no such Senate as is provided for
III the Constitution of the United
States. We have no Senate consist.
ing Of two Senators from each
State. A full Senate consists of Sc
venty-two members; the Run,p Sc
nate, even when all the seats are
filled, consists of only fifty.
&C. It may be said, and truly said,
that the presence of every member
of the Senate is not necessary to give
validity to its proceedings. The Con-
stitution itself provides that ma
jority Of the Senators shall form q
quorum. But The same Constitution
presun,es that the absences are voluntary.
If State fails to elect, OR its Senators
fail to attend, that is quite. different
thing from the exclusion of States
from their representation. So careful
is the Constitution that every State
may be represented, that if vacancy
occurs in the recess of State Legis-
lature, the Governor is empo Eered to
make temporary appointment until
tho Legislature meets. The Consti-
tuition exempts the members of both
Houses from arrest during their at
tendance, and in going and returning
from Congress. These provisions
evince the solicitude of the Consti-
tuition that States shall be deprived
OF their representation by nothing
except sickness, death or voluntary
failure to elect.
Turning to another part of the
Constitution, we find that the most
emphatic Of all its ryorisio,ss is q pro-
hibtion 10 exclude States from Meir
representation in The Senate. Every
thing else in the Constitution is open
to alteration by the amending power;
this alone is guarded from change by
the power which can make all other
changes. No State, acihom its con-
sent, shall be deprirel Of its equal s,y-
trage in the Senate 1t is absurd to
say that Congress may do, at its own
discretion or caprice, what not even
the amending power may ever dare
attempt
'Let lis suppose that three-fourths
of the States should over-step the
limits by which the Constitution has,
in this one particular, hemmed III the
amending power, and should go
through the form of reducing the
Senate from seventytwo members to
fifty, by depriving the twenty-five
smallest States Of one Senator each,
without their consent. Would Sc
nate thus constituted pe legal body?
Would laws passed by it have any
binding obligation? Assuredly not.
1t would be as clear case of 1.euolu-
tiom as it is possible to suppose. What
the remedy would be is another and
more difficult question. But there
can be no doubt at all that such
pretended amendment, if acted on in
the organization Of the Senate, would
overthrow the Constitution. But if
not even the amending power can
take away half of the representation
OF State in the Senate, how can it
be supposed that Congress, the mere
creature of the Constitution, can take