The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-27
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Drunken Senators.


From the Independent.
Nascit,T, non fit, is as true of the members
Of the upper house of the British Parliament
rs it is Of poets. The peers of Great Britain
Ere born legislators. Now and then one is
made, it is true; but not until he has first
given evidence of his having also been born
for the station. 1t sometimes happens, too,
that there are foolish peers and worthless
peers; but then, noblesse oblige, and the fools
and knaves do not find it convenient to at
tempt to exercise their inherited function
as Legislators. The House of Lords Is
always eminently deoorous and dignlneu, leI
it be what else it may. It's members j., Wgn
understand that, if they did not naluVain
their dignity. their order would not long De
maintained. Our national Senate IS modelled
on the House of Lords, except that lts
1nembers are not hereditary, nor elected 1or
life: but they are chosen by the highest legls-
lative authorities OF the states, tner Terms
of office are three times longer than those
~ tbe members of the lower House, and
thew are as far removed from popular inilu-
ances nc NAV be possible in a representative
Government. If dignity of character and deco
Tons department can be looked for anywhere,
snrelv it ought to be in the Senate of the
limited States It is the last place in the whole
rufians should be found or tolerated. The
Senate is very properly made the sole judge of
the fitness of its members to seats in its body.
They NAV deny admission to whom they
please and expel whom they please; and there
fore the Senate is responsible for the conduct
of its members. If they permit their chamber
to be polluted by the presence of habitual
drunkards and rufians, who obstruct the
public business and endanger the safety
of the nation, they are to be held respon-
sible to the nation, and must be re-
garded as pdrticeps CrimlniS. In the
high and palmy days of the Democratic party,
when Polk was President and the saveocracy
had things all their own way, the State of In
diana chose to be represented in the Senate by
q drunken rufian, whose habits were dis
grace to civilization. The dominant party
had no desire to expel him, and the other had
no power. AT the end of his term, Mr.. Polk
sent him to represent us at the Court of Ber-
lin, where his conduct was so outrageously
vile and indecent that he had to be recalled.
He returned to Indiana; where, soon after, he
murdered his brother-in law in a drunken
brawl. 1t used to be said of this disgraceful
wretch, by way of eXtenuation, as is usually
said in other similar cases that he was ga
good fellow when he was SOBER" and since he
killed his brother-in-law we have seen reports
of his reformation. We hope the reports are
true; but; if the Senate had done its duty
and expelled him when it could, that act
might have not only sobered him and pre-
vented the mischief which he afterwards was
guilty of, but have prevented other Senators
from disgracing the Senate Chamber by
coming into it in a state of intoxication. 1t
might, also, have saved us from the terrible
disgrace which afterwards befell us when the
President of that august body, the newly
chosen Vice President of the United States,
appeared in his place to take his oath of
Office in state of maudlin intoXicatiOn.
During the past five years the Senate has been
daily disgraced by the presence of two
drunken members, whom no Senator had the
moral courage to move the expulsion OF. In
the case of one of these Senators, whose term
has just expired, it has been alleged that he
was permitted to remain out of regard to his
amiable wife and daughter, whose presence
in the galleries. watching with anxious eyes
the husband and father, touched the sympa-
thies of Senators. ''Wives and weans," as
Burns says,
"Wad brak the very hearts OF stanes."
and the weakness of Senators might be over
balanced by their feelings as men. But there
was another sad example before them-a daily
disgrace and daily nuisance, as obtrusiVely
drunken as TOodles--whOse outrage ought
not to have been tolerated for an hour
Salisbury, of Delaware, who was reelected at
the end of his term, as if on purpose to defy
and insult the Senate. At last MIR. Sumner,
the most courageous man in the Senate, had
the courage to move the expulsion of this
drunken Senator; but his resolution has not
been acted upon, in Difference, it is said, to
Mr. Saulsbury's wife, and promise that he
would resign. But he should not be permitted
to resign. The character of the Senate is
likely to undergo great change before long,
by the introduction of some rough elements
The gentlemen from Russian America, the
gentlemen from New Mexico, and the gentle
men from Lower California, to say nothing of
the returning members from Texas, Arkansas,
and Mississippi, will be likely to unsettle the
decOrous habits which have heretofore char
acterized the upper house of our national
legislature. 1t behoves the Senate, therefore,
while it has the power, to establish some safe
precedent by which its decorum and dignity
may be hereafter insured. Let it be under.
stood, when member comes to his desk
intoxicated, that his expulsion will immedi
diately follow, and there will be no moro
drunken Senators.
TVomensR OntntOn OF Vhay,saI,,.s