Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1867-05-02

" SENATE.

II SENATE.
The provisions Of the Constitution IN
regard to the election OF Senators were
speedily perverted every where, except
think, in ON State. In order 70
make these, also, popular elections, ana
ss the lower branch OF the Legislature
every where the more numerous |,
generally by three or four to one, the
Of joint Conventions OF the Two
Houses was adopted, by which the can
didste receiving a msjority Of the votes,
not of the members of each House, "a
of both together, was held to be elected.
Massachusetts adhered 10 the only truly
constitutional system, Of each House
voting by itseif, the majority Of the
votes OF each being necessary to an cleo
ton.
Ii was an ingenious PLAN that Of
electing by joint Convention, to dlmin-
ish the value Of the victory Of the small
states, and OF their equal vote in the
Senate. To have given them the full
benefit Of the federal principle, the
States should have voted in the Senate
as States. each having M vote. When
ever the Senators Of a State vote against
each other, that State, Is 3 State, really
loses her vote. She throws it away.
There Is. in effect, and at bottom, no
vote by States in the Senate. The large
States, with their p~reponderating vote
in the House, could afford 70 sometimes
lose their Senatorial vote. If the small
States lost it, they virtually had no voice
in the particular legislation.
The most certain and simple mode Of
securing this advantage to the large
States, by having the two Senators from
q state represent oppos ng parties, was to
establish a mode of eleeting Senators,
which should be virtually apopular cleo
ton. The members of the State Houses
Z of Representatives are reelected every
one or, at most, two years. III ttsyelect
tie Senators the one elected to-day may
be q Wing, ne elected to-mOrrow, a Dem
ocrat. Each would represent the party
for the moment uppermost in his State
They would often differ, eve il Of the
same party. Power might buy one, and
not the other. To make the State Sen
ate vote ioiHtly with the House, was to
merge it in the House. Often it would
happen that the Senator elected would
have received less than half the votes Of
the Upper House. 1t often hGs happened
so. The state Senate being thus reduced,
as 8 body, in these elections, to insignih-
canoe. and its members elected by the
+ same Electors a. those of the House, and
not for long terms, they would naturally
incline to the candidate favouTed by the
House, seeing his election certain or at
least probable, and looking for gifts OF
Office, which, voting against him, they
would miss. The election thus became
virtuSgy an election by the people; and
when it wa Bot. these were cheated by
corrupt bargains. Our system has been
wonderfully well adapted, at all points,
IN practice, TO tempt men to rascality.
Of sol-se- the system soon came into
vogue. especially il the South, Of the
claims Of candidates for me Senate
being presentedto the People in advance
Of Us election of Members Of the Legis-
Iature and Of requiring pledges in adj
vance from these, as 70 the person for
whom they would Ote,-candtdates for
the Legislature being nominated by
party-conventions, composed in large
measure Of self-appointed or elique-ap-
po3nted Delegates, and always controlled
by the wiEe-pHIleFs Of the party Who
through these conventions diDtated TO
the Legislature, and established 8 valid
claim 10 be rewarded by the person so
made Senator.
Other evil hsbits equally supervened.
In the South alone, for many years, can
dfdates for the Senate ~harangUed the
pe5gle, on their own merits and their op-
ponents' d~eEerits, and on their claims
TO the place & practice afterwards imi;
tated by Mr.. DOUGLAS, and which, by
hitting ABRAHAM LINCOLN against him
on the stump opened the way for the
latter to attain the Presidency. Insome
States, candidates for the Senate gained
votes by drinking and being drunk with
members Of the Legislature and the
same or others by going round to them
in person, and ahiectly begging theil
votes aud lying about opposing candi.
dates. We have kl0Cn al that done
and the candidate succeeded. No men
dicaut with . wooden leg ever begged
more impl0ringly, whinsd more pite-
ousIv. or lied more strenUously, than
some who became Senators.
The result was the gradual deteriora-
ton Of the Senate, by the Disappearance
from NEST of the seats, Of talent and
capacity and information, and the in
gress Of m~ediocrity, narrowness Of intel,
Iect, and impudent ignorance; until, al
last. even drunkards who staggered in
broad daylight down Pennsylvania
avenue, and the representative Of row
dyism and olaeBgusrdism, of the raeaRe
Of the cities, prowled in and desecrsted
the halowed Senate-C Chamber. The
instances Of the latter selections were
not numerous, It is true, but there were
some and those Of mediocrity and un-
fitness were abundant. We need not
mention names. These will readily oc-
cur to any one. We all know how the
Senate decsyed. Not reduced in num-
bers. it became a Rump-Parliament in
intellect. Every man among the
thoughtful felt it and lamented it. The
check Of the State Senatss over the
Houses was lost and the Houses, in
Iowa and Illinois, even began to elect
when the Senates refused to enter into
joint convention.
It was intended by the Constitution
that theSenators chosen for six years, and
bv the Legislatures as Legislatures,
should be, to some extent, at least, above
the influence Of popular caprice end pop
ular folly. But in order to defeat this
intention, the notable device was re-
sorted to Of tnstructiRg Senators to vote
in a certain way on certain measures, or
resign. The Electors might with as
much propriety undertake to instruct
the President, because their votes elected
him, which is the only possible
foundation for the other impudent
claim. Mr.. CLAY was q OF the
earliest advocates Of this "right Of in
struction.n 1t became q principle Of the
democratic creed, to be disregarded in
practice by democratic Senators, when
the instruction came from q Wing ma
iority in the Legislature. Senators
LEIGH of Virginia and WHITE and Eos
TER Of Tennessee, yielded and resigned,
instead Of telling the Legislatures that
instructed them to attend to their own
and only legitimate business, OF making
laws for tie State, and leave them to at
tend TO theirs. CAss and other Democrats
refused 10 DO it. As the Legislature and
the Senate were generally Of the same
party, the practice Of instruction grew
into general use in the South, until half
a.