The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-10-30
8ithu1uud. 1ispatrlt.
SATURDAY. OCTOBER 30, 1863.
Partisan Dishonesty.

The American Association, deVoted 10
social science, met on Tuesday iase III NC"
York. An address was delivered by the
President DR.. SAMUEL ELIOT, OF Boston;
ortcr which several papers were read. That
which attracted the most attehtioh was
from the pen Of Hon. L. L. DAWES OF Mas
sachusetts, upon the injustice and parti-
sanrv of the action of Congress upon con-
tested elections. Mr.. DAWES was an aspi-
rant to the chair Of Speaker of the House al
;ts last session, and he has been understooa
IN be decided party man on the Repubh-
can side. The statements made by him are
therefore surprising for their frankness.
They are unquestionably true to the letter.
and they show to what extent partisanfy
mislcads men and silences justice.
Mr.. DAWES states that the Constitution
noralrzes the laws upon the subject oil cleo
tions By making each House OF Congress
the Judge of the qualifications OF It's mem
hers. This authority, first exercised with
reference to right and justice, he shows has
nj last been perverted to the "requirements
of party and thus the number OF con-
tested elections has been greatly NULL
nlied--defeated candidates belonging to the
party in the ascendant in Congress hoping
Ia he ,laced in the seats by that party. Mr..
DAWES says:
Gan traces Of judicial character in these
proceedings are fast tadlng away, anu Inc
precedentS are losing all sanction. Each
case is coming to be Il mere partisan strug-
rle. At. the dictate of party maJorlties tne
committee must fight, not follow, the law
and the evidence; and he will best meet the
expectations of his appointment VINO can
nut upon the record the best reasons for the
course thus pursued. This tendency is so
manifest to those in situation TO observe
that it has ceased to be questioned, ana Is
now but little resisted. There is no tyranny
like that of majorities, and efforts in the
past to resist them, and to hold the Judg-
ment of the Committee of Elections up
above the dirty pool of party politics, have
encountered such bitter and unsparing de-
nuuciations, and such rebuke to party
featv, that they are not likely ottento be re"
peatcd The fruit that follows such seed is
too certain for doubt. The "noIe proceed
ing must sink into contempt. Selt-respect
as well ms legal attainment will soon retire
from service on committee required in the
name of law and under the cloak of judicial
sanction to do the work of partisans. But
the work itself is sure to return to@plaSue
the inventors. What one party does through
such machinery can be done all the easier
for it by any other which may come after it,
and that which needs such support Will soon
become worthy of no other"
Mr.. DAWES very well states the manner
in which this evil may return to plague the
inventors; but it is not q consolation for
the country thus to be driven to despair by
the cursc of partisan rapacity and knavery,
no matter what party is in the ascend
ant. Such an abuse of the represen-
tstiye rights Of the people ought to be
corrected ut the earliest day. All persons
must have been shocked at the GOODNESS and
unauirnity with which the most patent out
RACES of this sort were perpetrated by Con-
greSs within the last four years.
Mr.. DAWES shows the effect Of this sort
OF partisan injustice in the statement that
while there were but sixty cases of contest
collections in the first sixty-five years of the
Government, there have been more than
that number in the last ten years, "and it
sis understood that twenty cases are pend
cling at this time in the present Congress"
Congress need do nothing more arbitrary
than it has repeatedly done recently to
silence the will of the people and perpetuate
the dominant party in that body. Such an
invasion of popular rights in the early stage
Of the Government would have made every
citizen leap to his feet and demand his
rights.
Mr.. DAWES, we say, is frank; he speaks,
moreover, as patriot; and considering the
evil he points out Il great one, he proceeds
to allude to some remedies for it. Hc speaks
Of the usage which prevails in the British
Parliament intended to preserve the JUDI
c:dt character OF the Committee on Elec-
tons. "The Speaker appoints a general
committee on elections, and submits the
"names to the House for their approval,
"and this committee selects committee TO
"try each case, and their names are like
''wise submitted to the House, and may be
objected to by the parties, or any men,
"bcr, for causes specified in the act. This
committee, thus challenged, were sworn,
land tried the case in the manner already
described, and their judgment is likewise
q final and binding upon the parties and the
House"
Pennsylvania, which, in her law-making
body, is not remarkable for scrupulous in
tegrity and decorum, has get considerate
kind Of procedure on this important SUBJ
ject. The Constitution provides that n
committee OF elections shall be drawn by
lot, and that their judgment shall be final.
Mr.. DAWES suggests that Congress cannot
probably make radical change for the cor
recton OF this great evil because the Con-
stitution reserves the broad right to each
House to decide the qualifications OF its
members, but thinks some salutary changes
may be made in the mode of appointing the
Committee on Elections which may conform
it more to popular sentiment. He utters
this wish, in which all viii concur: "Let
the political committee he buried in the
same grave with the political judge"
Such a paper as that we have here de-
Scribed, from such source, is quite en-
couraging. We see that there is some hope
ola "sober second thought" Of the return
ing sense ofjustice, amongst even those who
have riotedin usurpation and wrong. They
have good chance to observe the dangers
to public liberty of their own measures, and
may well start back afrighted ashley stand
upon the brink Of the awful precipicew which
they have reached. a
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