Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1869-09-04
UNsEsTING REPRESENTATIVES,.

The Press and Times comes to the
defense of the bogus members of the
House of Representatives. In its
issue of yesterday, that paper says:
"a part of the work "cut out" for the
next Legislature elect is to unseat some
eight representatives elect from East Ten
nessee, who hold their seats by virtue Of
the constitution adopted by the Union
party in 1865, when the State was reorgan-
ICED. These members hold their seats by
as clear and indisputsble title as that by
which the Representatives from Davidson,
Shelby, or Knox hold their seats, or the
President of the United States holds his
office.
"The legislature will not venture 10
attempt any such outrage upon the rights
Of the people, o. their representatives, and
upon the constitution which they adopted
lawfully in 1865. We are fully Satisfied
that if the proposition to unseat these
members be made in the House OF Repre-
sentatives, it will not find a second. 1t
would be high~Aanded attempt to tram
pie upon constitutional rights, which
would at once compel the intervention o.
the federal government.
at should also be considered that if the
seats of eight members should be vacated
on the ground that the seats have no legal
existence, the Legislature, by so doing,
would strike q blow at many of the laws
enacted since 1865. Not a few measures
we're passed by a less majority than eight
votes. If eight seats be now declared non
existent, it is evident that they did not eI-
ist in 1S65-6-7-S and 9, and that all votes
cast by the usurpers holding them were OF
no more force than any other illegal and
unconstitutional votes. LIZ any one mad
enough to imagine that the federal govern
ment would for moment suffer the legis-
lation of two State administrations 10 be
sapped and undermined in this manner?
If he does he will find himself sadly out
of his reckoning"
This is delightful fustian to come
from the recognized organ of at
least one wing of the Republican
party; and this is not the first in
stance in which the Press and
Times has virtually held inter-
ference On the part of the general
government as a terror to brighten
the people of Tennessee into acqui-
escence into Radical usurpations and
outrages. Fit is proposed that the
constitutional convention shall re-
form and vacate the judiciary, the
Press and Times with an air of mas
licious satisfaction gently insinuatos
that the federal government will
not permit such revolution by
even the sovereign people of the
State. Now when it is proposed to
eliminate the House Of Representa>
tives of number of bogus mems
bers, the Press and Times declares
that it "would at once compel the
intervention Of the federal govern
ment." Why so? Is not the
Legislature of Tennessee as COM
petent to Judge of the qualifications
and election of its members" as
the Legislature of New York or of
Pennsylvania Our constitution
guarantees to each house this right,
but the Press and Times threatens
the people if the members of the
House Of Representatives shall eX~
ercise this right. To this have we
come at last. The free citizens of
Tennessee must accept without a
murmur or question the usurpatiOns
of the defeated Radical party in
this State, or the federal govern
ment is to be set upon them to de-
YOUR them body and soul. Do these
men suppose that the government
of the United States will espOuse
their quarrel with the people Of
Tennessee, because this people have
refused to acknowledge them longer
as their masters? If they do, they
are destined to be disappointed as
grievously as Mr.. Stokes, the great
defeated, has been. 1t is time this
sort of child's play were stopped |
md grave questions like that
IF the eligibility of the ex-
ra or bogus members from
East Tennessee, were discussed in
he light of the constitution and
avs to which we owe allegiance
IS Tennesseans. If, as the Press |