The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-11-05
Political BlncIkballinr.

III any one Is so simple rs to credit the
dispatch that the Congressional sub commit
tee is coming ito take testimony" in regard
to the contested elections of Mcssrs. Simn-
son and Reed, we recommend 10 him tho
careful perusal Of the paper read by Hon.
II. L. Dawes, at the recent session of the
American Social Science Association. lie
shows that these committees consist OF a
majority of the political party ruling in the
House, and that they are appointed for the
sole purr use OF declaring that the contest
ant belonging to that party has been duly
elected
The trainers of the constitution assigned
to each house the power Of deciding upon
the elections and qualifications of its own
members. There are no restrictions upon
the exercise OF this prcrogative. In the Sen
ate the Judiciary Committee manipulatcs
the case; in the House OF Representatives,
the Committee of Elections, whose proper
business is TO receive the testimony present
cd by the contestants and TO decide judci-
ally upon its value, but who have recently
received permission TO go into the contested
districts and act ut once rs an inquisitorial
jury, prosecution, and bench of Judges
The plaintiff always belongs to their party,
and their business is simply to represent
him. They meet to hear his case, and to
lcgalize hi U-sl'nNtions-''onlyt this, and
'nothing move. Thcy mlye 5lrcliy made
their decision huf0re a vp..s has brcm
summoned A. Ronlhttau committees ap
r-.-.-a 0e~'t -tu. -"i ,-sfgss uiAoriiy7
upon the .l.cI.Ia pi $50 Democrat si.Di-
fies the intention of the party i'll power 10
exclude those gentlemen from the House of
Representatives, whatever may hare been
the majorties by which they were elected.
AS Mr.. Dawes testilies, and as everybody
knows, each case OF this sort is coming TO
be mere partisan struggle. 'The CON-
'mittec dare not resist the eXactions of
"party, and their action is, in consequence,
''worthy only OF contempt" And the do.
grading ends of their appointment, as well
us The corrupt resorts Of the party now in
power, appear from the flct that ''whi!e
'there were only sixty cases during the first
''siXty-ilve years OF the government there
''have heen more than that number within
1.-THE past ten years-over twenty of which
''are now pending" All these contestants
belong to the majority. An injured Demo-
crat or Conservative well knows that an ap-
peal for justice 10 q Radical Congressional
committee would be perfectly absurd! It's
members have been selected on account of
their political compilations; they have had n
certain political work assigned TO them; they
have been canvassed beforehand; they 20
ont upon their mission like excursionsts
upon frolic-with all their expenses paid,
and succeed in catchin@ something, as GER
tain shrewd amateurs do, by fastening the
desired fish upon the hook before it is cast
into the water at ALL The result is GER
tain from the beginning. y partisan
speaker appoints partisan committee,
which returns partisan report, and upon
this report the members vote according to
their political affiliations. There is not a
straw left for n minority politician to catch
Mt. Hence while the people of the upper
districts may have determined that Messrs.
Simpson and Reed shall represent them, an
| other set Of people, temporarily resident in
| Washington, have determined that thcy
shall not And we rather apprehcnd that
the other sc! will have their own way
Yet ali sncl contests will do gootl. The
time will come when the people OF this State
and OF every State will secure to themselves
by statute OF amendment the right of repre-
sentation in Congress by persons whom they
themselves have elected, and not by persons
elected for them by Congressional com
mittec. And every outrage on the ballot
will accelerate the advent of that day