The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1870-08-04
CONGRESS.
REMARKS OF HON. s. COX ON THE
CASE OF PATRICKlSW0ODS,

gfAnsConSfeSsSouiy of51StVsitS ~
MR. Cox After, the Very Ssr ! exhaust
i've and able argpment of the gentle
man from W iseensin Mr. Eldridgel
1 do not presdneit totadd anything to
the IaR bf the case, The law seems
to be settled byl the I precedeppts which iiil
have been quoted, and the reasons of
the iaw seem to be clear. The object
of these questions Of privilege is sim
ply fof hs protection Of the parlia-
mentasy body; either stoi protect the
personslof its members, the integrity
of the House IN its membership, or
for the purpose 'of securing the attend
ance in the House of quorum of
members for the. transaction of the
public business. think that Iiso the
scope aud meaning of the opinion of
the court in the case of Anderson VS..
DUMB ia6 Wheaton. That is. abont
all thai, case tleeilss; except that it. de-
cides also something inqregard to the
right.te- punish, ,.aaa what the panish-
ment shall besTGE 81 III
reference to the matter of pun
ishment,, l confess that the law is
somewhat Ambiguous. 2, The rule is
that the. punishment, ifrby Wayaof
imprisonment;q ;qsball terminate with
the end Of the session. Otherwise 8
man might be kept in prison after the
adjourHlaentaf the body b. thelorder
of which he is imprisoned, and no
power in heaven or on the earth or
under the earth, by habeas corpus or
in any, other way, could ever bring
him forth again to the light. There
fore the amendments the gentleman
from Massachusetts Mr.. Butlerl has
thissone objection5 there is no power
left during the. vacation by which this
man can be reached either fe4relemen-
ey on rescue j hold to tile interpre-
tation that the punishment should
cease with the termination of the .ses-
sion = II al ADV ESis8 l. -
But it seems to me that we are
really wasting the public time which
is matter ofmuch more consequence
perhaps, than any case Of this kind
in trying little case of assault and
battery. The only object of protect,
ing the members of this House isthai
they may be able to go in safety to
aud froni the House that they Ishan
shave free ingress and egress from the
House, and that they shall not be mo-
Tested for, words spoken in debate.
That is the Limitation, in my Ejudg.
ment, of uour power to punish ofoi
breaches Of privilege. 4 But here we
are trying case Where, 50 far as car
gather the facts from the report, there
was mo- intended and denoo substantial
breach Of the privilege OF the member
He was not going from or returning
to his post in Washington. 81 He was
not assaulted for words spoken in de-
BATE There was nothing connecting
him at the time with this H ouse ir
any such way as to call for the inter
ipositfon of this extraordinary power
6f privilege Why, sir, in Boston Of
i New York an assault and battery case
! Of this kind would be disposed of in
ten minutes, and at a cost of ten dol
lars or less. Yetlthis House iof Rep
resentatives is wasting som $4,000 q
precious public money for the purpose
of trying, a case OF, allault and battery
such as BELTS the jurisdiction Of
police court! 9S5z - .,,l..,I .,sss ,,is.fe1 Il
AS to some of the facts in this case
there may be room for difference O
opinion seabut one thing is perfectly
clear from the evidence that the hon
bfable member from Virginia (and ]
speak of him with entire yespect) wa
not at the time of the assault in th,
act of returning to the House of Rep
resentatfVes, { On this point + neee
only citelpage So Of therepoft.i Nor
than this, there isno evidence to sat
isfy my mind that Patrick Woods eve
knew that Mr.. Porter occupied TIL
honorable position Of member o
C. .5IF}AD NsfE;i
OoeaS tSSSesr.qs SSs. s} nl la,e9is tffg sgi3ubi 300
The case, however, is resolved init
case Of assault and battery upon Mr.
Porter, not as, man, but asa Con
gresham; n;as Hence when Mr. Parte
was struck BY this belligereHft' rent. .Celt, j
was not man as man, not human ma
ture OF fhnhaan society which was out
ragged, but Congress! It was. Con
gress that was struck.is s's sa.l,,ns9 s 50,
"Then /, and you, and all5off us fell down"
Laughter, 20 .'5at e ii'''t .ea,
Bp1 as Congress is an abstraction, t,
assail it would be to strike against tn,
impalpable air. 1t would strain th'
assailant, apdsleaye the assailedias ui
touched as the Miltonic angels will
their celestial ichor when the satahiij
swords went through hte their celestia
bodies: aisoI,a'
1t being impossible, therefore, t.
strike Congress as such, when a mem
& ber is hit it results, in this < that eacl
4 member Is hit or else there is 40 of
fense:s 81 Patrick Woods, therefore
when he struck the member, hstrucl
"A first the Speaker. In doing this h
struck sRy c61strhesionsthe corstiti
ents of the third district in Maine, an,
therefore the State Of Maine. h''A "A
!. ! Maine is part Of our .ceasolidste'
Union, she Communicates her indig
nifty to Massachusetts [Mr, Dawes
and the whole Appropriation Com
mittee, and his colleague [MrsButler
and the Reconstruction Committee
. with its amnesty bill, are struck 20
!, course we could al feel 1t when Mas
eachucefte 10 struPE TTauohfap