Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-04-03

State, than is sheridan Of Illinois o. was
Thomas of California Nor did Ames
consider himself a resident citizen, in
habitant or anything else of the State
which ne desires to represent. He testi-
fed before Congressional Committee
''that it was doubtful whether he would |
have become citizen of Mississippi had
he not been elected Senator. TO the |
question: Scan you say whether 1t was |
your intention to become a citizen had |
you not been elected Senator 2" he an
swered 81 cannot say that it was" Now,
the Constitution requires that at the time |
when he is Selected, y Senator must be |
an inhabitant of the State for which he lis |
chosen. Every one, in and out of Con-
gress, knows that Gen. Ames was not
when elected, an inhabitant of Mississippi,
and bis own admission is on record that
he had then no intention of becoming
one. When Ames had himself eelected,"
he was not an inhabitant of Mississippi,
as the Constitution of the United States
requires. BE was sojourner ia the
State Of Mississippi, in the very charac-
ter which is the opposite of an fnhabi-
tant, as defined by law. He was mill
tary officer, whose residence was in Maine,
and who, by the order of a superior was
doing duty in various places at the South;
in none of which could he gain domicil
by the mere length of his term of duty
there That Gen. Ames never con-
sidered his residence in Mississippi other
than that of amilitary officer, and that he
had no fixed purpose of becoming even
in the future an inhabitant of the State of
Mississippi is evident from bis replies to
the committee of the Senate. When asked
if Mississippi would have remained his
home if he had not been elected, be eva
ded the question by the reply, 81 knew l
would be elected" This was at once q
declaration of his power and design.
When pressed further with the question,
''Well, suppose you had not been elected,
what them" He answered, 'Tt would
have been doubtful, I do not know" In
addition to this confession, it viii be re-
membered that he held on to his commits
sion in the army until after his arrival in
Washington, when he felt assured that he
would not throw himself out of ga situa-
ton" by resig ping. To show how fragrant
has been the disregard of the constitution
by the admission of Ames, we make the
following extract from the speech of Sen
ator Carpenter, (Radicsl,) of Wisconsin,
in support of the report of the Judiciary
Committee:
''Now, sir, the constitution has a spirit
as well as q letter; aud the man who
swears TO support the constitution swears
TO support it in letter and IN spirit And
the man who has sworn to support the
constitution and resorts to srtful lodges
and technica'ities to keep within its letter
and violate its meaning, violates both the
constitution and bis oath to support it.
What was the object of this provision
What does it mean2 Why, sir, the con-
stitution was creating a government, and
it was thought desirable that those who
should sit in this hall should come with
local knowledge of their respective States,
so that the Senate in the aggregate should
possess knowledge of the local affairs of
every State in the Union. Hence it was
provided that the Senstors should be in
habitants of their respective States. II
was not enough that he should be resi-
dent; he must be an inhabitant of the
State which he was TO represent.
'sNow, sir, suppose / go tomorrow on
a voyage of discovery to the State of
Mississippi, not being in the army or
navy, so that / am at liberty to go or not
to 90, which was not the case with Gen
Ames, and on arriving there find the Lee
gislature in session and say to them, Gen
tlemen, if you will elect me to the Senate
of the United States l will cast my lot
with you. They say they viii do so;
they elect me the same afternoon, and l
start back in the evening train TO take my
seat in the Senate in Washington. pre-
sent my credentials, and by the votes of
some sixty Senators, al of whom have
sworn to support that Constitution viii Oh
provides that no man shall be a Senator
from the State of Mississippi unless he
was On iuha bitant of the STATE at the time
he was chosen, am admitted. Mr..
President, would such case answer the
spirit of the Constitutional Would it not
be in violation of the Constitution? And
yet the case of Gen. Ames does not even
stand as wei as that"
The people now see the impudent
frauds by which Congress is packed with
carpet-bag impostors pretending to be
elected members Of the House of Repre-
svntatives and the Senate, where theymay
not only sell patronage, but votes upon
questions that involve the interests of the
whole country.