The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1870-02-10
From the Philadelphia Age.
SPURIOUS SENATOR'S.

In Mississippi lately, the military COM
mander, Lieutenant Colonel and Brevet
General Ames caused himself and a negro
to be elected Senators from that State. 1t
is, of course. a notorious and undeniable
fact that neither the people of Mississppi,no
OF any other State, desire to be represented
in the United States Senate by negroes and
nonresident officers of the army. The fla
grant indeeeney of the whole procedure
ought to secure the rejection of these spuri-
Gus Senators when they come to claim seats
in the Senate. As the Fifteenth amendment
is certainly not yet adopted, the negro is
not entitled to represent any State in the
Federal Legislature. That he was not a cit
izen in the political sense was solemly de-
cided in Pennsylvania, by sur Supreme
Court. more than thirty years ago, in the
case of Hobbs VS.. Fogg. The Supreme Court
OF the United States affirmed the same doc
trine in the bred Scott case. Nor is this the
only objection. The Constitution of the
United States declares that no person shall
be a Senator ''who shall not have been nine
wears citizen of the United States and who
shall not when elected, be an inhabitant of
the State for which he shall be chosen" If
any body contend that the Radical recon-
struction acts passed by Congress did or
could create citizens, in defiance of the Con-
stitution as expOunded by the Judiciary, yet
all these revolutionary acts have been passed
within a few years, much short of the nine
demanded. No negro citizen can yet be of
u date to comply with this requirement. As
much DISQUALIFIED is the military gentleman;
not only on account of the grOssness of the
transaction in which he has been engaged;
but because he is no has never been. an in
habitant of Mississippi, inthe true political
sense of the term. A military officer order
ed to and from a State does not become an
inhabitant of it. He is sojourner there,
not by his own free viii, but by the order,
revocable at pleasure. OF superior officer.
This is both the legal view and the common
sense view of the question. In 1906 in the
District Court of the United STATES. Judge
Peters rehearseG the well settled doctrine on
the subject as follows:
In the case of Hilton and Brown, in 1906,
in the Circuit Court, and in cases in this
Court, the following has always been my
definition of the word "resident" or .'inhah-
liant" which, in my view, mean the same
thing. An inhabitant or resident is per-
son coming into place with an intention to
establish his dOmicle. or permanent resi-
dence and consequently actually resides
Peters Admiralty Reports, 45O.
Now il is very plain that Lieuteuant-Col-
onel Ames (Brevet General), of the State of
Maine, did not go to Mississippi to establish
his domicie. He went there on duty as an
officer. If he has since made that State his
residence he should affirmatively show it,
His mere presence in the State will not es-
tablish it. He came there in the character
that is prima Jacie, just the opposite of a vol
untary resident: soldier moving about I'M
portance. It Involves the power of the
Executive to send thousand or ten thou
sand soldiers into any State or Territory, to
determine the elections. by their ballots, in
stead of their bayonets. This ought not to
be possible Each soldier, it is true, has his
domicIe, but it was fixed by his birth or his
own free choice. not by order of the War
Department. During the war, this was re-
cognized by our State legislation, which al
lowed the absent soldier to seal up and send
home his vote to his home in Pennsylvania.
Two, three, or four years service at the
South was not then thought to make a
Northern soldier a citizen of a Southern
State. We net however, now mean 70 argue
the question; but we suggest it to some of
the eminent constitutional lawyers of the
Stockton. Mr.. Bayard, add Mr. salisbury,
know full well how to raise and how to de-
bate such question. On the threshold. too
we hope they will meet Lieutenant-Colonel
Ames with the objection that he is an officer
OF the military establi hment anu cannot sit
in the Legislature. There was report from
committee to this effect in the House of Rep
resentatives, in the XXXVIIth Congress-
We do not at this moment recall whether
that body adopted any resolution on the sub
ject; but the general opinion was adverse to
any officer of the army holding a seat in
Congress. Gen. Blair, it will be remem Sered
resigned, for the purpose of serving in the
war. and was, on his return to Congress, re-
instated by MIR. Lincoln. We dot not COM
mend this precedent; but it recognizes the
improperly of attempting to combine the In
compatible character of military officer sub
feet to orders and an independent Represen-
tative of the people of a State.