Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1873-03-12
rnE ouTRAeE UroN ALAnAMA.'

ENOSsS"'s bAAaS MI OcOEsc Es EpcuScI, VI
Iowa and Alabama has quite unnecessary
expanse Of cheek and it trusts the slap
administered on Thursday, when be tried
70 sneak into receiving the oath in the
United States Senate, will be ssnctifed to
his lasting good 1t was a pretty hard
slap, but the average calpet-bagger like
Spencer is so used TO things Of that kind
that be doesn't mind 1t at all"
The case of this fellow Spencer shows
the contempt and unfairness with which
the people of the South are treated by the
dominant party in Congress. The facts of
the case are succintly stated by the Wash
ington correspondent of the New York
Tribune, who writes under date Of the 7th
inst, as follows: 2 tiih iitt (
SThs Senate stuiifed itself and re-
versed its recent precedents by admitting
Geo. E. Spencer TO a seat, to-day, as Sena-
tor from Alabama, without referring bis
credentials TO 3 committee. Many Ssna-
tors who have considered the question Of
Mr.. Spencer's admission impartially, and
without partisan bias, doubt very much the
wisdom of the practice in the Senate, of
late years, of refusing to seat a man who
comes with regular credentials, and of
whose election ther5 can be no honest
doubt, on the remonstrance Of persons who
do not pretend that there Is any contest for
the place; but they hold that men of both
parties should be treated alike.
"The last two instances of this Injustice
were in the cases of Senators GoldthWaite
and Ransom. In the former case some
c lored men, who complained that they had
been unjuslly excluded from seats in thu
Alabama Legislature, demonstrated a ;ainst
Mr.. GoldthWaiie's admission. On motion
of Mr.. Sherman, the credentials with the
remonstrance were referred TO the Commit
tee on Privileges and Elections, and Mr..
G0ldthwaite was kept out of his seat for
months. Hers there was never any pre-
tense that the Legislature was not legal
one, or that any one else had been elected
to the place by any body of men.
The case Of Ransom was equally
strong. The Legislature of North Carolina
at first chose Mr.. Vance. Mr.. Abbott, his
opponent, received only about one-third of
the votes of both Houses. The Senate re-
| fused to remove Mr.. Vance's political dis
abilities, and treated the case as though no
election had been held. The next year,
Mr.. Vance having resigned any supposed
claim to tie seat, the Legislature elected
Mr.. Ransom, who came TO Washington
with the certificate Of the Republican Gov
| ernor of the State. Mr.. Abbott remon-
strated that, as Ee had received all the
votes cast at the first election for any eli
sible candidate, he was entitled to the seat,
although less than q majority had voted for
/ him 70 hall narfi Gaoto frov,, 0ffvy
aud appeared only as a petitioner for the
seat. The Senate referred Mr.. Ransom
certificate and Mr.. Abbott's remonstrance
to the Committee on Privileges and Elec-
tions, and Mr.. Ransom was made to await
an investigation.
ain Mr.. Spencer's case there were two
bodies in the State, each claiming to be the
Legislature. The one meeting at the State
House had possession of the election re-
turns, canvassed the vote for Governor, gave
him his certificate, and received messages
from him. A quorum was present at its
meetings, and all of its members held GER
tiflcates of election from the Secretary OF
State. This body voted for Senator, aud
elected 7. W. Sykes, whose certificate was
signed by the officers of the Legislature,
but net By the Governor. The Republicans
who were elected to the Legislature, and
some who claimed to be, but did not get
certificates, seeded and set up Legislature
| oftheir own in the Courthouse at MontgOm-
| cry. They also received communications
from the Governor, who had changed his
mind as to which body he would recognize,
and they chose Mr.. Spencer to represent
the State in the United States Senate. At
ter both elections had taken place, on the
advice Of the Attorney General, the two
bodies came together, and the Administra-
ton Senators asserted in debate, to-day,
that the men who formed the Courthouse
Legislature made up the majority Of the
fusion body, though it is not pretended that
they all had certificates Of election at the
time the vote for United States Senator
was taken in. Under these circumstances
Senator Bayard of Dela ware asked, not that
DR.. Spencer's claims should be passed upon
1T once, and he be denied bis seat, but
simply that the certificates of both Mr.
Spencer aud Mr.. Sykes should 60 to com
mittee, in accordance with recent prece-
dents, and that neither should be sworn in
untii the committee could report. This is
the course that has been taken when Dem
ocratic Senators have asked for admission,
but the Senate refused by al almost party
vote to accord Mr.. Spencer the same treat
ment. He received the oath Of Office, and
MIR. Sykes will have to contest for the seat
at an unfair disadvantage"
OF course the majority of the Senators do
rot care for the fact that they have stulti-
fed themselves ia this m~tter. They
appear to be lost to all sense of
shame when an outrage is to be perpetrated
upon the South. They cannot plead igno-
rance as an excuse for the wrong they COM
mitted in this case. The outrage upon the
purity of elections and the will of the people
Of Alabama was deliberately planned, and
the conspiratOrs have received every aid
and encouragement from the Grant admin
istration. As soon as il was ascertained
that the Democrats would have majority
in both branches Of The Legislature, con-
spiracy was set on foot to prevent them
from organizing, and so the Radical minor
i5y seeded, but their withdrawal did
not reduce either house below a
quorum, and SO the Democrats pro-
caeded TO organize the Legislature in
the capitol in the manner pre-
scribed by the Constitution. The seceders
met in the courthouse, and admitting quite
a number ofmembers who had been candi-
dates but filled of an election, organized
Legislature. 1t was this illegal body, thus
constituted, that elected Spencer. And it
confessed its irregularity by dissolving some
weeks after the farce of electing sSenator
had been finished, This was done At the
suggestion Of Attorney General Williams,
who never pretended that it was a legal
body, or that any act it performed was Of
any binding force whatever. The Mont
gomery Advertiser pertinently asks "If
there was lawful Legislature at the time
Spencer was elected, and he was chosen in
conformity with law by that Legislature.
why did Grant by his subservient Attorney
General institute measures TO break down
and overthrow that Legislaturel Why did be
not, as bound by the Constitution and
laws, promptly recognize that Legisla-
ture and sustain It, if necessary, Vi ct arms?