Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1873-03-11
WASHINGTON.
The Case Of Caldwell in the Senate
Resolution for his Expulsion.
President Grant Receives the.COngratu
latiOBs Of the Diplomatic Corps.
Seuate Proceedings.


! WASHINGTON, March l0.-The com
mittee on elections were directed to ex
anime aud report at the next session the
| best and most practicable method FOL
electing President and Vice. President oI
the United States, together with a plan
! for the organization of tribunal to de.
termine all contested questions connect
ed Herewith; that the committee have
leave TO set during the recess of the
| senate.
| Mr.. Morrill,, of Maine, offered a reso-
luton that the witnesses summoned
ljn the investigation by the senate be
paid four dollars per day while in at
tendance, and five cents per mile each
way of the distance actually travelled.
The resolution was laid over.
Mr.. Chandler presented petitions for
prohibitory liquor legislation.
Mr.. FentOn proposed to present other
petitions, when Mr.. Hamlin objected to
the reception of any petitions of legis-
lative nature.
The senate at ten minutes past twelve
went into executive session.
Wien the doors were again opened,
the senate proceeded to the considera-
tion of the resolution reported by the
election committee, that Alex. Caldwell
was not duly and legally elected to the
senate by the Kansas legislature.
At the request of Mr.. Morton, the re-
port of the case was read.
Mr.. Morton, after preliminary re-
marks, alluded to the general denial of
Caldwell's that he had bribed any MEM
Der of the Kansas legislature to vote for
him, and then proceeded TO argue that
the charge that Caldwell was elected by
the use Of money was sustained by the
testimony. He quoted parliamentary
law to show that bribery is not only an
infringement of parliamentary privi-
lege, but that when a single electOr is
prevented from exercising his right by
violence, the election is void, without
reference to the number of votes. This
is indispensable to the freedom of cleo
tiOns. The man who could purchase one
vote would purchase all, and his cor
rupt influence would be limited only by
his means of corruption. The senate had
right to protect itself against crimi-
nal, although the legislature electing him
might be Indifferent on the subject.
The power to expel a member was ne
sessary to enable the house to perform
its high function, and was incidental to
the protection OF the State.
In further argument MT. Morton said
that this was the most flagrant case of
bribery i'm English or American politics,
and they had examined testimony in
the case to show that such was the fact,
and that lust before Caldwell's election
the talk Of corruption was as common
and free in Topeka as that of markets
or weather.
Mr.. Caldwell said he had prepared a
statement, which, his voice being af-
fected by cold, he desired il should be
read at the secretary's desk. The secre-
tary then read the statement, which
was i'm nature of legal argument. There
was no pretence that his credentials did
not speak the truth. 1t was an absolute
fact that the majority of the Kansas
legislature did not vote for him, while
there was no proof that there was
any restraint in the premises. The
election of senator is an act of the State
in its sovereign capacity, with which
the senate cannot interfere. Numerous
precedents are quoted in support of this
proposition. The constitution makes
the senate the sole judge of the qualifi-
cations and returns of its own members,
but it must be governed by the written
law. Caldwell insists, that the senate
must be governed by the law as it ex.
isted at the time of his election. Before
the reading was completed, on motion
of Mr.. Cameron, the senate went into
executive session and afterward ad-
journed.
Grant and the DIpIOmR1ists.
WASHINGTON, March 10.-In accord
anee with the usual custom, the men,
bers Of the diplomatic corps in WASH
ingtOn called in body on the President
at noon to-day, to pay their respects
and congratulate him on beginning his
second term Of Office. Many of the
members Of the corps were aceOmpa-
MED by their ladies' The President, with
Mrs. Grant on his arm, and followed by
the members of his cabinet, with their
ladies, led the way to the east room,
where they were Immediately joined by
the diplomatic corps and their ladies.
The diplomatic corps, headed by their
dean, the Turkish minister, then
shook hands with the President, and
Blaeque Bey read the following address:
"MT. President, / have the honor to
offer you the congratulations Of the
diplomatic corps upon this occasion Of
your Inauguration. feel both pleased
and fiattered that the duty has devolved
upon me to express to you the sincere
wish of my colleagues and myself for
the preservation of your life and conse-
quent success of your administration"
To which the President replied: ''Nr.
Dean, / receive with sensibility the
congratulations which you offer in be-
half of your colleagues accredited to
this government. Ny intercourse with
you all has hitherto been agreeable. and
i trust may so continue. 1t is my wish
and shalt be my purpose in the future, as
il has been in the past, to keep mp with
countries which yOn represent those
cordial aud friendly relations which are
essential TO general prosperity and hap
piness."