The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-03-18
Congressional
LOUISIANA IN THE SENATE,
ARGUMENT OF MIR. CHRISTIANCY
AGAINST ADMITTING PINCH
BACK.
WAsHINGToN, March 12.
Mr.. 0HRrsTIANCY OPPOSES PlNCHBACK's S AD-
MISSION,


MISSION.
Mr. Christiancy, Mod. Rep, Mich,
said as he had not been in the habit O.
oral discussion for the last eighteen years
he had reduced what he had 10 say tt
writing, and, with the permission of the
Senate, would read it. He then read az
follows
The question we have before us upon
the admission of Mr.. Pinchback, as has
already been well remarked, is not 8
mere partisan or political, but a legal and
constitutional question, depending, how
ever, as all legal questions do, upon the
facts to which the law is to be applied
What are these facts in the present case
1t is conceded that the Legislatu e, by
whose votes he claims to have been
elected, and the Governor, whose GER
tifcates he holds, were elected, if elected
at all, in November 1872. The Senator
from Indiana, who has argued this ques.
ton with his usual and acknowledged
ability and adroitness, and VINO has
placed the right of Mr.. Pinchback upon
the grounds upon which it must stand, il
it can stand at all, in one, and, as think,
the most important branch OF his argu,
ment, claims that the onl ly fact material
to the question is the certificate IN due
form from Kellogg, purportlng to be the
Governor of Louisiana, and under the
seal, purporting to be the seal OF that
State, of Mr.. Pinchback's election as Sen
ator, that this constitutes a prima tacle
case, and entitled the applicant to admls'
sion as member of this body, and to be
sworn in, and that if the body purportlng
to be the Legislature, who elected him,
or Kellogg; who signed his certificate,
was not legally elected, and the election
did not make the one Legislature nor
the other Governor, these facts can only
be shown after Pinchback's admission
here for the purpose of expelling him
Where the legal existence of the Legs
lature, purporting to make the electlonl,
is conceded, or not seriously questioned,
and the point of contest is whether they
have proceeded regularly, or by a SUI
fcient vote, or whether the person elect
ed is eligible to the office, concur fully
in this rule that the certificate in due
form entities the person in whose favor
it is issued to his seat, subject to be ex-
PEELED upon subsequent inquiry into the
facts, and it is to cases Of this kind that
the precedents establishing the rule
mainly and almost exclusively relate.
THB CHARACTER OF THE KELLOGG GOVERN
MENT.
When there is a serious doubt whether
the body purporting to be the Legislature
making the election and the Governor
certifying it had any existence or power
to act, the question stands upon a some
what different principle, and much more
analogous to question upon the gen
uineness of the papers. And in such a
case, while | do not question the power
of the Senate to treat the certificate as
prima facie evidence for the time being,
vet think it would be much more in ac-
cordance withjust and logical and legal
principles first to act upon the inquiry
whether there was in fact or in law any
such Legislature having the right to
make the election, or any Governor en-
titled to give the certificate; and certainly
there can be no good reason to doubt the
right of the Senate in its discretion to
enter upon this inquiry in the first in
stance, instead Of waiting till after the
admission, and then going over the same
ground for the purpose of turning him
otit. But in either or both the classes of
cases to which / allude tht rule which
makes the certificate prima facie evil
dence of the election must rest upon the
presumption that things are properly
and legally in their existing state until
the contrary is shown, and when the con-
trary is shown, the presumption ceases
andthe prima facie case falls with it.
The Senate has already investigated the
whole question of the existence rlnon-
existence of the Legislature which has
assumed to make The election and OF the
Governor who gave the certificate, and
the facts upon which the question de-
pends, whether in its de jure or de ficto
character, are all before us by a report of
a committee on Privileges and Elections
of this body accompanied by all the cyl
dence consisting of 800 or 900 pages. This
committee in January, 1873, was dlreG-
ed to inquire and report whether theP
is any existing State Government "a
Louisiana. and how and by whom it il
constituted. This was the government,
if any, the Legislature and the Governor,
by whom the election was made and the
certificate given. This evidence was
taken after Mr.. Pinchback's election pur-
ports to have taken place. He was pres
ent at the taking of evidence, took part
in it by suggesting and asking questions
land producing evidence, and finally was
himself sworn, and testified upon at
length upon the very facts upon which