Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1876-03-22

J. B. Eustis, the Senator from Indiai
hastens to warn his party friends th
thcy have to choose between Pine
back, the Republican, and Eustis, Il
Democrat as If you, Republican Sen
tors, who only nine months ago we
conscicntiously opposed to Pincbbacls
claim, arc now bound tosupprcss yol
convictions, smother your conscience
and humbly vote to admit him in ord,
= to prevent the admission of Dem,
/ crat, Alas, Mr.. President, we hay
fallen to a low estate indeed, If clail
to u scat in this body, sometimes calle
] august, is to be decided by such n COZ
0 sidcration
Q Mr.. HOWE. Will il interrupt tn
0 Senator if | ask him one question 2
Mr.. THURMAN. Yes, sir, twill. A
. | am making an argument, prefer nc
Q to be interrupted. | will with pleas
urc answer any question the Senate
+ asks when | am done.
Mr.. HOWE. Certainly will not asl
a question if it will interrupt the Sen
: ator.
Mr. THURMAN. Mr.. President, il
view of the facts to which | have re
ferrcd, maintain that whether Pinch
back has n pIimd tdcie case or not is n,
longer an open question. IL has beel
decided by the refusal of the Senat,
for nearly three years to seat him ant
by its refusal to seat his predecessor
Ray. To say now, alter these refusals
that he has a prina focie case is in Of
feet to attribute to the Senate the gross
est stupidity or the grossest injustice
and neither imputation is admissible
No, sir; the Senate knew what il wa;
about when it refused, or neglected
which is equivalent to refusal, to seat
Ray or to seat Pinchback upon sup
lposed prima fdcie case. 1t knew that
the Senate, by its proper committee
had Investigated themerits OF the case
and that all the facts of the case had
been reported by that committee and
were before the Senate And it knew
that when a court has gone into the
merits of a case there is no longer room
to talk Of prima tdcies. A prigla tdcie
case is good only when the actual case
is not before the court. The moment
the actual case appears the primd tdcic
case vanishes. Here we have the ac-
tual case before us. We ordered our
committee to ascertain u; II did ascer-
tain 1t and reported u TO us the re-
port stands uncontradicted by further
testimony; tho facts have become n
part OF the authentic and official histo-
ry OF the country, and we are as much
bound to take notice of them as we are
bound to take notice OF any fact in the
history OF the Republic. In view of
these iacts thus brought before us, and
which we are thus bound to recognize,
there is no longer II primd face case
upon which we have TO decide Our
decision must be upon the merits, for
II would DO the height OF absurdity TO
admit Plnchback upon prind tdcie
case, and then upon the testimony al
ready before us turn around and the
next day unscat him.
Before leaving this point ! ought
perhaps TO notice the fact that, at II
previous session, the Senator from IN
diana quoted some remarks OF mine in
the Goldthwaitc case to support his
proposition that the certificate OF the
Governor constitutes pr,nd face case.
But every lawyer knows that the Ian
guagc OF a court Is TO be restricted to
the case IN hand, and the same rule ap-
Plies TO the language of Senator IN
reference to Judicial question, Thus
restricted my remarks, quoted by the
Senator, were, so Tar as my inyostlga-
tons had gone and as | believed, per-
icctly correct although | have since
been informed by the Senator from
North carolina Mr. MEnniMoN] that
a more thorough search into the pre-.
cedents discloses the TACT that ] had
overlooked some Of them and that my
statement was too broad and ! think
that at the last session, he referred to
some cases IN which II was held that
the Governors commission did not con-
stltute a primd tdc'e case. But re-
peat that what ! said IN the Gold
thwaite case was correct when applied
to the factsof that case but they have
no application TO u case like the pre-
sent, The body that elected Gold
thwaito was coniessedly the Lcgisia-
ture OF Alabama, the Governor who
commissioned him was conicssedly the
Governor Of the State, and no investi-
cation by the Senate, or any commit
tee thereof, had taken place; and so
there was not one particle OF testimony
before the Senate to invalidatc his clcc.
tom And the memorial presented
against him did not question the exist
ance OF lawful Legislature or tho IL
tic oil the Governor IL simply quos-
TONED the right OF certain members OF
tho Legislature to their soats--a ques-
tlon OF when We could have no cog
-, ~
N"c"leo inero Nouiu hhNc remhincd
far more than quorum Of lawfully
elected members and corseourntlv n
a,.,,I /, ,,,.i',I.,,.,,, ..,..,,.,,i :"
,""'", 'os'H'"'"'V' VI couIsc' w " 'hac
like that, ! was correct IN saying that
the i,overnor's certilicnin made n ,,riip1
c,o;, ,.oso H., ,,.l,,,, ~. H., -.
!"eo ."Se' put W""t h"s t'lhl 10 10
with the case IN hand, IN which there
w wer9 .Wo oouleSi cacn claiming 70 pe
.nc Lcs's,aIu'e ,I i u LOUISIANA anu two
Perso"s encn c'l''''ns 10 10 ''o uo''
ernoI VI .ne o,a'e' "nu gu, cVlliin'''oo V,lliin'''oo
,,au rrp9r'ca :, Una. nei.ner , poay ,ai was u a
,' ,aw'ua hog'sa'ure " anu tnal , he,Sucr 1,..
p purso' V"sn' 70 w r'cosl'1cu aS uoV- V
v,no. ,,,. ~ nPp'y NY ,e,'iurNs ~ 70 ac"sV
''.c '',s % s,"p'y 10 ignore ,nc oio"n- oio"ni
f.. . a'u '.vs' ., @ iunu"n,cn,"' uls.,ne''ohS ~,
,' oeemee,i .no ciscs, anu 70 "no''y ms
III. III