Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-05-14
memorial which it recites is a memorial from

very high place in the consideration Of thi
House. think the gentleman from New
York was unfortunate In planting his case or
that idea. States of this Union are not repre-
sented by individual members, who are sen
here to speak and vote FOR their States, and il
no other way, whatever, can a State of thi
Union be heard on this floor, except under tn
rule, which is a recent modification. that a
Monday mornings call, joint resolutions O.
State and territorial Legislatures NAV be in
tredrced for printing and reference
The Speaker--Would the gentleman from
ONO deny to a State the right of petition a.
gwen in the constitution?
:, Mr: Gartield-Ohio, as State, has of course
the right of petition.
| The Speaker-A memorial is petition and
is provided for in the constitution, wherein il
Is stated Congress shall make no law abridgine
the right Of the people to petition the govern
ment for redress of grievances.
Mr.. Garfeld-The Speakers reference to the
right of petition is entirely unnecessary. and
everybody here is granted the perfect and I'M.
questioned right of petition. But the right OF
action here on this floor is quite different
thing, and the question Of whether it rises tc
the dignity of a privileged question depends
on the right Of actien which Somebody can de.
mand Of the House. This is question OF
privilege without doubt provided the mover of it
alleges ne purposes to follow it up as a matter
OF impeachment. If he says that this is q
proceeding intended to have impeachment, then
doubtless it may be a question of privilege. If
he says 1t Is a proposition by the House to raise
and determine the question of title of the
President to the office which he holds, then /
answer that the question has been determined
by the joint voice of the two Houses of Con-
gress, and it is beyond the reach of this House:
II again the object of the resolution is merely
to organize committee for cam paign purposes,
to make campaign literature for the fall
then answer that the exigencies OF
political parties have never yet risen
| to the dignity of question of privilege.
Furthermore, there is In this resolution a
| proposition that the committee shall have the
right to sit in the recess. Neither of these two
propositions can be adopted by a majority
vote, but l reserve that point of order until
opportunity shall arise. am glad, at least
! after the long threat that has been hanging
over the country, that these gents, In the
| language of Shakespeare have left off their
| damnable faces and begun, and now let the
play 60 on. Applause on the Republican side.
Mr.. Mills argued that the resolution did not
present question Of privilege, and he could
find no shelter for it under the constitution,
unless that power of the constitution which
gave to the House the right to originate an
impeachment against the President for high
crimes and misdemeanors, but in order to
make it a question of privileges under that
constitution, the provision in the resolution
must contain charge against the President of
sufficient gravity to satisfy the House in
putting him ON trial for impeachment. All the
frauds alleged in the resolution had been once
| Investigated, and competent body under the
constitution, had declared the present incum-
bent of the presidency to be duly elected under
the constitution and the laws, and that is the
end Of it. The power no longer existed in the
10Th Congress and any attempt on the part of
the 45th Congress to exercise such power over
the presidential election was usurpation.
This Congress had no power at
all over that question. Whatever
power the constitution vested in either House
of Congress on such subject had been exercised
by the forty-fourth Congress and there remain
ed not shadow Of right on the part of this
Congress to exercise such power. The only
power which this House had over the President
was the power to impeach him for some crime
and misdemeanor which he himself had COM
mitted, but not for fraud which others
had committed in bringing him
to the Presidency. II this House
how Hayes obtained the Presidency, it also had
the right to investigate the means by which
James X. Polk had obtained the Presidency in
his time, and it might also go back to the days
Of Washington, and bring the facts of his cleo
ton before the people. He repeated that any
attempt on the part of this House to investi-
gate and undo what had been done by the for
ty-fourth Congress in declaring who was Prcsi-
dent, was nothing short Of usurpation. APP
plause on the Republican side
Mr.. Cox, Now York, read an extract from the
decision of the electoral commission in the
Florida case, and charged Garfield, one of the
commissioners, with having either a convenient
conscience or convenient logic. So far as
the question of privilege was concerned, this
was question of high privilege, and it was
not necessary that it must lead to impeach-
ment
Mr.. Potter held that it was a privileged cues
frOY no fac hat no LoJ
set in motion, first by the public formal action
! OF sovereign State ard second from the ma
turc OF the subject matter to which it referred.
The gentlemen on the other side We're quick to
declare if he Potter, would say the purpose of
the resolution was to impeach and unseat the
President Of the United States, they would ad-
init it was in order. That he declined to de-
clare: A limitation such as pro-
posed by the gentlemen on the other side
forever prohibits the House from inquiring into
frauds that had been successfully committed,
and which had come to knowledge after their
successful accomplishment: If there was any
| thing in the nature of the fraud that made it
desirable to be inquired into it when the
fraud had been successful and if the House
refused to inquire, because frauds had succeed
| ed, then the commission of such frauds would
be encouraged, and the failure to investigate, SC
| far from securing, would jeopardize the peace
and security of the country.
The Speaker-The issue involved is new
one in the history of this country, and an ex-
animation of the basis on which the preamble
and resolutions are introduced is proper. The
Legislature of Maryland passed joint resolu.
ton touching the subject treated of in the
preamble and resolution Just read A copy oil
that resolution of the Maryland Legislature
has been remitted to this House, and has beer
referred to a committee, and is within the
knowledge of members of the House, in which
the following language is used: "That full
| effect has not been given to the electoral vote
cast by the State of Maryland on the 9th ola,
| OF Nov, 1876 by reason of fraudulent returns
made from other States, and allowed to be count
ed professionally by the electoral commission
and subject to judicial revision 1t furthe
alleges that the returns from Louisiana ant
Florida, which were cast for the present occu
pant of the Presidential chair, were fraudulen
Union to the federal legislative power for til
correction Of high grievance said to have bee
committed in the States of Florida and Louis
lana against the rights of the State of Mary
land, in having, by fraud in said States Q
Florida and Louisiana, produced differen
} President from that actually decreed by tn
people themselves at the polls. Whethe
these allegations can be sustained b
} proof it is not for the cha
to consider. 1t is enough for the cha
to know they come from power which, will
in limits, is recognized as sovereign by the col
| stitution, and that the issue involved runs I
the welfare of the people of all the State
Nor is it in the range Of propriety for the cha
to express an opinion assto how far such inve
tigation should gosin order to reach the fact
nor what limits should be set upon it. A higl
: er privilege than the one here involved, an
broadly and directly presented, as to the RICH
: full occupancy of the chief executive chair
the government, and as to the connection
: high government officials with IL
!! frauds alleged, the chair is u
able to conceive. The chair fin,
: enumerated among the questions of privileg
set down in the manual, the following: II