Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-05-12
TELEGRAPHIC.
XLVI. CONGRESS.


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The president pro TEN laid before
the senate communication from the
secretary of war recommending an
appropriation of $4,000 to con-
tinue on service seventy clerks en-
gagged in preparing reports to expe'
dte the settlement of pension
applications, and who otherwise
will have to be discharged on the
Goth prox. In .-.--.r... .v
At the expiration of the morning
hour the senate concurred in
the house amendment to the joint
resolution, authorizing the presi-
dent to call an International sanita>
ry conference. The amendment in
cludes, among countries from which
delegates are TO be invited, those
subjected to cholera. The senate
then resumed consideration Of the
Kellogg-Spcfford resolutions.
Senator Hill (G,.), speaking in
their support, SAID he proposed to
discuss chiefly the legal aspect of
the case, going into the facts only as
far as necessary to illustrate the
principles. 1t was conceded, he
said, on all hands, that q legisla.
ture was chosen ia Louisiana in
1875 The question to be deter
mined then is, which body claiming
to be the legislature of that state
was such egi,lAture in fact.
If the true legislature chose Spo.-
ford, kellogg was not entitled to his
g, at. Which, then, was the true
legislature Of the state? Mr.. Hill
commended that it is a body of
persons invested with the authority
to make laws for the government Of
a state; it derives its power to make
such laws solely from the people of
the state, under the state constr Us
ton. This being SOFT necessarily fol-
lows that the people who confer such
power upon the legislature must
alone have the right to say upon
what body of men they confer it.
In other words a state must decide
for itself what body constitutes its
legislature, and no other person or
power has any right to decide for
the state that important question.
The opinion has prevailed, he said,
in some quarters that when
there were two bodies in
a state, each of which claimed to be
the legislature, the same power out
side of a state, the senate, for in
stance, could interfere and decide
which was the legally organized
body. la no possible contingency,
Mr.. Hill said, could such doctrine
hold good. If domestic violence
prevented state from deter mining
for itself which was its true legisla-
ture, the president mi sht be called
upon to put down the violence and
remove distractions so as to give
a state the freedom to choose for
herself her legislature; but no
power outside of the state had au.
thority to make that claim for her.
In the present case the state Of
Louisiana recognized the NchoIls
legislature before Kellogg was seat
Ell by the senate, and decided that
the Packard legislature was a body
whose enactmeuts were not binding
upon any person whatever, and
"hose appointees had no valid titles;
not only this, but she definitely
recognized the Nichols legislature
for It's whole term. It was ab-
surd to suppose hat one body could
be the legislature for one or two
months and then another body be-
come the legal assembly. The
Nichols legislature was chosen in
1876 for two years, aud was the
only legal body for the entire two
years. The Packard legislature
had, at no time whatever, a legal
standing. The state having d,-
cided, where does the senate get
power to reverse it If such
power existed, it would destroy the
right Of self government in state.
Pending the conclusion of Sena>
tor Hills argument, the senate, at
4:2O, adjourned.