The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1880-05-21

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claims of contestants; and than the
logical csnsequencemof 4lhis populax
and generally accepted mea6ihg q the
word "judge," rs regards The ppsesed-
ings Of deliberative bodies, is, thst th e
seat of the sitting senator is open to
contest during the whole period for
which he is elected, and Whenever
testimony shall be produced hefoxe-tha
Senate which shall establish the TACT,
that the citing member OF the Senate
procured his election by fraudulent
practices, aud therefore has no status as
the legal and duly elected representa-.
tive Of the State from which he
comes, bat IL to all intents and pur--
poses an intruder and s,surper. ~.
The action OF the Senate In this and
other like contests Is purely legisia-
tive-not Judicial. It Is simply the
duty of the Senate, as Legislative
body to inquire into and ascertain the
facts bearing on the case, such a.
whether the body electing was actually
and In the view OF law the Legislature
of the State representing the sover-
eighty Of the people whether such
an election was the deliberate act of such
legal body, uniufluenced by the use
Of money and by general corrupt prac.:
tices on the part either Of the person
elected or Of his personal and ,poltti-
cal friends. This duty accomplished,
the whole controversy Is settled. But
suppose that at any time during the
term for which United States sena-
tor Is elected, 1t Is discovered subse-
quently that he has been clothed with
the character of senatorial representa-
tive by FRAUDULENT practices on bis
part personally, or the electoral count
has been SO faIsided, that the body
purporting to be the Legislature was
not the legislature legally considered
but an assembly of persons possessing
no delegated authority, expressed by
their ballo's at the polls, from their
constituencies, Is 1t consonant with
law, reason or common sense that, the
State should be placed in this condl-
ton OF helplessuess, without the pos
sibility of redress or of resuming upon
proper and conclusive proof the power
of representation which had never In
fact been delegated, but had been
shametully and fraudulently usurped :
Such a supposition would place the
g.
very existence-not to say the author
ity of the State governments,-at the
mercy Of unscrupulous and fraudu-
lent adventures. Tho law, the pur-
poses of the law, the interpretations of
the courts, aud the preceGents estab.
lished by the decisions of the IegisIa.
tive bodies both In Great Britain and
in this country since the foundation OF
the government, are all against such
an Interpretation of the right OF the
Senate or the House of Representatives
to; ':judge Of the election and quallfica-
tion of Its members" Time and time
again contests of election for seats In
the Senate or the House have been
opened after the persons holding Ger
tfdcates of election have been declared
duly elected and the contestants have
been seated. These presidents are nu-
merous, but space forbids reference to
them in detail In this article. n.f
William Pitt Kellogg does not rep
resent, but misrepresents the soveE-
eighty Of the people of Louisiana to-
day. He has justly aud legally no
more right to the title and honors of
Senator ~ of the State of - Louis
lana In the Senate Of the United
States than the humblest and meanest
citizen who cast his vote at the polls
In 1876. He represents nobody. but
William Pitt Kellogg himself, and
even that representation h such as to
make him the embodied personifica-
tion Of fraud In his representative ca
pacity. And yet after all, it seems
that we have Democratic Senators who
have not hesitated to become his ad-
vocates for the validity OF his election
aud the retention of his seat as one of
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