American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1881-01-01
Republicans and the Constitution.

The dogmas of the stalwart faith be-
gin to multiply. In addition to those
enunciated by President Hayes and
Attorney General Devens, there have
followed promulgations of several other
articles of the progressive Republican
creed. These confessions of faith were
elected by the debate which ensued
upon an ordinary motion of Mr.. Bick-
nell, of Indiana, that the House consider
as privileged question the Senate res
olution relative to counting the Elec-
toral vote. This seemed to have
aroused the anger of General Joseph
Warren Keifer, the member from the
Fourth District of Ohio, for he imme-
diately denied that the subject-matter
constituted privileged question. In
Robson, who produced a Republican
copy of the Constitution. This refer
ence refreshed and stimulated Repre-
sentative Lapham, of Canandaigua, who
soberly announced: elf the Vice.
President declares that President is
elected, he is elected" MIR. Springer
then ventured the supposition:
"What il Vice-President shall
declare a President to be elected
who was not chosen?" which
caused Representative Lapham to airily
declare that contingency to be impossi-
BILE. But when Mr.. Springer, taking
issue with the proposition that anything
was impossible in Republican legisla-
ton. quoted the joint rule of an old
Congress preparatory to the election OF
1868, Mr.. Robson was good enough to
make a serious and valuable contribu-
ton to political history by remarking
''that under the pressure of the war and
81 f@l1 81
Republican party had made a good deal
of false legislation. They had been
weak and precipitate in many of their
actions and were suffering from it to-
day."
Speaker Randall then argued the
question of privilege and cited the ac-
ton of Republican Senate, by vote
of five to one, that its President had no
power to count the vote. Upon de-
mand for the previous question the Re-
publicans declined to vote and left the
House.
So early an exhibition of ill-temper
from the stalwarts must be accepted as
evidence that they are impatient for the
fruits of victory, and are chatting, as
Hayes in his message chafed, for the
meeting of House which shall not
have, SO many Democrats to irritate ten
der Republican feelings by references to-
what the stalwarts said and did in the
palmy days of war and reconstruction
The doctrines of Keifer and Robson are
the doctrines which are supposed to have
triumphed in the receut election. al
though we heard exactly the opposite
kind of doctrines from the elastic Pierre
points in Cooper Institute or from the
versatile Cenkling in Indiana The party
tendency among Republicans is still to
centralize power. And it is very
noteworthy that this monstrous preten-
sion that the President of the Senate
has the sole right to count the votes
for President. a pretension which in
1877 was abandoned by every Republi-
can lawyer of standing in the Senate to
the intellectual giants of the Tribune and
the like, should be revived in the House
during the first days of the session,
when nothing is practically at stake and
there is no fear of a disputed election.
1t ought to be the business of the Demo-
cratic majority in the House to see that
the Senate proposition now before the
House shall become law. Vice-Presi-
dent Arthur is not the judicial sort of
politician whom the country can afford
to have as President-maker in 1885.
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