Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1885-01-22

ana should Be Sustained.
| Edu2 i,azsite: have resi yonI
Dover corr sspOndjnt's COY Lesied YER.
siou OF the legislative pfoo-edipss on
Fridsy lasi respecting the Ell cuou Of q
representative 10 fill the existing vacancy
in the House uocssioned by the iueliei-
bility Of Mr.. Watson Of Ken. county.
The people Of Delaware will surely be
unwilling 10 believe that their chosen
representatives were so forgetiul Of their
dignity and duty as to lower their oficial
consideration Of q grave constitutional
exiRenoy 10 the level Of prize fight or |.
childish quarrel. The members Of the
House should, and doubtless will, treat
this question like sensible men and not
as petulsnt children.
Each representative has taken his
official oath to support the constitution
OF this State and to perform the duties of
said office with fidelity. This oath
imposes upon each representative the
solemn duty to execute the mandates Of
the constitution and Of the Laws enacted
pursuant thereto. Article 2 Of our State
constitution requires that there shall bs
81 members OF the House of Represents.
tives, and said article and section 81,
ohspter Is Of our Revised Statutes
peremptorily command that, In case Of
vacancy in said House, under oircum
stances like the present the speaker
thereof shall Immediately issue writ
OF election for filling such Vacancy,
directed to the sheriff Of the county in
which such vaoAnoy happens. Said
chapter il further peremptorily requires
that such special election shall be held
within the briefest practicable time, viz:
five days, after the Issuing and delivery
Of said writ. The manifest purpose,
therefore, Of our constitution and statutes
being that each branch Of our Legisla-
ture shall, at all times, have its oonstitu-
ticnal complement Of members. Until
altered or annulled, these constitutional
and statutory provisions are oonolusively
binding upon each branch Of the LegislA-
ture, IS we'll as upon every member
thereof, under his oath Of office. .. Il
Now, what are the facts OF the present
case 7 It seems that the people Of Kent
county, In one Instance, have failed to
elect an eligible member Of the House
from their county. Upon this fact
officially appearing to the House (which
under the constitution Ia the sole Judge
Of the qualifications Of its own members)
at that instant by force o. the terms OF
the constitution itself land not neoes
sarily by the declaration Of q vacancy by
3 resolution Of the House) an actual
vacancy happened, In contemplation OF
our constitution, Of which the speaker Of
the House was, Of his own motion, bound
to take notice, and, thereupon, issue
writ OF election to I'LL II.
Now, has not the ineligibility Of Mr..
Watson duly and officially been made to
appear to the House Itsurely has been
unless the newspaper reports Of Its pro-
oeedings are incorrect. For according to
these, committee was appointed to in
vestigate the facts concerning his alleged
ineligibility, which committee made .
formal report that Mr.. Watson was in.
eligible and which report was officially
and, 1t seems, unanimously adopted by
the House itself whereupon Mr.. Watson
has refused to sit longer - o
member. With these facts officially
before their eyes, the members Of the
House are, under their solemn
oaths Of office, bound to take notice that
there ia now an existing Vacancy which
should be filed Immediately. Speaker
Comegys acted lawfully and wisely In
itsuirg his writ for special election on
Thursday, and the House pursued mis-
taken and apparently an unwarranted
course on Friday in attempting to inter
fere with the execution Of their speakers
writ, and its wisest course would now be
TO immediately sustain his pIompt and
constitutional action. Representative
Saulsbury's reasoning, 1; accurately re.
ported, was utterly unsound He con.
II
power to "judge Of the qualifications" OF
q member with supposed power OF the
House to create vacancy. The House
tan do the former, but the constitution
alone, and not the House, does the latter
When the House decides, as Il did When
1t adopted the aforesaid report OF lta
committee, that a claiment Of q seat ita
that body is ineligible, at that ver5
instant the constitution creates . vacancy
sad therefore "a vacancy happens" to
use the constitutional and statutory
phrase, without waiting for resolution
81 the House either to declare such
vacancy or to direct the speaker to issue
the writ to fill It.
Speaker COmegys, accordingly, as both
An intelligent man and competent
lpeGker, upon the House deciding that
Mr.. Watson was ineligible, took notice
shat, under our constitution, there was
shereupon vacancy, and also q duty
imposed upon him Immediately to issue
writ to fill IL. There is nowhere, either
IN our constitution or in our statutes,
which are particularly explicit, any pro-
vision authorizing or requiring the
House to declare q vacancy before its
speaker shall have power to issue
% writ Tor an election to fill ii,
or even to instruct him to do 30. Nor is
such previous declaration implied by
reason OF any supposed necessity. Iu
fact the argument from necessity would
establish the contrary implication. Take
a single instance for illustrations: Suppose
lat the ineligibility Of = member (who
would be as scrupulous as Mr.. Watson
has beeD) should leave tie between the
two political parties In tae House at any
time, and that the members Of the party
not having the speaker should refuse to
vote In favor Of resolution declaring
vacancy, can II be truly said that,
in contemplation OF the constitution,
the speaker could not issue writ for 40
election to fill the vacancy sotuslly exist
ing, and which might be the only means
Of breaking deadlock upon other public
business for the whole session Assuredly
rot. For such . construction would be
unreasonable as II would be misohievous.
1t looks therefore as II Speaker Comegys
WAS right and Representative SAulsbury
and the members who followed his lead,
wrong, and hence that Mr.. G. ia
much wiser leader of the house than
Mr.. 8.
Again, Mr.. SaulsSury's further reason
ing (by which he Is also ported to have
misled the House) that the said vacancy
ia one which "affsots Kent county alone"
and, therefore, that our New Castle
county members should not object to ite
remaining untitled, II the people Of Kent
county 80 desire, 10 equally absurd and
misohisvous.
The New Castle county members should
spare no effort to have II filed for two
reasons: First, because 1t Is their sworn
duty to see that the constitutional and
statutory mandate to have the vacancy
filled Immediately is instAntly obeyed,
Second, because the dearest rights and
interests Of the people Of New Castle
county who elected them may depend
upon their prompt ful6lment Of this
sworn duty. For the first time In .
half century, the people OF this county,
unless they are betrayed by either
the inoompetepoy or infdelity Of their
chosen representatives, have within their
immediate attainment . very desirable
increase Of representation and thus far
that Just recognition Of their riRhtful
claims for which they have struggled for
more than generation. To prevent the
certain defeat Of the representation