Middletown transcript., 1896-02-22

peared, qualified and took his seat II
the senate on the first day of the ses
sion, without protest or objection, and
continued to act as Senator and al
speaker of the senate, whenever he wal
present, up to the time of the final -ad-
tournament.
1.-THE act of the senate in allowing
him to be qualified and seated as a sen
ator from hescounty of Kent was in
effect an adjudication of the most pub
lie and solemn character that he was a
senator, a member of the senate, aud
entitled to act as such. such adjudi-
cation remains unchanged. There are
only three ways in which he could lose
or be deprived of his light to vote or
act as senator, and, by conse-
quence, of his right to vote and act as
memter of the joint convention. One
of these is the act Of God-death; the
secoLd by his own act-resignatiOn;
the third is by the action of the Senate
adjndging re vacation of his seat,
either by custer or expulsion, for such
causes as the senate of the State of
Delaware might adjudge sufficient to
disqualify him as senator. There
has been neither death, resignation, nor
adverse adjudication in his case, and
he remains in all respects senator, as
fully qualified and as lawfully en-
titled to act as such as upon the day
when he first appeared and was sworn
as SENATOR"
And their conclusion, are:
First. That if there be any ques-
tions as to the lawful qualifica ions of
William T. Watson to act and vote as
senator and, by con-equenee, as
member of the joint con-
vention, this is not the place, the time,
or the tribunal to either hear or de-
termine such questions.
Second. The senate of the State of
Delaware had paramount and exclu-
sive jurisdiction to adjudge such ques-
tions, and whether they exercised such
jurisdiction or not, the Senate of the
United States has no jurisdiction in
the premises.
Third. That Mr.. Watson, having
acted and voted as senator and as a
member of th jUint convention at the
time when the vote was taken under
which Mr.. Du Pont claims his election
to seat in this body, he is to be
counted as a member of the legislature
of Delaware in joint convention assem-
bled: that the whole number of MEM
bers voting, being the whole number
of mem bers of both houses, was 30;
that Mr.. Du Pont did not receive a
majo, ity of this whole number; that
we cannot make his vote of 15 ma
iority of such whole number by sub
tracting therefrom the vote of one
whose right and title to vote is nol
shown by the record to have been ad-
judged against by the body of which
he acted as a MEMBER
DAVID TURPIE,
JAMES L. PUGH.
GEO. GRAY.
JNo. M. PALMER.
The report in another place says:
1.-THE Journal shows that he continued
to act as senator and as speaker
whenever he was present, up to and
including the last day of the session,
when both houses adorned sine die;
that during the entire session when
ever he was present, he voted and acted
as senator in the joint conventional
the two houses, and acted as presiding
officer of such convention"
This is at variance with the facts and
Senator Gray should know it. Cover
nor Watson frequently visited the Sen
ate and the House between the time
that Gov. Marvil died and the 9th Of
May, and yet it is well known that he
did not continue to act as senator and
speaker whenever present." Such a
statement in the report shows not only
the extent to which partisan demands
will carry men but the extreme weak :.
ness of the case against Col. DUPONT.
No paper in the State will deny our
statement of the facts.
How puerile is that part of the re-
port referring to the fact that no ''pro-
test or objection was raised against
W. T. Watson's taking his seat on the
first day of the session. Why should
there he? He was neither governor nor
acting governor. Joshua FL. Marvil
was then Governor and W. T. Watson
was then Senator and elected speaker.
And their conclusions are puerile
and weak. 1t is said of certain men,
ber-elect of Congress that he spent
much time in speculation after his
at the partiality of his friends
in sending him to the Capital, having
a sense of his own unitness. He went
to Washington and after being there
a little while he spent more .time in
speculating as to why the people had
ever sent the other fellows. This s
meant as no reflection upon Senator
Gray for hv was"smart'enough to beat
Hon. CHARLES B. Lore, to fool certain
legislators, and to get there, but the
mystery is that he has not presented
stronger case against Col. dupont. 1t
Is an evidence at once Of the merits
Of Col. duPont's election. or as not
few believe, that the best thinking
Democrats have all along hoped that
Col. dupont may be seated.
( The conclusion of Senator Gray and
his colleagues is that five members in
our State Senate. or a majority Of any
body, can, without law or
eason obstruct the course of right and
justice, that because the State Senate
did not or would not pass upon the |
right Of Mr.. Watson to act as both |
Governor and Senator, and who would |
say that he might not appoint himself |
'ldge and hold an executive, legisla-
i've and judicial Office at the same time? |
therefore there is no power to correct |
Lhe wrong and even the United States
Senate m iSt accent it How vary |