The times., 1898-02-06
THE CASE OF Mr.. LINDSAY
Legislatures Have Frequently
Instructed Senator's.
MASSACHUSETTS, THE FIRST
1t Sent Resolutions Rcga riding the
Enhar.so Bin ia 1SoS-Missts-
sippa'S Order 20 hr. I-aGar-Meh-
hers Seem pisinclined TO Discuss
the Kentucky Body's Act.

The recent action of the Kentucky
legislature in calling upon Senator
Lindsay Ia resign has renewed the dis
cussion among Senators of the question
how far the acts of a State Legislature
can bind a Senator
There appears to be consensus of
opinion that the acts of a legislature
can in no way bind a Senator. and that
he is responsible only to the people of
his State and not TO any legislative
body elected by that people.
Whenever the question has been
brought up this construction has been
put upon it and every speech ever made
in the Senate wherein the instruction of
a legislature was the subject matter
il has been held that such instructions
cannot be accepted as binding. Sena-
tors are very naturally averse to dis
cussfng this question for they do not
know how soon they may be called
upon to face the issue presented to Mr..
Lindsay, and a premature expression OF
opinion might be locked upon as a
defy" to the State legislature of their
own State.
In a conversation yesterday after
noon with a Times reporter, Senator
Jones said he did not believe a United
States Senator was answerable to any
one other than the people at large in
his State. No Senator, he holds, can
be called upon to resign for any act
committed by him, Tor the simple rea
son that the Senate of the United States
is alone the sole judge OF the qualii-
..fs I.
has done that which requires him to
sever his connection with the body the
Senate and not State body will so de-
eide. Whatever may be done by a Sen
ator after his election by a legislature
the legislature, whether the one which
elected him or one subsequent thereto,
can have no voice in the matter.
Upon the Senate must rest the re-
Sponsibility of saying whether a MEM
ber shall remain or not. Senator Jones
does not therefore. accept the doctrine
that a State Legislature can issue in
structions TO its Senators.
Senator Chiffon, of Texas, holds that
if Senator can be instructed by leg
islature of the party to which he be-
longs, then it must follow that he can
also be instructed by legislature
which did not elect him. and it might
happen under this construction that
Senator Of one party might be instruct
ed by a legislature of the opposite party.
This not being admissible, it must be
according to the reasoning of the Sem
ator from Texas that no legislature can
issue binding Instructions to a member
of the Senate. Senator Chiffon is not
willing TO admit that instructions of any
sort are binding upon a Senator, but he,
at the same time holds that Sena-
TO is not justified in going contrary to
the well established principles of his
party
The only conclusion that can be
reached from the observations of Sena-
tor Chiffon is that a Senator ought to
so conduct himself that he viii be in
harmony with his party. If he is in
such harmony there will be no occasion
for instructions from a legislature OF
his party, and SO far as instructions
from a Legislature of the opposite party
are concerned, it matters little, he be-
lieves, what such legislature may do.
Senator Chiffon is Democrat of the old
school, one of those persons who be-
lieyes that q man should obey the be-
hests of the party organization II he
is in a position where his vote is re-
Quired to interpret the party policy. and
he likewise believes that IL man can
not align himself with his party he
to hold.
Senator Hoar, Of Massachusetts, one
of the prominent Republican members
of the Senate, and, as chairman Of the
Committee on the Judiciary, one of
the acknowledged lawyers of ability in
that body, is inclined to the opinion
that instructions cannot bind a Sena-
tor If they cam said Mr. Hoar,
then there is an end to that absolute
independence which has always char
acteriZed the American Senate. The
question has been frequently discussed
in the Senate and the law has been
laid down that such instructions can
Tot bind any Senator. After sen;t-
tor has been elected he is responsible
to his own conscience and to his people
If a legislature or any other body
could dictate to him the Senate would
cease to be the body which It now is.
The legislature of Mississippi early in