Daily Kennebec journal., 1900-01-24
56,h CONGRESS-.
Continued from page ID

in life and practice, delies the c"hStitu-
ton and the laws and denies thr.r Va
lidity and supremacy.
.sThus stands the case then: If the
minority be right. the trainers OF the
constitution, if they had foreseen the
Roberts incident. with its defiance Of
the constitution and the law. and its
denial OF the validity and supremacy
as to him. would have said. Brigham
"A Roberts is eligible and must be seat
ed if elected.
II say that no such provision could
have been adopted; and if it could not.
cannot be implied.
Much is said about the moral side of
this question. Doubtless it has such
side, and if that We're the only consider
alton before us this committee might
take the same action it Will take. But
do not here and now, in the face OF the
great fundamental fact of disobedlence
10 law plus audacious defiance or II,
care to assert the moral ground.
IF we do not exclude this man, we
strike down one of the most vital ana
necessary powers that belong 70 a great
executive body"
There was no demonstration through
out Tayler's speech, but at the cnnclu-
sion he was vigorously applauded.
I,ittlefeld, Maine. then arose in sup
port of the minority's plan Of seating
and then expelling Roberts.
Mr.. Littlefield, tall and stalWart. mas
a commanding presence ana maze :
deep impression upon the House IN
this his maiden speech. He conceded
at the outset the integrity honesty
and ability of the majority of the COM
rnittee but he could not cOncede ITS
Judgment There was no diSasree-
mont he said. as to the fact that
Roberts was a polygamist ana should
not be member of the House. The
only issue between the majority ana
minority was as to whether he should
he excluded or expelled. The consul
tutional qualifications. age and lnhap-
itancy. Littlefield argued. could not be
added TO. If they could and the House
now excluded a member because ne
was guilty of polygamous practices.
next wear, it might exclude for adul-
tory or because a member was an at
torney for a trust or for any other
reason. The right Of a member to ms
scat was q constitutional right.
He took issue with the majority as
to the power of the House to eXpel a
,nap,ber for acts committed before his
entrance into the House, citing case
after case in support Of his contention.
First he went back to the case of John
Wilkes. the famous English champion
of free speech. who was three times
excluded and twice expelled from the
House Of Commons, the second time
I'll, h, 81 h. al =
70 prison five years before. He quoted
from the Junius letters the d"huhc-
zion Of the 'damnable doctrine that q
single house of Parliament could alter
suspend or abrogate the law "t tn"
land"
The fight f1r liberty of press ana
speech was supported Ey TINS d"c-
trine and he dcfied the majority To
add to the constitutional qualification
of members in the light IF thcS" his
toric instances He Went back e. inc
constitutional debates to prove thal
Congress could not add to the quali-
fications of members negatively stated
in the constitution.
After depicting the conditions that
surrounded the framing Of this proNis-
ion of the constitution and quoting the
words of Madison. Hamilton and JEFF
ferson. he asked triumphantly who
there was who should shattcr the
cruciblc Of history which surrounded
ii or the declaration of the men who
framed it. Who would undertake to
impeach the integrity of the men who
were present at the dawn Of our his
tory?
Littlefield said it had been the pur-
pose of the minority to present tn"
facts and authorities on both sides Of
the contention in order that the House
might determine whether the position
of the minority was well grounded.
Some of the precedents cited hy
Tayler were ridiculcd by Littlrficld.
He also challenged Tayler's authori-
ties Littleneld said that the majority
we're driven back to support their con
tention for additional qualifications
upon the general welfare clause Of the
constitution. He won the first burst
Of applause while ridiculing the at
tempt of the majority to dispose OF
Justice StOry's opinion by stating that
he had not sought to give his own
ideas. but only the ideas Of others
They would. said Littlcfeld, make him
the BOSWELL Of the constitution.
tGreat laughter).
Littlefield said the minority stood
with Burke. the statesman Of the 18th
century. with jefferson. Madison.
Hamilton, GoeuVeneur Norris and the
men who framed the constitution, with
the decisions of the courts Of Mary
land. Montana and Virginia; with the
opinions of Story, Cooley. Gushing.
John Randolph. Tucker and Webster.
He then challenged Tayler's statement
that no precedent existed against eX-
clusior ting the case Of benjamin
Stark il ie Senate III 1862. who was
cha ~ged ). tn disloyalty. yet who WAS
seat, 4 by the Senate Withp nreju-
dice subseqr Mt action against him.
The M ority, Ay pointed out, had cit
ed this %. but had not informed the
House of lis fact.
Il believ, said I.ittlrficld. con-
Guiding his lment upon this partic-
Mar case. "tha Mr.. Roberts has a full
constitutional IT to 4 seat in this
House"
me applause W. y swept over the
moor IN response t. I, is stat, tent OK
tended to the CALLER. man Of the
Ianles there present I ~ticiia ing
Inc Whittemore case. -hich occur
req Immediately after tn, ar. little
iAl n