Year: 1866

SATURDAY. FEBRUARY IL, 1850
How to Settle the Qaestion.
II IS natural that the country should


get weary Of the almost intesnirable


debate in Congress in regard 10 ihe
admission Of the Southern delegates,


but the long discussion has done some


good Ii has modified certain extreme
and almost ferocious opinions, and be-


fore long will bring Congress 10 the
conviction prevailing among the peo-


pie. that the only practical way of deal
Tag with the question Is to admit al


representatives TO seat who are pro~


perly qualified under tie Constitution


and laws. So long as the States lately


in revolt, bat now submissive, are shut


out of q participation in the govern
ment. every interest connected with the


southern country suffers from the un-


certainty as to what viii be done, and


what may, three or six months hence,


be the policy adopted No policy is


always bad policy, and the no-poiicy


course of Congress in tins matter IS
certainly injurious as well as unsatis-
factory TO the whole nation.


What harm could ensue to the ma
ton, or what danger to its government,
if Congress should on Monday morn.
ing declare that, the rebellion being
put down. armed resistance to the an-
thority Of the Union having ceased,
every congressional district il entitled
to send its representative 10 Congress,
and ought to do 50 at once? What
| would such 8 declaration amount tot
A considerable number of persons
would present themselves to the House
of Representatives and Senate, with
certificates from the Governors Of their
States, showing them to have been
] elected members of one or other of
these bodies Thereupon they would
be invited to present their claims, to
show that they are not still public
enemies excepted from the gen
eral amnesty, and to take the
oath, a subscription to which Is
necessary to enable a member, by
the law of Congress, to sitin that body. |
A part Of these gentlemen could pre-
sent clear record-could show that |
they had either never needed amnesty |
and had never been pardoned, and |
could take the prescribed oath. These
would be admitted at once. A certain |
other number, however, could not |
meet these requirements, and they |
would be sent back to their constitu-
ents. But the sending of them back
would not affect the general principle |
that all the States ought to be repre-
sented Each individual case woald |
stand on its own merits, and the re-
lection of any one would rest not, as at \
present, on the ground that he comes
from State lately in rebellion, bat
on the ground that he was personally
eligible His constituents would be
told that they must send up a more
trustworthy agent


Such course would be in strict &C
cordance with definite constitutional
provision, which declares that seach
house shall be the judge Of the cleo
tions, returns and qualifications Of its
own members" 1t would, moreover, be
in consonance with the views Of the
President, who, in his elaborate speech
ia the Senate on the expulsion OF Sen
ator Bright, ia 1861, maintained in the
most positive manner the right Of Con
gress TO expel or refuse to admit mem
bers tainted with treason, declaring
that Aaron Burr, though acquitted on
trial, should never be admitted to a seat
in Congress with his consent as 3
member. He said on that occasion:


"The principle is broad and clear, in
herent in the very organization of the
body itself, that we have the power and
the right to expel any member from
the Senate whenever we deem that the
public interests are unsafe in his hands,
and that ke is unfit TO be member of
the body. We all know, and the coun-
try understands; that provision of the
Constitution which confers this power
upon the Senate. Judge Story, in com
meniing upon the case of John Smith,
in connection with the provision Of the
Constitution 10 which ! have referred,
used the following language.


1.-THE power 10 expel a member is
not in the British House of Commons
confined 20 offences committed by the
party as a member, or during the SEES
sion of Parliament; but it extends TO
all cases where the offence is such as,
in the Judgment Of the House, units
1


"The rule in the House OF Commons
was undoubtedly in the view of the
trainers of our Constitution; and the
question is has the member unftted
himself, has he disqualified himself, IN
view Of the extraordinary condition of
Of the country, from discharging the
duties of Senator


"Mr. President, suppose
Aaron Burr had been senator, and
after his scquittal. he had come back
here TO take his seat in the Senate,
what would have been done2 Accord
ing to the doctrine avowed in this de>
bate, that we must sit as a court snd
subject the individual to all the rules
ana technicalities of criminal proceed
ings, could he have been expelled And
yet is there a senator here who would
have voted TO allow Aaron Burr to take
q seat in tife Senate after his acquittal
by 4 court and jury2 Ne; there is not
a senator here who would have done it
Aaron Burr was tried in court, and was
found not guilty; ke spas turned looSE; but
was the public judgment of this nation
less satisfied Of his guilt than if he had
not been acquitted What is the ma
tons Judgment, settled and fixed2
That Aaron Burr was guilty of treason,
notwithstanding be vas acquitted by
3 court and jury


What is the practical effect Of the
present policy, or no policy, IN the
Southern States A certain number of
districts, in different States, have loyal
men, men who have never offended,
who have never needed pardon, who
can take the oath prescribed in the
laws, who would strengthen the loyal
sentiment at home. and add 70 its as
cendency IN the legislature But
these very men, some Of whom have
perilled life and AL things IN defence
Of the Union, are refused their seats


Instantly the eyii.disposed agitators at
the South catch at the opportunity TO
say 70 the loyalists; You did night,
but doing right does not avail you;
you have sent loyal men to Washing
ton, but your loyal representative are
received with no more hospitality than /
the most hagrant rebel elected. You /
have had your labor for your pains, and
might IS well Nave done a. we did or IS
Ne advised What answer co,ld A
disposed Southern man make 10
this reasoning2


on the other hand, suppose Csueress
calls TIE role Of all the States and adj
| mits or rejects each member op HE
own merits, under the existing laws Of I