CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



275 



making an invidious distinction if we now pur- 

 sue a different course on this question. I hope, 

 therefore, that the Senate will allow the person 

 who has been properly accredited to take his 

 seat as a Senator." 



Mr. Hale : " I wish to ask the Senator 

 whether Mr. Bowden presented himself here as 

 a Senator from Virginia before or after the vote 

 taken on the admission of West Virginia." 



Mr. Cowan : " I do not know how that was ; 

 perhaps it was before." 

 Mr. Harris: "Yes, sir." 

 Mr. Foster, of Connecticut, said: "The sim- 

 ple reference of these credentials to the Judi- 

 ciary Committee will merely, as I suppose, 

 charge that committee with inquiring whether 

 the credentials are in due and proper form. 

 So far as I know, that would be all the duty 

 with which the committee would be charged 

 by the mere reference of the credentials." 



Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, replied : " I do not 

 quite agree with the Senator from Connecticut 

 as to the effect of a reference of the creden- 

 tials to the Committee on the Judiciary. I 

 suppose, if that reference be made, it will be 

 the duty of the Committee on the Judiciary to 

 ascertain whether these credentials come from 

 a proper source. A public meeting might be 

 held in the city of Washington, or in the State 

 of Connecticut, or in the State of Illinois, and 

 make out a credential in proper form to A, B, 

 or C, as a Senator, and I suppose on the refer- 

 ence of such a credential the committee would 

 inquire whether that public meeting had any 

 authority to elect a Senator." 



Mr. Foster : " I would ask the honorable 

 Senator, with his permission, whether, if the 

 credentials were in proper form and under the 

 seal of a State, the committee would not be 

 bound to take those credentials as they stood ; 

 and if the motion was simply to refer them to 

 the committee, whether the committee could 

 inquire whether the names were forged or the 

 seal forged or any thing of the sort ; whether 

 the seal would not prove itself, and whether 

 the document would not, under those circum- 

 stances, on its face be the evidence for the com- 

 mittee, to which they would be confined ? " 



Mr. Trumbull : " I apprehend not by any 

 means. I suppose the members of the Senate 

 are to take judicial notice of what is the Legis- 

 lature in a State, of who is Governor of a 

 State ; and I suppose that if a credential was 

 signed by A B, and it was brought to the no- 

 tice of the committee, or the committee of their 

 own knowledge had notice, that A B was not 

 Governor of the State, or that no such Legis- 

 lature had convened as purported to have made 

 the election, they would report that fact to the 

 Senate. 



" I think that it is very proper, in the condi- 

 tion of things which we know to exist in the 

 country, that these credentials should be re- 

 ferred before the claimant is permitted to be 

 sworn as a member of this body ; and I think 

 the reference of the credentials will bring up 



the question as it did in regard to Arkansas. 

 In the case of persons claiming seats in this 

 body from Arkansas a year ago, there was no 

 objection to the credentials ; they were in 

 proper form ; but the Senate proceeded to con- 

 sider whether the body which undertook to 

 elect them to the Senate was- the Legislature 

 of the State. The Constitution declares that 

 this body " shall be composed of two Senators 

 from each State, chosen by the Legislature 

 thereof; " and when credentials are referred, 

 it is competent to inquire whether the Legisla- 

 ture of the State has made such an election. 



" We have made that inquiry frequently since 

 I have been here. It arose hi reference to the 

 State of Indiana a few years ago, the question 

 being whether the body which elected certain 

 Senators was the Legislature of that State. It 

 arose also in reference to the first election of 

 my friend from Iowa (Mr. Harlan), whether 

 the body which elected him was the Legisla- 

 ture of the State of Iowa. The Senate, wrongly 

 as I think, decided in that case that the body 

 which elected him was not the Legislature of 

 the State of Iowa, and he was sent back and 

 reflected afterwards. This is an inquiry that 

 has been often made in this body; and I think 

 that when the credentials are referred, some- 

 thing more is to be considered than simply 

 whether on the face of the paper it purports 

 to be the election of a Senator or not." 



Mr. Howard, of Michigan, said : " I think 

 that is a question upon which not only we 

 but the whole country need to be enlightened. 

 I shall be very much obliged to that commit- 

 tee, should the reference be made, if they will 

 furnish to the Senate and the country a suc- 

 cinct history of all the proceedings which have 

 resulted in the election of the gentleman who 

 now presents his credentials. If I understand 

 it rightly, the constituency which this gentle- 

 man will claim to represent in this body is now 

 in a state of insurrection and rebellion against 

 the United States ; that constituency as a po- 

 litical community are the enemies of the United 

 States, and at war with the United States ; and 

 I desire particularly that the Committee on the 

 Judiciary shall furnish to us, if they can fur- 

 nish some argument, to show that a political 

 community at war with the United States has 

 a right to be represented in this body or in the 

 other House of Congress, and thus to enjoy the 

 political privileges which belong to States that 

 are at peace and performing their duty to the 

 Government. I am very much inclined to deny 

 the right of that community to any represen- 

 tation upon this floor, and am embarrassed not 

 only about the right but also the matter of the 

 election of this gentleman and his colleague, if 

 he has a colleague, to this body." 



Mr. Sumner, of Massachusetts, in support of 

 the motion, said : " I regret that a question of 

 this magnitude has been precipitated upoa the 

 Senate at this late period of the session when 

 there is so much public business which has not 

 yet received the attention of either House of 



