12 



ALABAMA. 



at the Capitol organized and was recognized by 

 Governor Lindsay as the legal Legislature. The 

 Republicans in session at the Court-House sent 

 a committee to wait on the Governor, but he 

 replied that the Legislature could meet no- 

 where but at the Capitol, and that it had been 

 regularly organized at that place. On the 23d 

 of November, David P. Lewis was declared to 

 have been elected Governor for the new term, 

 and two days later he took possession of the 

 executive office. Committees from both of the 

 rival bodies waited on him, and that assembled 

 at the Court-House was recognized by him as 

 the Legislature. To the other he sent a com- 

 munication, in which he gave his reasons for 

 recognizing the Court-House division as the 

 Legislature, in the. following terms : 



The right of a citizen to a seat in the General As- 

 sembly is derived from his having received the 

 votes of a majority of the electors of the county or 

 district which he claims to represent. 



Representative government can rest on no other 

 basis, which can secure its integrity and perpetuity, 

 and all laws which are enacted to arrive at this re- 

 sult are merely directory in their construction, and 

 auxiliary in establishing the foundation of the right 

 to act as such representative. A prima facie claim 

 of right must yield to evidence which rebuts it, and 

 no technical rules can be invoked which will exclude 

 any evidence which is pertinent and competent in 

 establishing the _issue. Courts, in their investiga- 

 tion of facts, are limited in the admission of evidence 

 only by its pertinency and competency, unless for- 

 bidden by some positive law, demanding its exclu- 

 sion. And in this case, when the fact to be ascer- 

 tained is no less momentous than whether the 

 people are represented by those who have received 

 the votes of the majority of the electors whom they 

 claim to represent, the final decision of the question 

 by jirima facie evidence when other proof is obtain- 

 able, or by any technical rules which subordinate 

 the essential fact in issue, would only invite the 

 subtlety of fraud, to strangle the fundamental right 

 of representative government in the meshes of its 

 ingenuity. 



It is true that the means possessed by this depart- 

 ment of ascertaining the evidence necessary to its 

 action are limited and imperfect. 



The necessity for prompt action, and the want of 

 power, preclude a full investigation, and legislative 

 action for contesting disputed seats will afford a 

 means of rectifying any error in the indispensable 

 action demanded at my hands. The action of this 

 department, by itb recognition, only renders the 

 body so recognized de facto the General Assembly 

 of the State. The building in which the bodies as- 

 semble is of no significance in determining that cither 

 body is or is not the General Assembly. The con- 

 stitution is silent as to where the General Assemblv 

 ball meet. The statute now in force only declares 

 that it shall meet in the city of Montgomery. * * * 

 If the law constituting the General Assembly ren- 

 dered the building in which it convened essential to 

 .1 validity of the body, cases might arise in 

 which a physical contest for the possession of the 

 building could hardly be avoided in the heated rival- 

 rv of t\vo bodie*, each asserting its own claims, 

 ntial question is, which of the bodies has a 

 quorum of members, in its respective branches, who 

 were elected by a majority of the electors in th. 

 counties and districts which they claim to represent? 

 In the solution of this question, claimants of soats 

 having the certificates of the Secretary of State, 

 authorized by the p6pular vote, are undoubtedly en- 

 titled to their seats, and it is equally clear that claim- 

 ants of seats, without the certificate of the Secretary' 



of State, who have received the vote of a majority 

 of electors voting in their counties or districts, are 

 the lawful representatives of such communities. The 

 three members from Barbour County and the three 

 members from Marengo are both necessary to the 

 quorum of either body claiming to be the House of 

 Representatives^ The House meeting at the Capitol 

 contains these six members with the certificates of 

 the Secretary of State,, and has with them fifty-four 

 members, or three over a quorum. The certificates 

 of the Barbour claimants are contradicted by the re- 

 turns of the Barbour supervisor, now on file in the 

 office ^ of the Secretary of State. These certificates 

 were issued pending an injunction which restrained 

 the supervisors from counting a part of the Barbour 

 vote, on partial returns, which are completed, but 

 not until the certificate was issued by the Secretary 

 of State, and the Secretary refuses to issue any other 

 certificate, though the complete returns show the 

 certificates are issued to, and held by, gentlemen 

 who received a decided minority of the votes of elec- 

 tors voting, as shown by the records in his office. 

 Whatever duties may devolve upon the Speaker of 

 the House upon the presentation of a new certificate 

 regular upon its face, such a claim of right cannot 

 stand before any tribunal on the facts above stated, 

 whose duty it is to see that the fundamental prin- 

 ciples of a representative government are to be 

 practised. 



In respect to the Marengo members in the House 

 at the Capitol, while the members from that county 

 hold certificates not contradicted by the returns in 

 the office of the Secretary of State, it is beyond dis- 

 pute that the supervisors cast out about 1,000 votes 

 which were polled against the certificated members, 

 leaving the majority of votes against these gentle- 

 men, and in favor oi the claimants of the seats in the 

 House, assembled at the United States Court-room 

 in this city. This presents a case of equal clearness 

 against the certificated members in the House at the 

 Capitol, and the rights of the majority of voters can 

 only be vindicated by a recognition of the right of 

 the gentlemen claiming seats in the House, at the 

 United States Court-room, based upon the majority 

 of the popular vote. This leaves the body at the 

 Capitol, claiming to be the House of Representatives, 

 with only forty-eight legal members, and is not a 

 quorum under the laws of "the land. And, as the con- 

 stitution expressly declares that a " majority of each 

 House shall constitute a quorum to do business," I 

 find myself unable to recognize the bodies which you 

 represent as the General Assembly of Alabama. 



The members at the Capitol continued their 

 sessions from day to day, and issued an address 

 to the people, in which they argued the legal- 

 ity of their course and condemned the action 

 of the Governor. On the llth of December 

 the Governor sent the sheriff of the county to 

 take possession of the Capitol, but he was 

 immediately arrested for contempt. Federal 

 troops were stationed near by to preserve order 

 in case of necessity, while the State militia 

 was at the call of the officers of the Legisla- 

 ture at the Capitol. Meantime, both bodies 

 claiming to constitute the Legislature of the 

 State had appealed to the President of the 

 United States for recognition. The subject 

 was referred to the Attorney-General, and he 

 proposed a plan for a compromise and a settle- 

 ment of the difficulty, which was accepted by 

 both parties. This plan was as follows : 



1. The officers of each organization shall tender 

 their resignation, to take effect upon the permanent 

 organization of the House of Representatives as 

 hereinafter provided. 



