CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



173 



is enough for him to know that they come 

 from a power which within its limits is recog- 

 nized as sovereign by the Constitution, and 

 that the issue involved runs to the welfare of 

 the people of all the States. Nor is it within 

 the range of propriety for him to express an 

 opinion as to how far such investigation should 

 go to reach the facts, nor what limits should 

 be set up as to remedies to be provided against 

 a recurrence of such like events. 



" A higher privilege than the one here in- 

 volved, and broadly and directly presented, as 

 to the rightful occupancy of the chief execu- 

 tive chair of the Government, and the connec- 

 tion of high Government officials with the 

 frauds alleged, the Chair is unable to conceive. 



"The Chair finds enumerated among the 

 questions of privilege set down in the Manual 

 the following : ' Election of President.' 



" The Chair therefore rules that the pream- 

 ble and resolution embrace questions of privi- 

 lege of the highest character, and recognizes 

 the right of the gentleman from New York to 

 offer the same." 



Mr. Conger : " I desire to have the sense of 

 the House upon the ruling of the Chair, and 

 therefore take an appeal from the decision." 



The Speaker : " The gentleman from Michi- 

 gan appeals from the decision of the Chair." 



Mr. Potter : "I move to lay the appeal on 

 the table." 



The Speaker : " The question is on the mo- 

 tion to lay the appeal on the table." 



The question was taken, as follows : 



YEAS Messrs. Acklen, Aiken, Atkins, Banning, 

 Beebe, Bell, Benedict, Bicknell, Blackburn, Bliss, 

 Blount, Boone, Bouck, Bragg, Bridges, Bright, Butler, 

 John W. Caldwell, W. P. Caldwell, Candler, Chal- 

 mers, Alvab A. Clark, Clark of Missouri, Clymer, 

 Cobb, Collins, Cook, Samuel S. Cox, Cravens, Critten- 

 den, Culberson, Cutler, Joseph J. Davis, Dean, Dib- 

 rell, Dickey, Durham, Eden, Elam, Ellis, John H. 

 Evins, Evving, Felton, Finley, Forney, Fort, Franklin, 

 Garth, Gause, Gibson, Glover, Gunter, Hardenbergh, 

 Henry R. Harris, Harrison, Hartridge, Hartzell, 

 Hatcher, Henkle, Henry, Herbert, Abram S. Hewitt, 

 G. W. Hewitt, Hooker, House, Frank Jones, J. T. 

 Jones, Kenna, Kimmel, Knapp, Ligon, Lockwood, 

 Luttrell, Lynde, Mackey, Manning, Martin, Mayham, 

 McKenzie, McMahon, Mitchell, Morgan, Morrison, 

 Muldrow, Muller, T. M. Patterson, Phelps, Potter, 

 Pridemore, Eea, Reagan, Reilly, Riddle, Robbins, 

 Robertson, Ross, Sayler, Scales, Schleicher, Shelley, 

 Singleton, Siemens, William E. Smith, Southard, 

 Sparks, Springer, Steele, Stenger, Swan, Throck- 



ley, Ketcham, Killinger, Lapham, Lathrop, Marsh, 



AT - /"I 1_ TUT _ y^l __ JTf _TT* _ 1 _ __ TIT i_ - 1 L H/T'11 * 



Albert S. Willis, Wilson, Wood, Wright, Yeates, 

 Young 128. 



NAYS Messrs. Bacon, John H. Baker, Banks, 

 Bayne, Blair, Boyd, Brentano, Brewer, Briggs, Brog- 

 den, Browne, Buckner, Bundy, Burchard, Burdick, 

 Cain, Calkins, Camp, Campbell, Cannon, Caswell, 

 Claflin, Clark, Rush, Cole, Conger, Jacob D. Cox, 

 Crapo, Cummings, Danford, Horace Davis, Deering, 

 Denison, Dunnell,Dwight, Eames, Ellsworth, Errett, 

 I. Newton Evans, James L. Evans, Foster, Gard- 

 ner, Garfield, Hale, Harmer, Haskell, Hayes, Hazel- 

 ton, Hendee, Henderson, Hiscock, Hubbell, Hum- 

 phrey, Hungrerford, Hunter, James Ittner, John 8. 

 Jones, Jorgensen, Joyce, Keifer, Keightley, Kel- 



0. QVLUJkQj -A. U.U11LS9J L ISUUU* 1 AAWj -1- UglJ.) MfUUQ j J.kUIl" 



dolph, Reed, William W. Rice, Ryan, Sampson, 

 Sapp, Sexton, Shallenberger, Smalls, Stewart, John 

 W. Stone, Joseph C. Stone, Strait, Thompson, 

 Thornburgh,Tipton, Amos Townsend, Van Vorhes, 

 Wait, Ward. Harry White, Michael D. White, C. G. 

 Williams, Wren 108. 



NOT VOTING Messrs. Aldrich, Bagley, W. H. Ba- 

 ker, Ballou, Bisbee, Bland, Cabell, Carlisle, Chitten- 

 den, Clarke of Kentucky, Covert, Davidson, Douglas, 

 Eickhoif, Freeman, Frye, Fuller, Giddings, Goode, 

 Hamilton, Hanna, B. W. Harris, John T. Harris, 

 Hart, llunton, Knott, Landers, Lindsey, Loring, 

 Maish, Money, Morse, Norcross, Overton, Pollard, 

 Powers, Quinn, Americus V. Rice. Roberts, G. D. 

 Robinson, M. S. Robinson, Sinnickson, A. Herr 

 Smith, Starin, Stephens, M. I. Townsend, Veeder, 

 Walker, Warner, Watson, Welch, Andrew Williams, 

 Richard Williams, Benjamin A. Willis, Willits 55.' 



So the appeal was laid on the table. 



Mr. Reagan, of Texas, said : " Mr. Speaker, 

 while I shall vote for the adoption of this reso- 

 lution, I desire to say a word in reference to 

 the grounds upon which I shall place that vote 

 that this resolution involves a question of priv- 

 ilege. For I should not like to have either 

 myself or those with whom I act politically go 

 before the country upon a wrong reason if the 

 right one existed. I agree with my colleague 

 and friend who spoke a short time ago, that 

 the petition which has been received by this 

 House from the State of Maryland, and referred 

 to the Judiciary Committee, of itself does not 

 present a privileged question, and it must be 

 disposed of regularly as all such petitions are 

 disposed of under the rules of the House. And 

 I desire to state distinctly that that portion of 

 the memorial or resolution from the Legisla- 

 ture of the State of Maryland which looks to 

 the institution of legal proceedings to retry the 

 question of the election of the President is a 

 thing which can not be done by this House, as 

 that was a political question settled by the 

 highest political authority, and settled under 

 and in accordance with the rules which con- 

 trol the action of Congress. The courts can 

 not and will not take jurisdiction on a political 

 question of that character. Besides, the au- 

 thority which could determine the title of the 

 President to hold his office has acted on it and 

 settled that question, and we can not now dis- 

 turb it. And probably I might go still further 

 and say it would be to the best interests of the 

 country that we should not disturb it. While, 

 therefore, I can not vote for the resolution upon 

 the ground that the petition of itself involves 

 a question of privilege, or that we have the 

 right to reopen and retry the question of the 

 election of the President, I do maintain that 

 the resolution as offered by the gentleman 

 from New York, in making a charge that great 

 frauds were perpetrated in the election of 

 President and Yice-President, and in which it 

 is charged that one now acting as Secretary 

 of the Treasury and one now acting as a for- 

 eign minister were participants in those frauds 



