CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



125 



the committee be discharged from their further 

 consideration. 



"In deference to the memorialists, and at 

 the special request of some of them, it is proper 

 that I should state briefly and generally the 

 reasons which authorize this conclusion. 



" The memorials set forth five reasons as 

 grounds why these gentlemen should not be 

 allowed to sit here. The first alleges that the 

 Legislature did not proceed in separate bodies 

 to vote upon the question until the third Tues- 

 day after notice of the vacancy was communi- 

 cated by the Governor. The facts are such as 

 to create some controversy as to whether they 

 did proceed on the second Tuesday or the third 

 Tuesday after the notice ; but, in any view, the 

 committee are unanimously of the opinion that 

 the Legislature was not deprived of its con- 

 stitutional right to elect Senators to this body. 



"The second allegation is that at one of the 

 joint sessions of the General Assembly a quorum 

 of the State Senators was not present. It is 

 not alleged that there was not a quorum pres- 

 ent of each body on the days the respective 

 elections took place ; but it is alleged or claimed 

 that under the act of 1866 the failure of either 

 body to be present with a quorum on any day 

 deprives the Legislature of the right to elect. 

 The committee differ with the memorialists in 

 that view. "We think that one body of the 

 Legislature could not deprive the Legislature . 

 of the right to elect by such absence, if unques- 

 tionably on the day of election a quorum of 

 each body of the Legislature was present and 

 voting. "We think the reason alleged in this 

 ground is not sufficient to invalidate the elec- 

 tion. 



"The third ground alleged is that there was 

 not a majority of the whole Legislature actu- 

 ally voting for the members chosen. In our 

 opinion that is not necessary. There was a 

 quorum of each House present in the joint as- 

 sembly ; there was a majority of that quorum 

 actually voting for the members chosen. In 

 our opinion that was a valid election. 



"It is alleged specifically in the memorial 

 that the Stockton case is a precedent to the 

 contrary. On examination it will be found that 

 the Stockton case is not a precedent to the con- 

 trary. Mr. Stockton, of New Jersey, in the 

 celebrated case so well known, was chosen, not 

 by a majority, but he was chosen by a plurality 

 vote, the Legislature in joint session having 

 declared before the election that a plurality 

 should elect. The Senators now occupying the 

 seats in question, from New York, were not 

 chosen by a plurality vote; they were each 

 chosen by a majority, a quorum of each body 

 being present, and a majority of the joint as- 

 sembly voting. I will state that, if the cases 

 from New York were like the case from New 

 Jersey, I do not think at this day any gentle- 

 man would regard the Stockton case as a pre- 

 cedent. ^ Unquestionably the body that elects 

 has a right to prescribe that a plurality may 

 elect, and I think the report made by Senator 



Trumbull on that occasion is not only correct, 

 but conclusive of the law of the case. The 

 committee, therefore, are of the opinion that 

 that ground is not sufficient to invalidate the 

 election. 



" The fourth ground relates to Hon. W. Miller, 

 and alleges that he is guilty of certain conduct 

 in violation of section 1,781 and section 1,782 

 of the Revised Statutes, which disqualify a 

 member from holding any office of honor, trust, 

 or profit under the United States Government. 

 It is sufficient to say that the Senator from 

 New York has never been convicted of a vio- 

 lation of those sections of the Revised Statutes, 

 and a simple inspection of the sections shows 

 that it is conviction that disqualifies, and not 

 allegations by outsiders or third persons who 

 do not prosecute. Therefore the committee 

 overrule that ground, and think it insufficient, 

 conceding the facts alleged to be true for argu- 

 ment ; we do not know anything about them. 



" The last ground is one of fact. Before I 

 have alluded to what are called legal grounds 

 or allegations that by legal operation the elec- 

 tion is void. The last ground alleges that there 

 were rumors of bribery in procuring the elec- 

 tion of these gentlemen. The allegation of 

 mere rumors of bribery is not sufficient, unac- 

 companied with evidence, to require investiga- 

 tion at the hands of the Senate or of its com- 

 mittees. It is alleged in this memorial that 

 one State Senator of New York is under in- 

 dictment in that State for offering a bribe to a 

 member of the House to vote in the senatorial 

 election. It is due to the Senators holding the 

 seats that the committee should say that that 

 indictment is not for a bribe offered to vote for 

 either one of the present Senators. It is due 

 also to state, that while we find by reports that 

 have been sent to us and investigations had, 

 that there were a great many scandals in con- 

 nection with the senatorial election in New 

 York during the late session of the Legislature, 

 most of these scandals occurred before the two 

 gentlemen now holding seats became even can- 

 didates before that body. 



" Therefore, sir, the committee, without go- 

 ing further into details, hold that the respective 

 grounds alleged, and all of them together, are 

 not sufficient to authorize further investigation, 

 and do not make a case invalidating the elec- 

 tion of the Senators from New York. "We be- 

 lieve, from all that is before us, that the elec- 

 tions were valid and ought to be so declared." 



THE GAKFIELD MEMOEIAL. In the Senate, 

 on December 5th, Senator John Sherman, of 

 Ohio, offered the following resolution: 



Resolved, That a committee of six Senators be ap- 

 pointed on the part of the Senate, to join such com- 

 mittee as may be appointed on the part of the House, 

 to consider and report by what token of respect and 

 affection it may be proper for the Confess of the Unit- 

 ed States to express the deej> sensibility of the nation 

 to the event of the decease of the late President, James 

 A. Garfield, and that so much of the message of the 

 President as relates to that melancholy event be re- 

 ferred to said committee. 



