Thirty Years' View (Vol. II of 2). Benton Thomas Hart

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СКАЧАТЬ Connor, Edmund Deberry, Charles Fisher,

      James Graham, Micajah T. Hawkins, John

      Hill, James J. McKay, William Montgomery,

      Kenneth Rayner, Charles Shepard, Edward

      Stanly, Lewis Williams.

      South Carolina. – Sampson H. Butler, John

      Campbell, John K. Griffin, Isaac E. Holmes,

      Francis W. Pickens, R. Barnwell Rhett, James

      Rogers, Thomas B. Sumter, Waddy Thompson, jr.

      Georgia. – Julius C. Alford, Edward J.

      Black, Walter T. Colquitt, Mark A. Cooper,

      William C. Dawson, Richard W. Habersham,

      Thomas B. King, Eugenius A. Nisbet, Lott

      Warren.

      Alabama. – R. H. Chapman, David Hubbard,

      George W. Crabb, Dixon H. Lewis, James Dillett.

      Louisiana. – Edward D. White, Edward

      Chinn, Rice Garland.

      Mississippi. – A. G. Brown, J. Thompson.

      Missouri. – John Miller, John Jameson.

      Arkansas. – Edward Cross.

      Tennessee. – William B. Carter, Abraham

      McClellan, Joseph L. Williams, Julius W.

      Blackwell, Hopkins L. Turney, William B.

      Campbell, John Bell, Meredith P. Gentry,

      Harvey M. Watterson, Aaron V. Brown, Cave

      Johnson, John W. Crockett, Christopher H.

      Williams.

      Kentucky. – Linn Boyd, Philip Triplett, Joseph

      Underwood, Sherrod Williams, Simeon W.

      Anderson, Willis Green, John Pope, William J.

      Graves, John White, Richard Hawes, L. W.

      Andrews, Garret Davis, William O. Butler.

      Ohio. – Alexander Duncan, John B. Weller,

      Patrick G. Goode, Thomas Corwin, William

      Doane, Calvary Morris, William K. Bond, Joseph

      Ridgway, William Medill, Samson Mason,

      Isaac Parish, Jonathan Taylor, D. P. Leadbetter,

      George Sweeny, John W. Allen, Joshua

      R. Giddings, John Hastings, D. A. Starkweather,

      Henry Swearingen.

      Michigan. – Isaac E. Crary.

      Indiana. – Geo. H. Proffit, John Davis, John

      Carr, Thomas Smith, James Rariden, Wm. W.

      Wick, T. A. Howard.

      Illinois. – John Reynolds, Zadok Casey,

      John T. Stuart.

      The organization of the House was delayed for many days by a case of closely and earnestly contested election from the State of New Jersey. Five citizens, to wit: John B. Aycrigg, John B. Maxwell, William Halsted, Thomas C. Stratton, Thomas Jones Yorke, had received the governor's certificate as duly elected: five other citizens, to wit: Philemon Dickerson, Peter D. Vroom, Daniel B. Ryall, William R. Cooper, John Kille, claimed to have received a majority of the lawful votes given in the election: and each set demanded admission as representatives. No case of contested election was ever more warmly disputed in the House. The two sets of claimants were of opposite political parties: the House was nearly divided: five from one side and added to the other would make a difference of ten votes: and these ten might determine its character. The first struggle was on the part of the members holding the certificates claiming to be admitted, and to act as members, until the question of right should be decided; and as this would give them a right to vote for speaker, it might have had the effect of deciding that important election: and for this point a great struggle was made by the whig party. The democracy could not ask for the immediate admission of the five democratic claimants, as they only presented a case which required to be examined before it could be decided. Their course was to exclude both sets, and send them equally before the committee of contested elections; and in the mean time, a resolution to proceed with the organization of the House was adopted after an arduous and protracted struggle, in which every variety of parliamentary motion was exhausted by each side to accomplish its purpose; and, at the end of three months it was referred to the committee to report which five of the ten contestants had received the greatest number of legal votes. This was putting the issue on the rights of the voters – on the broad and popular ground of choice by the people: and was equivalent to deciding the question in favor of the democratic contestants, who held the certificate of the Secretary of State that the majority of votes returned to his office was in their favor, – counting the votes of some precincts which the governor and council had rejected for illegality in holding the elections. As the constitutional judge of the election, qualifications and returns of its own members, the House disregarded the decision of the governor and council; and, deferring to the representative principle, made the decision turn, not upon the conduct of the officers holding the election, but upon the rights of the voters.

      This strenuous contest was not terminated until the 10th of March – nearly one hundred days from the time of its commencement. The five democratic members were then admitted to their seats. In the mean time the election for speaker had been brought on by a vote of 118 to 110 – the democracy having succeeded in bringing on the election after a total exhaustion of every parliamentary manœuvre to keep it off. Mr. John W. Jones, of Virginia, was the democratic nominee: Mr. Jno. Bell, of Tennessee, was nominated on the part of the whigs. The whole vote given in was 235, making 118 necessary to a choice. Of these, Mr. Jones received 118: Mr. Bell, 102. Twenty votes were scattered, of which 11, on the whig side, went to Mr. Dawson of Georgia; and 9 on the democratic side were thrown upon three southern members. Had any five of these nine voted for Mr. Jones, it would have elected him: while the eleven given to Mr. Dawson would not have effected the election of Mr. Bell. It was clear the democracy had the majority, for the contested election from New Jersey having been sent to a committee, and neither set of the contestants allowed to vote, the question became purely and simply one of party: but there was a fraction in each party which did not go with the party to which it belonged: and hence, with a majority in the House to bring on the election, and a majority voting in it, the democratic nominee lacked five of the number requisite to elect him. The contest was continued through five successive ballotings without any better result for Mr. Jones, and worse for Mr. Bell; and it became evident that there was a fraction of each party determined to control the election. It became a question with the democratic party what to do? The fraction which did not go with the party were the friends of Mr. Calhoun, and although always professing democratically had long acted with the whigs, and had just returned to the body of the party against which they had been acting. The election was in their hands, and they gave it to be known that if one of their number was taken, they would vote with the body of the party and elect him: and Mr. Dixon H. Lewis, of Alabama, was the person indicated. The extreme importance СКАЧАТЬ