was only the means of corrupting public officers, and of practising a fraud on the rights of the people.

So early as 1707, an order was adopted by the Commons, "That all petitions, at any new Parliament, relating to elections and returns, be delivered to the Clerk of the House, and be laid by him on the table before the Speaker was chosen." And it was subsequently ordered that those cases should be considered before proceeding to any other business. In the meantime, those claiming the disputed seats were not allowed to participate in the proceedings; indeed, were prohibited by severe penalties. Thus we see that, even in England, where the rights of the people are not regarded of paramount importance, the House of Commons, in selfdefence, to protect itself from corruption and the intrusion of spurious members, was compelled to disregard the technicalities of law, to look beyond the mere formalities of a return which was no longer prima facia evidence of membership, but an instrument of fraud, to pass by all those intermediate stages so readily and constantly perverted, and look at the actual state of the case-the elections as they really took place among those who had "the right of election."

In some of the States of this Union, a similar course is pursued, though their laws, if strictly interpreted and rigidly adhered to, would place it in the power of the Executive to organize a Legislature in the first instance after its own will, and thereby contravene the wishes of the people, and perpetuate the power in its own hands.

In Virginia, for example, a strict interpretation of the law would place the organization of the Legislature, in the first instance, in the hands of the Executive Council. But they have never interpreted the law as conferring any other power on them than merely to administer the prescribed oaths. They never examined the certificates of members, or took cognizance of their title in any way.

A high executive officer in Pennsylvania, the Secretary of the Commonwealth, acting under laws not more rigid than those of England, or the State above alluded to, but feeling it his duty to follow the minutest technicality in regard to returns, rejecting all those of a conflicting nature, and presenting to the Legislature those only he deemed official, was well nigh involving that ancient and patriotic Commonwealth in revolution and civil war.

Had the Secretary of State presented both returns from the county of Philadelphia, and explained the circumstances so far as they had come to his knowledge, he would have relieved himself from a very delicate position, thrown the responsibility of deciding the case where it properly belonged-on the House of Representatives and the Senate- and, in all probability, would have prevented those distressing scenes which followed the course he actually pursued. And much of the testimony given before a committee of the Legislature appointed to examine into the causes of the difficulties at Harrisburg, and many other recent events, all prove, that had he pursued the course above indicated, no difficulties would

have arisen, and general satisfaction would have been given to the wise and candid of all parties.

Congress, however, both in regard to the return of its members and its mode of organization, is governed by no statute or prescribed rule of any kind. Originating, as it did, under circumstances altogether different from those of the Commons House of Parliament, it must necessarily, for its own guidance, have given birth to a set of principles entirely at variance from those of a Legislature which sprung, in the first instance, from the will of a monarch, and was only enabled, after many generations of contest between their own privileges and the prerogatives of the Crown, to establish something like the independence and stability of a representative body.

Congress, as it is well known, took its origin in the conventions or assemblies of deputies sent by the Colonies to consult for their defence and mutual welfare in a time of common danger. The first that met in Philadelphia in 1774 was composed of men possessing every variety of credentials. Some were deputed by the Colonial Legislatures; others, by popular assemblies; and others again by mere committees of safety. Assembling, however, at the imminent hazard of their fortunes and their lives, the simple presence of any man was a sufficient guaranty of his honesty and zeal. Coming together for the first time, personally as strangers to each other, but well known as the bold defenders of a common cause, they forthwith, making no question of each other's authority, proceeded to elect a President to preside over their deliberations, and a Secretary to record their proceedings. After they had formed themselves into a deliberative body, they then caused the credentials of those present to be read and approved. The Congress which assembled in May, 1775, was organized in the same way, not calling for the credentials of members until the House had been formed. After the articles of confederation had been adopted, the mode of organizing Congress was varied. The credentials were first produced and passed upon before they proceeded to the election of officers. In the second Congress, which met under the articles of confederation, the delegates produced their credentials in the first instance, which were read and referred to a committee, "to report thereon as soon as may be." The committee reported the next day, and all being approved, they then proceeded to the election of president and secretary. This preliminary examination by a committee was never practised before or after the Congress which met in 1784. In 1785, they handed in their credentials, which were read without being referred, and then proceeded to their elections. At the next Congress, in 1786, the credentials were referred to a committee after the election of officers, but were not reported on until a late period.

The journals, after the first Congress which met under our present constitution, run in these words: "The following members of the House of Representatives appeared, produced their credentials, and took their seats." And such for a time was the tenor of every journal. Thus

it appears, that from the first time we had any organized system for the government of the States, some kind of credential or evidence of membership was expected and required before any one could participate in the deliberations of Congress; but the nature of those credentials, and the mode of determining their validity, have always been various, and, to this day, are not directed by any general law. The constitution has conferred on Congress the power of adopting a system of general regulations in regard to the elections and the returns; but this provision justly excited the jealousy of those who were friendly to the indepen dence of the States. It was warmly resisted by many of the State conventions assembled to adopt the constitution, and the point was only yielded on the promise that the Constitution should be amended in that particular, so soon as it had been adopted. Accordingly, at a very early period in the first Congress, Mr. Burke, of South Carolina, moved the following amendment:-"Congress shall not alter, modify, or interfere in the times, places, or manner of holding elections of Senators or Representatives, except when any State shall refuse or neglect, or be unable, by invasion or rebellion, to make such elections." It was urged in favor of this amendment, that the clause of the Constitution conferring on Congress the power to regulate elections was obnoxious to almost every State-that it put it in the power of that body to establish a government of an arbitrary kind; if the United States are desirous of controlling the people, they can do it by virtue of the powers given them in the fourth section of the first article; and whenever they choose to exercise those powers, then farewell to the rights of the people, even to elect their own Representatives. When did a confederated government have the power of determining on the mode of their own election? In the order of things, that power should rest with the States respectively, because they can vary their regulations to accommodate the people in a more convenient manner than can be done in any general law whatever. Such were the arguments advanced in defence of the amendment; but it was lost by a majority of five votes. So obnoxious, however, is any general law of elections, that though many arguments of convenience and expediency might be urged in its favor, none has ever been adopted; repeated attempts have been made, but always signally failed; and we may venture to say that none ever will be adopted, so long as the great and important doctrine of State Rights is regarded.

In the meantime, the mode of procedure in regard to the organization of the House, and the admission of members, seems to have varied at different times, and never to have been controlled by any general parliamentary principle. Of late years, those evidences of membership called credentials are forwarded by very few of the States, and are rarely ever presented by members; so that the phrase found in the older journals, "presented their credentials," has not been inserted for the last twenty years, because it expressed an untruth-none ever being presented. It has now become a matter of vital importance to elicit from past experience

and former precedents some general principle governing all cases, and admitted as a sufficient rule, by which the title of membership in the first instance shall be determined, and the House provisionally organized; and for this purpose, bearing in mind that this provisional organization is a mere incipient stage towards a more perfect legislative body, and always subject to the control of a majority, there can be no better rule than that which has been invariably practised by Congress. The rolls of the House of Representatives have always been made up of those names who, from common notoriety and the general consent of all parties, were acknowledged to be members of Congress. Common fame and newspaper report may appear to be a slender reliance for so important a matter, but when further examined will prove of the highest and most trustworthy authority.

The Press has become a fourth estate in the government of civilized society. All matters appertaining to elections, returns, and public characters, are by it thoroughly sifted and made known to the whole country. Our country, too, ever has been, and ever will be divided into two contending parties; and a wakeful jealousy will ever keep them observant of each other's conduct; so that by means of these opposing elements, with the aid of the press, the truth and the whole truth in regard to any political matter may be as well known to those who live in the remotest parts of the Union, as to those who were eye-witnesses of the transaction.

Our elections are not held in obscure boroughs, and by a few electors, as in England. Fifty thousand people are directly interested in the result of each election. An active and warm canvass commences between the contending parties for many days before the voting is commenced; the candidates in many States go from house to house, from village to village, discussing important questions and setting forth their respective claims. In other States the same publicity is given to their proceedings through the press. When the election comes on, hundreds in open day press to the polls to give their votes; the progress of the election is watched from the beginning by suspicious, vigilant, and anxious partisans of the respective candidates.

The result, when announced, is known through the entire districtspread on the wings of the wind through the State-and soon becomes the subject of speculation and of interest to the intelligent portion of fifteen millions of people. It is obvious, therefore, that by this process it is utterly impossible for any fraud or deception to be practised without immediate detection. The precise state of the poll, the number of votes given, the exact majority, and all questions and disputes growing out of the elections, become the most prominent part of the history of the day; and no private papers, (as all credentials are,) however well authenticated, can enable the proper officer to make up a more complete and satisfactory roll of members, than he can from the current history of the times. He is made as well satisfied as he can be of any human events, by common notoriety and the consent of all parties, that certain men

or, more properly, (as the individual may be unknown,) certain names, are elected as members of Congress; and the next most important point is to identify the name with the individual actually elected.

The mode pursued by Congress in this respect, also, is a plain and simple one. When the day appointed by the Constitution and the laws for the meeting of Congress has arrived, and those who are members, or claim to be members, present themselves in their usual place of meeting; and when, at the appointed or usual hour, the officer to whom has been entrusted, by long and undisputed usage, the duty of making a roll of members on the principles above indicated, presents himself, announces that he is about to call the names of those who are members of the House of Representatives-when he actually calls a name, and one rises from his seat, or audibly answers to that name, there can be no question in the mind of any one that he is the individual actually elected and entitled to his seat.

Under color of a piece of paper, or parchment, which he can procure by fraud or bribery, and under protection of the secret ballot-box, one might have the hardihood to present himself, go through the forms of initiation, and aid in doing infinite mischief, in subverting the Constitution itself, before he could be detected, and then, by aid of his own voice, might save himself from ejection and punishment. But here no one can conceive the possibility of such a thing. It is not in the human heart to strain itself up to the practice of a fraud surrounded by such existing circumstances. Silence and secrecy are essential to the perpetration of crime. But here are assembled in open day the Representatives of six-and-twenty States, and a vast concourse of people from all parts of the Union, anxiously watching the minutest procedure. Can it be possible that one would rise in such a presence and answer to a name that is not his, and claim a seat to which he has no title? It is not in man to act so base a part. When, therefore, the roll has been called through, and a sufficient number have answered to their names to constitute a quorum, there is then a House of Representatives, as contemplated by the Constitution; for it says each House shall elect its own officers. As there are Parliaments, so there must be a House of Representatives, before the election of Speaker. And there is no other way in which a House can be constituted than the one just described. When that process has been completed, there is then a House of Representatives, competent to enter. tain and decide all questions touching the privilege of members, the claims to contested seats, and all matters appertaining to their more complete organization. They cannot enter on the ordinary business of legislation, as prescribed and limited by the Constitution, because they have not taken the oath to support the Constitution, which by some inadvertence is required to be administered, not by a judicial officer, but by the Speaker himself, after his election.

This paper was intended by the Clerk to have been read from his desk to the members of Congress elect.