why put it in here? I have no responsibility
about tills matter, but as a member of this
body; but I am unwilling to see placed in
here anything which would rather indicate a
want of information on our part as to our
power. My opinion is that it ought to be
omitted.
Mr. ABBOTT moved to amend by striking
out all after ''thereafter," and inserting;
"The Legislature shall fix the time for
electing representatives from this State in
the Congress of the United States."
Mr. MILLER. I am in favor of that; but
Would rather not have it put in at all. There
is no necessity for it; for the Legislature de-
rives its power from the Constitution of the
United States, and not from this body. There
can be no doubt about that. This article de-
clares that the first election of senators and
delegates shall take place on the Tuesday
succeeding the first Monday in November
next. I ask gentlemen under what authority
that election takes place? Is it not plain that
that election is held solely by virtue of this
Constitution, and not by virtue of any exist-
ing law of the State? If it is, the election
that is then held is held under this Constitu-
tion, and not under any law of the State, If
upon that same day, representatives to Con-
gress should he elected, they are elected at an
election held under the new Constitution of
the State, and not by virtue of any existing
Statute law of the State. The Constitution
of the United States is too plain to quibble
about. It provides that the Legislature, and
the Legislature alone, shall fix the time when
Congressmen shall be elected. And this
election in November next must be by virtue
of this Constitution, and not by virtue of
any existing law of the State.
The PRESIDENT. Does the gentleman from
Prince George's (Mr. Clarke) accept the
amendment.
Mr. CLARKE, No, sir.
The amendment of Mr. ABBOTT was ruled
out of order.
Mr. CLARKE. In the hurry of the moment,
when gentlemen referred to clause 1st of sec-
tion 2, of article 1 of the Constitution of the
United States, that members of the House of
Representatives should be chosen every second
year by the people, I did not remark the
dates. But I still say that under this pro-
vision there will not be an election every
second year at all. Last fall it was Novem-
ber 1st, and so soon as you commence an-
other year, you have another election. That
makes the election the succeeding year, and
not every second year. The law does not re-
gard fractions of a year. You must go en-
tirely through 1864, and come to 1865 the
second year, to comply with this provision
I hold that this clause of the Constitution is
equally prohibitory to the election taking
place on that day. I state this to saw the
gentleman the trouble of replying. |
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I did not intend to re-
ply to that. I understood the gentleman to
concede that the Legislature bad the right to
appoint the time of election. I stated the
fact that the entire year would have elapsed,
and that we should have entered upon the
second year; and therefore his construction
did not apply. He certainly said it would be
competent next January, for another year
would have passed. I say that upon that
principle, more than a year will have elapsed
on the eighth of November, and it will then be
equally competent.
But that is not the point upon which I rose
to offer a single remark, if we retain this
article as it now stands, down to the 5th line,
where representatives in Congress are first
spoken of, the time for the election of sena-
ators and delegates will be fixed. Now, the
law of the State provides, in the 76th section
of the 35th article of the Code, that members
of the House of Representatives shall be elect-
ed the same day with the members of the
General Assembly. If then we strike out
this last clause as proposed, and if we elect
inembers of the General Assembly on that
day, do we not elect members of Congress on
the same day? We either do or do not. If
we do not, when do we elect, them? A year
from then? But that is not the day fixed by
the Constitution of our State for electing
members of the General Assembly. Conse-
quently, under the law of our State as it
stands, unless it should be modified in the
mean time, we could not elect members of
Congress at that time. What then? Con-
gress meets in the December following. Is
this State to be represented? Some one sug-
gests that there may be a special election.
But the circumstance under which the Gov-
ernor is authorized to call for a special elec-
tion, are that the President of the United
States shall have called a special meeting
of Congress, in which event, and not other-
wise, 'the Governor shall, by proclamation,
direct such election. Then we must be unrep-
resented during the entire long session of the
next Congress. I look upon this—having
had no conference with the committee by
which It was reported—simply as a provision
to prevent our State from being unrepresented
in the long session of the coming Congress,
one of the most important sessions probably
in our whole country's history. Unless we
do make gome provision by which it shall be
clear that persons shall be elected to represent
this State, it appears to me that we may find
ourselves in a very awkward predicament.
if it be the construction put upon this, that
by the law of the State, fixed as it is by the
Legislature, members of Congress will be
elected next fall, then it is correct; but if it
be not go, I think that clause should be
retained by all means, us the only way to
provide for representation in the next Con-
gress. |
