REMARKS IN THE SENATE, ON THE CREDENTIALS OF HON. JOSEPH SEGAR, OF
VIRGINIA, FEBRUARY 17, 1865.
February 17th, Mr. Willey, of West Virginia, presented the
credentials of Hon. Joseph Segar, appointed Senator by a State
Government of Virginia, sitting at Alexandria. Mr. Sumner moved
their reference to the Committee on the Judiciary, and during
the discussion that ensued said:--
I regret that a question of this magnitude has been precipitated
upon the Senate at this late period of the session, when there is
so much public business which has not yet received the attention of
either House of Congress. The Senator from Michigan [Mr. HOWARD]
does not exaggerate its magnitude. Sir, it is much to be a Senator
of the United States, with all the powers and privileges pertaining
to that office, legislative, diplomatic, and executive; and the
question is, whether all these shall be recognized in the gentleman
whose certificate has been sent to the Chair. I thought it my duty,
on hearing the certificate read as I entered the Chamber, to move its
reference to the Committee on the Judiciary. I am astonished that
there can be any hesitation in that reference. Senators who hesitate
show insensibility to the character of the question. Will the Senate
act blindfold, or with eyes open? I insist that on such a question it
shall act with eyes open, wide open; and I know no way in which this
can be accomplished, except through the intervention of a responsible
Committee. Therefore, Sir, I proposed that the credentials should be
referred. It will be the duty of the Committee, as my friend from
Michigan suggests, to consider, in the first place, whether a State in
armed rebellion, like Virginia, can have Senators on this floor. That
is a great question, constitutional, political, practical. It will be
their duty then to consider whether the gentleman whose credentials
are before us is the legal choice of any State under the National
Constitution. Now, Sir, I do not intend to prejudge either of these
questions. I simply open them for consideration.
I say, Sir, I do not mean to prejudge these questions; but I do insist
that a measure of this importance shall not be acted on without due
consideration, and in absolute indifference to facts staring us in the
face, glaring upon us every day in every newspaper that we read. Sir,
you cannot be insensible to facts. It is in vain that Senators say that
Virginia, now in war against the Union, is entitled to representation
on this floor, when you have before you the inexorable fact that the
greater part of the State is at this moment in the possession of an
armed Rebellion, and that other fact, repeated by the newspapers of
the land, that the body of men who have undertaken to send a Senator
to Congress are little more than the Common Council of Alexandria.
The question is distinctly presented, whether a representative of the
Common Council of Alexandria is to enter this Chamber, and share the
powers and privileges of my honorable friend near me, the Senator from
New York [Mr. MORGAN], or my friend farther from me, the Senator
from Pennsylvania [Mr. COWAN]. I merely open these points, without
undertaking to decide them, but simply as an unanswerable argument in
favor of the reference.
Afterwards, in reply to Mr. Foster, of Connecticut, Mr. Sumner
said:--
Suppose it was matter of public notoriety that I came into this Chamber
with a certificate from a body of men in Boston, little more in number
and character than the Common Council of that city, not in fact
supposed to represent the State; suppose this fact much received in the
country; then I submit to the Senator whether it would not be the duty
of the Senate, before receiving my credentials, to inquire into their
origin.
The debate continued, when Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, moved that the
credentials lie on the table. The motion was adopted,--Yeas 29,
Nays 13. Mr. Segar’s claim to a seat was never prosecuted.