summons or other process, shall receive the same compensation as witnesses attending the Supreme Court of the United States.

SECT. VII. And be it further enacted, That the grand committee shall appoint a clerk, who shall keep a journal of their proceedings under their direction, and after the grand committee shall have made their final report, he shall deposit with the secretary of the Senate this journal, together with all the certificates, written testimony and documents, which were under the consideration of the grand committee, where the same shall remain open for the inspection of the members of both houses.

SECT. VIII. And be it further enacted, That on the first day of March next, after their appointment, the grand committee shall make their final report to the Senate and House of Representatives, stating the number of legal votes for each person, and the number of votes which have been rejected: the report of a majority of the said committee, shall be a final and conclusive determination of the admissibility, or inadmissibility, of the votes given by the electors for President and Vice President of the United States: and where votes shall be rejected by the grand committee, their reasons shall be stated in writing for such exclusion, and signed by the members of the committee who voted for rejecting them, and the report shall be entered on the journals of both houses, who shall, on the day after the report is made, meet and declare the persons duly elected; and if no election of President has happened, then the House of Representatives shall immediately proceed, as the constitution directs, to elect a President.

SECT. IX. And be it further enacted, That when the grand committee shall have been duly formed according to the direction of this act, it

D 4

shall

shall not be in the power of either house to dissolve the committee or to withdraw any of its members.

SECT. X, And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the executive authority of each state, to cause three copies of the law, resolution, or act of the state legislatures respectively, under which electors are chosen or appointed, to be made, certified, and delivered to the electors in such state before they gave their votes, and the electors shall annex one of the said copies to each list of their votes. And it shall hereafter be the duty of the electors to express specially in their certificates, the time, the place, and the manner of giving their votes.

SECT. XI. Aud be it further enacted, That all petitions respecting the election of President and Vice-President of the United States, shall be presented and read in the Senate of the United States, and remain there until delivery to the grand committee, at which time each petition shall be read in the presence of both houses; but no petition shall be received after the certificates of the electors shall have been opened, read and committed to the grand committee; nor shall any petition against the qualifications of a candidate or elector, or for improper conduct in an elector, be received, unless thirty days notice thereof be previously givento the person whose qualifications are contested, or whose improper conduct is petitioned against.

SECT. XI. And be it further enacted, That persons petitioning against the votes given by any of the electors of President and Vice-President of the United States, and persons desirous of supperting such contested votes, may respectively obtain testimony in the same manner, and under the same rules and regulations which are provided by the act, entitled "an act to prescribe the mode of taking evidence in cases of contested elections for

members

members of the House of Representatives of the United States, and to compel the attendance of witnesses;" and the rules, regulations, provisions, and penalties of the said act shall be, and the same are hereby extended to cases arising under this act, as fully and absolutely as if the same were herein recited and enacted. Provided, always, That the testimony thus taken, shall be transmitted to the secretary of the Senate of the United States, on or before the day upon which the certificates of the electors of the President and Vice-President of the United States are to be opened."

This Bill was a sweeper. It would, had it passed into a law, have, in reality, placed the election of the President in the hands of the Senate alone. That it would be much better for the country, were the election in the hands of the Senate, is certain; but, it would have been fairer to pass a law directly to that effect. To lead the sovereign people through the farce of an election, when the choice was finally to be made by thirteen men, seven of whom were to be nominated by the Senate, was a departure from that frankness, which has been said to be the characteristic of republicans.

While this Bill was pending before the Senate, Mr. CHARLES PINCKNEY, one of its members, communicated it to the Printer of the Aurora, who published it with very severe, and, indeed, very illiberal and unjust remarks. The Senate summoned the man before them. He attended, and, after certain interrogatories, was ordered to attend on a subsequent day to receive his sentence. He asked for counsel, which was granted him, with the proviso, that the counsel should not be permutted to question the jurisdiction of the Senate, nor to urge any matter but in mitigation. The counsel,

with the approbation of their client, refused to appear thus shackled, and their letters of refusal, being published in the newspapers, produced great effect. The Senate proceeded; but the Printer, by absconding till after the session was over, avoided the punishment intended for him.

The House of Representatives had, on a former occasion, inflicted punishment for what they styled a breach of privilege; but this had not reconciled any man of sense to the proceeding. It was, indeed, a seditious miscreant that the Senate would, in this instance, have punished; yet, his punishment might have formed a precedent for the punishing of many an innocent and meritorious man; therefore, I, amongst many others, regretted to see the Senate, which was, unquestionably, the most reputable assembly in the United States, have recourse to such a mode of maintaining its character, and of sheltering its proceedings from false and malicious animadversions. The Senate was never a very popular body; it was always regarded, by the great mass of the people, with a jealous eye. This attempt added to unpopularity, and cast on it an odium, which it will not easily wipe off.— Men," said a writer, on this occasion, ever may be their political principles, to whatever party they may belong, and however far they may, for a time, be hurried out of the path "of truth and integrity, will all, in the moment " of reflection, condemn whatever is contrary to "the principles of civil liberty, which is the "greatest blessing that society affords. Americans "have been educated in these principles From

66

66

66

" what

habit, from reason, from a love of security, they look upon a Judge and Jury as indispensably "necessary to the inflicting of just punishment. "Of what avail is it, that men are said to be "juged by their peers, if there exists a power, any

where,

where, to punish them without that sort of "trial? I am an humble admirer of the Senate; "they have saved us on many occasions; to them

it is that we owe the peace, which we at this "moment enjoy; it is not, therefore, from any "dislike to that excellent assembly, nor from any ❝ disrespect to any of its members, that I scruple not to assert, that, if they have a right to exer"cise a criminal jurisdiction, we live under a despotism, during the time that they are in "session. Their plurality, their proceeding by

66

66

vote, change not the nature of their power, or "of the punishment they inflict. That assemblies

66

can be as foolish, as capricious, as wicked, as "unjust, as cruel, and as inexorable as indivi"duals, the history of the world, and particularly "of latter times, furnishes us with proofs in abun"dance. I, therefore, repeat, that, wherever there ❝ is an assembly, which is a judge in its own cause, "and which can, without any control, inflict

punishment on any citizen, there is, during "their session, no real liberty. But, if such a "species of jurisdiction be odious in any assembly

66

66

whatever, how odious and how preposterous is it "in an assembly, the members of which call themselves the Representatives of the People! "That the representatives of the people should be protected from slander, is most certain; but, it would be very difficult to assign a reason, why they should have any other protection than that "which is enjoyed by the people whom they represent. The President's reputation is, surely, as dear to him, and to the citizens at large, as "that of the other branches of the Congress can possibly be; yet has he no power to act as judge in his own cause, and arbitrarily inflict "punishment on those that offend him. If he be traduced, however grossly and maliciously, he

66

66 must