I have no doubt that the motion to correct the journal would be in order even at a late day. I believe that at any day any Senator might rise in his place and move to expunge from the journal a record in itself derogatory to the body. I have in my hands a reference to the case of John Wilkes, who, you will remember, just before our Revolution, was excluded from Parliament, while his competitor, Luttrell, was declared duly elected. The decision of Parliament, so the history records, convulsed the whole kingdom for thirteen years, but after that long period it was expunged from the journal,—I now quote the emphatic words,—“as being subversive of the rights of the whole body of electors of this kingdom.” I submit, Sir, the record in your journal is subversive of the great principle of jurisprudence on which the rights of every citizen depend.
Mr. Reverdy Johnson followed, criticizing Mr. Sumner. He concluded by saying: “Even supposing there was the slightest want of delicacy in casting a vote upon such a question by the member whose seat is contested, it was in the particular instance more than justified by the circumstances existing at the time the vote was cast.”
Mr. Trumbull said:—
“I believe, as I said before, that the Senator from New Jersey is entitled to his seat; but I do not believe that he is entitled to hold his seat by his own vote. He would have held his seat without his own vote. The vote upon the resolution was a tie without the vote of the Senator from New Jersey; and that would have left him in his seat, he already having been sworn in as a member. It is not necessary that the resolution should have passed. He is here as a Senator, and it would require an affirmative vote to deprive him of his seat as a Senator.”
He then avowed his willingness to move a reconsideration of the vote by which the resolution was carried, “if that is necessary to accomplish the object.”
Mr. Sumner, after saying, that, when he brought forward his motion, he had no reason to suppose that any Senator would move a reconsideration, proceeded:—
The Senator from Illinois says, Suppose we strike out Mr. Stockton’s name, what will be the effect? I answer, To change all subsequent proceedings, and make them as if he had not voted, so that the whole record must be corrected accordingly. The Senator supposes a bill passed by mistake afterwards discovered, and asks if the bill could be arrested. Clearly, if not too late. A familiar anecdote with regard to the passage of the Act of Habeas Corpus in England will help answer the Senator. According to the story,—it is Bishop Burnet who tells it,[21]—this great act, which gave to the English people what has since been called the palladium of their liberties, passed under a misapprehension created by a jest. It seems that among the affirmative peers walking through the tellers was one especially fat, when it was said, “Count ten,”—and ten was counted for the bill, thus securing its passage. I am not aware that the mistake was divulged until too late for correction. But we have had in the other House two different cases, which answer precisely the inquiry of the Senator.
Here Mr. Sumner read from the House Journal, 29th Congress, 1st Session, July 6, 1846, p. 1032, a motion by Mr. McGaughey with regard to the Journal. He next read from the House Journal, 31st Congress, 1st Session, September 10, 1850, p. 1436, the following entry:—
“The Speaker stated that the result of the vote of the House on yesterday on the passage of the bill of the House (No. 387) to supply a deficiency in the appropriation for pay and mileage of members of Congress for the present session had been erroneously announced, and that the subsequent proceedings upon the said bill would consequently fall.