Mr. Fessenden. You had better quote it. I said, “Then you should not have voted on the subject, if you did not mean to be bound by the decision of the majority.”
Mr. Sumner. To which I replied, “I am a Senator of the United States.”
Mr. Fessenden. I did not hear the reply.
Mr. Sumner. By that reply I meant that my obligations as a Senator were above any vote in caucus; that I had no right to go into caucus and barter away unquestioned rights on this floor. We are under obligations here to discharge our duties as Senators. We cannot in advance tie our hands. I have not said in so many words, “You violate the Constitution in doing it.” Perhaps better reflection would lead me to adopt the stronger language, and say, “You violate the National Constitution.” I feel plainly, clearly, beyond doubt, that such is the character of the National Constitution, and such are our obligations under it, that we cannot, without a dereliction of duty, consent to such a proposition. So I see it; I cannot see it otherwise.
And now I submit to my associates in this body, with whom I am proud to act, whose good opinion I value, whether they would have me, feeling as I do regarding this resolution, act otherwise than as I do. Should I not, as an associate in this Chamber, anxious for the good name of the Senate to which we all belong, proud of this Republic whose honor we hope to bear aloft, and anxious that no precedent should be established which may hereafter be brought to our detriment, should I not enter my frank protest? And, doing so, do I deserve the rude suggestions that have been made to-day? Should I be told that one may not go into a caucus and assist in the debate, and then appear in this Chamber only with the bands of the caucus upon his hands?
Nor is the duty changed by the time of the protest. Vote or no vote makes no difference. No caucus could constrain a Senator on such a question. It was our duty to stay and resist the offensive proposition to the last, and then afterward resist it elsewhere. Senators, if they choose, may take it in their hands and bear it into this Chamber, to enshrine it in the rules of the Senate. If placed there, I know it will do no good; it will stay there to the dishonor of the country, and as a bad precedent for the future.
Mr. Howe spoke again, beginning his remarks as follows: “I am not so familiar with the history of this country as I wish I was. I do not know whether it has ever happened hitherto in the history of the country that a Senator has been arraigned before the Senate for a violation of a duty to a partisan caucus. If there ever has been such a trial before, I hope there never will be such a trial again.” Mr. Yates concluded by saying: “Now, Sir, there is one of two things, and it commences this day: that the decisions of such consultations have to be carried out, or this day begins the death of any consultations by the majority in the Senate.” Mr. Sumner followed.
Mr. President,—It is evident that this debate has opened a broader question than was imagined at first. Doctors disagree. The learned Senator from Illinois differs from the learned Senator from Maine. One expounds the caucus obligations in one way, and the other in another. Now I am clear that this debate ought not to be closed without some defined code of caucus, and it seems to me that the learned Senators, so swift in judgment, ought to supply this code. It should be reduced to a text. We should know to what extent one is bound, and to what extent not bound: whether the Senator from Illinois, who refuses to be bound by the caucus in one point, which was fully discussed, is a man of honor; whether another Senator, who refuses to be bound on other points, is a man of honor. That question could be settled by some explicit code: for we have been admonished that we cannot differ from the caucus without a departure from propriety, if not from duty; and I do not know that stronger language has not been employed. If it has, I will not quote it. It seems to me that this should lead to a practical conclusion, and it is this: to have nothing to do with a proposition which can be discussed only through such avenues, which requires such refinement of detail, with regard to which the Senator from Illinois makes one exception, and other Senators other exceptions, and to which still other Senators entirely object.
Now I am not going to complain of the Senator from Illinois. In following his convictions he is doing right; but then I wish him to understand that others on this floor may have the privilege he claims for himself,—justly claims; it is his title. I recognize the Senator as a man of honor, though he does refuse to carry out the decrees of the caucus. I believe that every Senator here has responsibilities as a Senator which are above any he can have to a caucus, which is only a meeting of friends for consultation and for harmony, where each gives up something with a view to a common result, but no man gives up a principle, no man gives up anything vital. No Senator can expect another Senator to give up anything vital; no Senator can expect another Senator to sacrifice a principle. I will not imagine that any Senator would sacrifice a principle. If a Senator expects another to accord with him in the conclusions of a caucus, I know well it is because he does not see it in the light of principle; but if another Senator does see it in the light of principle, how can he be expected to act otherwise than according to his light? It is not given to all to see with the clearness of the caucus-defenders. Theirs is the pathway of light; they see the obligation as complete. Others cannot see it so. I am in that list. I cannot see it as a final obligation. I have been present in many caucuses, and I believe, looking over the past, I have harmonized reasonably with my associates. Sometimes I have been constrained to differ, and have expressed that difference, and it has generally been received with kindness. The other day I expressed the same difference, little expecting, however, an arraignment on this floor.