Mr. Isaac Smith was persuaded that the House possesses privileges, and has a right to exert them. They are pointed out by the constitution. Mr. S. wished to dismiss the prisoner. It had been said that dismissing him without a trial, after having apprehended and confined him, would be casting a reflection on the House. No such thing! There existed probable grounds of suspicion. We have waited full time, and no proof has come forward. Then let him go, and the sooner that we do it the better.
When Mr. Isaac Smith sat down, Mr. Giles rose to offer a resolution, in place of his former one:
"Resolved, That it appears to this House that the information lodged against Charles Whitney does not amount to a breach of the privileges of this House, and that he therefore be discharged from custody."
Mr. Freeman voted yesterday in a minority for dismissing Randall. He would this day vote for discharging Whitney. As to the dignity of the House, even an outrage upon it could be as well punished by a Justice of the Peace as by ourselves. He stated the extreme difficulty of adopting, in practice, the doctrine laid down, that an improper offer made to a member when in the country, was to be punished as a breach of privilege. A member, suppose from Georgia, comes here, and tells a story of somebody in that State who has made him an unsuitable proposal: the Sergeant-at-Arms is instantly despatched a thousand miles to bring this person to the bar for contempt of the House. What kind of a business would this be?
Mr. Hartley thought the resolution last offered by Mr. Giles had too much narrowed the ground of dismissing Whitney. He had been taken up as an associate with Randall. The charge had not been properly supported by evidence. Dismiss him, and let the want of proof be your reason for it. Mr. H. cordially agreed with the substance of the resolution, but he objected to the wording of it.
Mr. Kitchell pointed out the wide distinction between the cases of Randall and Whitney. It had been said that the latter must be criminal, for he was an associate with Randall. Mr. K. saw no such thing. There was no criminality in the bond. Keep a man in jail week after week upon idle suspicion! Injustice, Whitney ought to have been tried at first, when he declared himself ready for trial. Mr. K. was for discharging him this day.
Mr. Harper now moved an amendment to the resolution before the House: it was in these words:
"Inasmuch as the proposals made by the said Whitney took place before the member to whom they were addressed had taken his seat in the House."
Mr. Giles.—If the amendment succeeded, he would vote against the whole proposition. This was a renewal of the attempt to define privilege. It was not practicable. Every case of the kind must stand upon its own merits. Mr. G. would vote against the amendment.
Mr. Macon read a resolution, that Charles Whitney be discharged from the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms. This was, in fact, reducing the second resolution offered by Mr. Giles back into his first one.