[54] In consequence of this vote Mr. Smith withdrew from the Senate, and resigned his place in a letter (affirming and arguing his innocence) to the Governor of Ohio.

[55] This contested election, as involving a point of constitutional law, to wit, whether a State Legislature can add to, or diminish, the representative qualifications which the constitution prescribes? rises above a question between individuals, and becomes an exception to the general rule of this abridgment, to omit reports, debates, and proceedings on contested elections. The report of the committee, after extended debate, was agreed to by the House, almost unanimously—89 to 18.

[56] This is a sensible speech, and its recommendations have since been adopted in practice by all the States, except in the classification of the militia and the estimate of volunteers. Experience—that of the war of 1812, and the late war with Mexico—has since proved that volunteers may be relied upon for all active service in the United States, either at home or abroad; and that, with the facilities of railroad transportation, such accumulated masses may be thrown upon any point as to crush any invading force. In fact, with railroads and volunteers, the idea of invasion has become obsolete, and the word never mentioned except from habit and past associations.

INDEX TO VOL. III.

PROSPECTUS
OF A
Cyclopædia of American Eloquence:

A COLLECTION OF SPEECHES AND ADDRESSES,
FORENSIC AND PARLIAMENTARY,
BY THE MOST EMINENT
ORATORS OF AMERICA,
WITH BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES,