Mr. DAVIS. I object most to the form of the proposed reference of this mutter to the committee, and I object to a reference at all at this time. the Constitution requires every member of the Senate to take an oath to support that instrument upon his admission to a sent. If a gentleman who claimed to bea member refuse to take that oath, of course it would not only be the right but the duty of the Senate to prevent him from takin the seat, to exclude him from the Chamber. how we have another oath under the act of Congress in addition to th"at. The act of 1862 provides That hereafterevery personelectedor appointed to any officeof honor or profitunder the Government of the U.S.either in the civil. military, or naval depts of the public service, excepting the POTUS shall beforegn tering upon the duties of sueh office, and before being entitled to any of the salary or other emoluments thereof. take and subscribe the followmg oath or affirmation.” Now, sir, what is the condition that is offered by this law to a gentleman who presents himself here claiming a seat as a member of the body? He is required to take the oath. Who is to be the judge whether he can take the oath or not? imself and himself alone. As a general rule, a inanwho is entitled to any right or privilege upon taking an oath is the sole judge whether he can take the oath or not. That question is referred to him. He may take it falsely; and if he takes it falsely he commits the crime of perjury if it is an oath administered according to law, and be is then amenable for having perpetrated that offense. What dees the Senate now propose to do ‘2 To inquire beforehand whether Mr. PATTERSON can correctly and truly take this oath or not. Whence does the Senate derive such a power as that? What law, what principle of constitution or law authorizes them, after they have determined that this gentleman shall take the oath, to investigate beforehand whether he can take it consistently with truth or not? Does this act authorize any such investigation by the Senate 7 Not at all. There is no pretense of power for any such imposition by the Senate. this just like any other oath 'which an officer is required to take before he enters upon the discharge of the duties of his office, or which a private citizen is required to take as a precedent condition to his acquisition of a right. Unless there is a power created and invested with the authority to inquire whether he can take the oath truly or properly, all that is to be done is to tender the oath to him. If he takes it he is entitled to the right, whether it be an official right or a rightof property or any other right that is to vest in him on taking the oath. Vhcther he has taken it truly or not, is a matter for atterinquiry; and if he has taken it falsely he has committed a cyime which is to be punished not by the prevention of his taking the oath, because that would not be punish ment, but he is allowed to take the oath and if he has committed the offense he is responsible for the legal penalty that is declared against it. Sir, the high authority of the Senfrom Vermont, now deceased, has. been referred to here, and there is no higher authority. What did he say when a p ication was made by Messrs. Willey and arlile to take their seats in this body as Senators from the State of Virginia? I will read a single short paragraph from is speech on that occaSion. The rightof these gentlemen to take their seats was controverted. by Mr. Bayard, of Delaware, and by othergentlemen who were then members of the Senate. On that point Mr. Collamer said: “It seems, Mr. President, that objections are taken to the reception as membersof this bodyof the gentlemenwho have presented their credontial." These gentlemen bli'ered themselves at the bar, presented their credentials, and asked per' mission to take the oath and to be admitted to their seats as members of the body. Upon that state of fact. the deceased Senator Colla mer was then remarking, and after having stated that fact, what does he add? “ I think it will be difficult to find a precedentin the history of this body by which men who presented papers pnma acic good were not allowed to take their seats. think the thing never did happen. they hsvo been sometimesde rived of thoseseats afterward on investigation, but have noverknown them reiected at 1st. So much for the precedent.” The deceased Senator stated the recedents of our Congress, and especially of the Senate, ruly. Whenever, and up to that very time and eluding that case, a gentleman presented to the Senate a credentia in due form of law as a Senntor, he was admitted, in the language of Senator Collainer, in the 1st instance to his seat and if there was a valid objection to his retaining his sent it was made the subject of after inquiry before the proper committee. Let me illustrate that point by a reference to the qualifications of a Senator. A Senator is to be 30 years of a e, he is to have been 9 years a citizen 0‘ the U.S., he is to be a resident of the State from whence he was elected. in the absence of, all or any of these qualifications he is not entitled to take his seat. All of thesequalifications may not in fact exist, any of them may not in fact exist; but if he presents his credentials in due form of haw, that upon its face, according to the uniform roce cuts of the Senate, entitles him to take his seat, whether he is qualified or disunlified by being under 30 years of age, by having been for a less period than 9 years a citizen of the U.S., or not being a resident of the State from whence he is eiected, is a subject for inquiry by the proper committee after he has been allowed to take his seat. If the present applicant was not 30 years of age he would not be entitled to his seat; but would any Senator move to exclude him when he presented his credentials upon that ground, and in order to inquire into the fact whether he possessed that unliiication or not before he was admitted to the seat? He might not be a citizen of the U.S. at all; he might be an unnaturalized foreigner; he might not be a resident of the State that has given him his credential by its proper authority: but whether any or all these objections exist to his taking his seat.is not inquired into when he presents himself at the bar with a proper credential in his hand and asks to be admitted to take the oath and his seat. All that is to be done, of course; and after that is done then the inquiry whether he has the requisite qualifications or not is to be made under the direction of the Senate and reported upon by its proper committee. I voted against the law iin osing this oath at the time of its passage. I believed then, as I now believe, that it is a flagrant violation of the Constitution, that it is Congress addingqualifications to members of Congress when the Constitution alone can do that thing; but without making that question at all, I now take the position that it cannot be inquired into, it cannot be examined into whether the present applicant can truly take the oath which is prescribed by the law that I have read; that is a matter, in the language of Judge Collamer, for after inquiry; all he has to do to entitle himself to a seat in this body is to show his cre dential from the Governor of the State of Tennessee in the usual form. That. has been presented, and it is not controverted that be as it in due form. Upon that warrant he is entitled to. be admitted tohis seat, he is entitled I to have the oath of office and the test oath administered to him if he is disposed to take that oath. If he refuses either to take the oath to support the Constitution or to take the test oath, by the terms of the law the cannot be admitted to his seat; butif he is willing to take these oaths, the question whether he can take them properly is submitted and can be submit ted, in the 1st instance, only to him. If he is willing to take these oaths he is entitled primafacic to his senin this body; and if he takes either oath falsely it becomes a subject for after inquiry by the Senate; and for the crime of perjury, which would be perpetrated by taking the oath falsely if it be a valid oath, he would be subject to expulsion by the Senate.