Mr. TRUMBULL. I regret exceedingly that this question is presented in the shape in which it is now before us. In the consideration of the right to a seat of the Senfrom NewJersey I have regarded it and I think the committee to which it was reiierred all regarded it, as a ju dicialquestion. We endeavored to look at it purely in that light. It was a question of law, whether the Senfrom NewJersey was entitled to his seat or not. In the Opinion of the committee he was entitled to his seat. That was my opinion; it is still my opinion. I think he is clear y entitled to his seat. But, sir, there was a difference of opinion in the Senate, and when the vote came to be taken 11 on that question the name of the Senfrom ewJersey was called and he himself voted. Since I have been a member of this body, in the last 11 years, there have been a number of contested cases; the right to seats of several gentlemen sitting here as Senators has been questioned; and this is the 1st time that any person whose seat has been questioned has ever voted since I have been a member of the Senate; and I confessI was very much surprised when the Senfrom NewJersey proposed to vote. When he directed his name to be called, some gentleman sitting near me, I believe the Senfrom Ne vada [Mr. NYE] asked if he had a right to vote in his own case. PrivatelyI said to him at once, “ Certainly not.” I believe heasked the question of the Presiding Officer of the Senate, and he simply replied by stating that Mr. Stocktons name was on the list. No more was said 5 no decision was made; it took the Senate by surprise I think; his vote was recorded, and the result announced. The Presiding Officer said there was no rule of the Senate on the subject. That is true; but there are somethings that it needs no rule to declare. If any member of the Senate had risen in his place and had asked his name to be called a 2nd time and to vote twice, there is no rule that a member of the Senate shall not vote twice; but there are some self evident propositions, and among them is the one that no man shall be a judge in his own case. This is a judicial question. Ibis not like an individual who is a candidate for office going to the polls and voting for himself where his right to vote is not in question. The question here is not whether the State of NewJersey is entitled to representation or not, but it is whether the peISOIwI ho claimsto have been elected to this ody has been elected or not. It is ajudicial question, and in my judgment the Senfrom NewJersey had no right to vote. Now, sir, how this is to be corrected I think it ought to be corrected is another question. The Senfrom Massachusetts proposes to correct it by striking from the Journal t 10name of the Senfrom NewJersey. What would be the effectofthat? The resolution has passed. Suppose you strike his name from the list, where does the resolution standfi Suppose, instead ofa. resolution of this body, it had been a.bill from the HoRep and I submit that for the consideration of the Senfrom Massachusetts suppose it had been a bill from the HoRep upon its passage from this bod, and the result de pended upon the vote of a Senator who was interested in the result, and the bill had been carried by his vote, and this occurred last Friday, and in the mean time the bill had been presented to the POTUS and had received his signature, and we came in on the Monday morning following and moved to strike from the Journal the name of the interested party by whose vote it was carried, what would become of the law? What would be the condition of this resolution? I believe, as I said before, that the Senfrom NewJersey 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 sent without his own vote. The vote n on the resolution was a tie without the vote of the Senfrom NewJersey; 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.