DEMOCRATIC-ANTI MASONIC NomINATIoN: .F 07.717 • IVI'FATILANn. QZAfter the insurgents had turned the Legislature, Secretary of State and Governor out of the Capitol, they set about deceiving the people tit a dis tance by the most impudent assertions that no violence had been used—no mob existed. '['his was an after thought of the villains, when they found that the people would not jus tify mobs for any purpose. While the tumult was going on however they wrote to their friends in a very differ ent strain. Senator Bell, of Chester, a leading Van 13uren man, wrote to his friends that a "most dangerous mob had possession of the Capitol." Mr. Flennikin, a leading Van Bu ren member of the llouse, funs Fay ette county, wrote the following letters to his intimate friends, on the 4th, sth and ith of December: ".}li/ Dear S I:—lS'y are doubt• Inns bele in Ole Intd-i of a fearful revolution. Ins town of ll.irrishorg is crowded with tlto 11),p4I exci set ninitillition beyond all con trol. T111 .4 .' ve.:t.uilay drove out the Nell Rte. The Governor has. it is said, issuod he: proc lainat ion for .5000 rniliti a. It will brim ru 15"( H), before night this day. fear that blood will flow freely in this devyt ed plac •, (extract relating to his faiirly) excluhed. I have laboured mud I can scarcely stand, to prevent thilt state of things, but all in vain. I fear the days of Steven. 4, Iturrowes mad Penrose are number. cd. Itl great haste. Yours, I ru!v Copy tif Letter of some In the same. Diouf-or Ito, 5111 Dec 31p Dear S--t:—No actual light ing has yet taken place at Harrisburg, but how long it will remain so, God only knows. The people have cubic p , ,ssessi,,,, or the Capitol. The Senate cannot meet, arid the seceding branch or rather the fractoinal [or fartiaied] branch of the House are not permitted In moot. We met this morning at 10 o'clock, and transacted Some business and adj aimed until to morrow, but whether we will again be pal :flitted to meet, is ex tremely doubtful. The militia under the Governor's I equis alert are now tin their march to this place, and are expected to he here to night some. and early in the morning others. The moment en armed force reaches here there will be collision and bloodshed. Oh ! da plerati!e rondition of cur beloved Cam men tcaltb. I h ive t'ais afternoon made tiny ,best elf4rts with a Committee of the eiprisition to preserve the peace and order— of my native state. I fuel now broke 011 from every point of hope. I have (as far as I can see) to look to but the most feat fill scenes to 6n e re cted hero. NV hat a dreadful state of Others we have reached, and all this on arrourn of the per verse ebstinacy of the Secretary of the Com• monwi aith, withholding the majority re turns in his piHsession from the (amity ul Philadolphia, from both branches of the Le gislatine. Had he produced both returns no dilfi,ailty would have ocrurred. I can write no mere at present. Yours, truly, Extract of several letters from the same to another per•ivr. finnt•,tsnuao, Dec. 4. "Leiner came here on Sunday at th bend of 100 men Irmo Philadelphia county 500 more are expected from Adams ani Franklin." "It is expected the opposition will brut in men too." “Hookins was concluded loth° chni , by men who would have hurled Cunninghan headleu.c faun the seat he desecrated had recus ,, d to yield it. Here the galleries rung with the most tremendous shout of up plutNe.” "I roar a Pennsylvania Legi.lature wil never meet again until the closeofu revolu lion." 1-1 4anissua0, Dec. 5. 4, 11'e are to the midst of a revolution wor•ie than my fears ever realized." "I have air,)rehensinits that heftro to• morroWttiyht, the bhpill of , itir elm pm.; will flov is the Capitol, and iu the streets of I a rrisbili "Thu m;.3 , at!)!r4 aro arming theiniolve.. with tvespinis of' del: ." "I fear the ti tys ofl'en rose, B a rrowes and Stevenq are nurnhered.". "The people hove pot , session of the Hall or Looisloliois." Extract from amithjr lerttlr D.lcomber 7th or 9:h, the rains Ivrit”r says "It to rum irei that (11.,re are armed troops Oil tlia other did.: of tlii —Nova • 4 . .•: ;• -- `..7 - . .. - - ; 4:- . .;',.. 41..c . ...4.?• - , 4, ••••••..-... --- ••• . • e .,,1„: :4 .„••• ,i . . 77! . -:*''' *- - ' z• ,i-f....-.- , ,'....-.•'• • ,t! ., t': ' ~ ,- „.0.1 :, • .tc.t4..,' • --. , . rs?r ...;...,!.• -- • ~:"...,...• ...c, 1•_••••:-... 4. , .... - -- ..., • •,...F.•:.:: ... '>, •...-7;: • . • ....:'''''-:. •. .. •.-... • ' : :'•.. - • 4... --_,... , .-: ~ ';'.:.:: .:"• '. ::-..vki -- - ,7 -.4.G., ~-7n. -,fiii* ..:-.., • . ........:. ..• ....; ...-,‘.• .-; -' - -4 , -...- '"" . , .p.:... ..4.. ....• - • , 4' . I.'4'. • ~„ —... ..,. f . • - c.- - .P. • •••••• . •• . • ,'".,... )-3-.-.1-- ..V.-1. -I r • h • v. AO Z . • • • •• • ... wit. AS snon as they set fo , d on this side of the river, blood will fl'w, in 44 hour , . '20,000 democrats will as.enthle here to up pose them. lam prepared in peace O J in war, to do my duty to my constituents JoHN SNYDER one of the "commit . tee of Safety," returned home on Sat urday after the meeting of the Legisla ture, as one of the members and a gent of the "Provisional Government," to raise men and money to overturn the Constitutional Government. ilis ac count of their acts would certainly not be made against them than the truth. Mr. Durham, a merchant of great re spectability and intelligence, of Lu zerne county, testifies as follows : DAUPHIN COUNTY, SS. Before me, the sub , crt her, a Justice of the Peace for the said county, !immortally appeared Alpha Durham, of Tunkhannock. in the county of Lozerne. who been duly 'sworn, cloth depose and sly, that on Sunday the ninth day of December, A. D., 1(.139, he was in Ihisslir's Tavern, in the town of Seehusgrove. and county ix Union, and then and there heard a malt Mahe name of John Seydcr, who is said to be it son of the late Governor Snyder, and who resides in or roar Seelin's Grove, aforesaid, es dcporicnt !has been ittliirmed, ID a conversation with I Gem ge Kremer, of said county, and llthers, ! say, that he had just returned from Mims burg the day previous, and had hen in I lar• risburg, when the Legislature met on the 'precedem 'Toil-day, and durnr all that weelcoi lit the day previ,U9 to that aid str - ; da, ) when he had come home; he said these had been much disorder in the orgami nine of the Douse of Representatives and Se ate that the ‘Vhigs had .(ot the advantage of !their party iu the organiz men of the Sun ;ate aud Douse of Representativ.s on ac count oldie way the Secretary of the Coin mon wealt h had sent to the returns, and thus or his party were determined to provei.l any legislation, as they were atraul that the Whigs •Sr.e. having a maim ity in the Senate the Whig or Cunningham h eve weekd meet and act with the Senate and pass laws and do acts that would be injurious to heir party—be said they, the Democrats, were determined to prevent any such legisiattim by force of arms, because it would be of no use to have the Supreme Court decide on such legislation, acts ()F. laws, that that was t oo slow a process—that the Judges of the Supreme Court were believed or so: iewed lot to be Demurrers, and 111ton:tied some thing about the eon option of the Joiltelarv, or Judges,—he said d•the Whigs did at• tempt to legislate in this way and surround. cd the Capitol with troops to gmbd it and themselves, his party would tire or play upon the Capitol with artiller; would drive in the doors of it with carmini balk, and iii this way drive the members out of the Cap itol,—lre said that at the meeting of the L-gislature on the previous Tricsd ly his or their party had a parcel or fere fellows there Croat Philadelphia arid other places, and it would have been as easy for us to have had i gallows erected on the Capitol-101l rat ilarrishurg and had Stevens !mug on it, as to have said the word; and if they had sail ihe word, they could have had Penrose mid Burrows tar red and feathered, or any other violence done to them they desired, —that it required restraint to prevent them from du. lug so, and that if they, kwe) or his party had given the word to them, those fellows would have demolished the Capitol,—that those fellows had come to liarrisburg to see that their Philadelphia members had their rights, got their seats, and were not (theater' out of them; he gave an account If what lie said took place in the hall of the (louse of Representatives the then prece• ding Tuesday,—he said tine( when the Sew Ito met on the same day, there was a great creed in the Semite chamber, arid that when those persons who had come from Philadelphia to see that their IlleillberS were not cheated out of their rights. saw the course that the Senitte was pursumg, that farina and ‘Vogner were admitted, and 3 rowjj &Stevenson kept out those persons became very ranch excited and made noiscs !and said Brown should have his suet,—that Brown attempted to address the Stmale, and the Speaker told 11101 that he Cold(' not du so, us he was lint a member of the Senate —that the crowd in the galleries called out land insisted that Brown should be heard I that when the Speaker of the Senate refused I to let Brown speak and called to ord.tr, or shortly atter, he himself hallowed or cried nut loudly "Ride the Speaker on a rail " and thee those people hi the gallery moved Icrrivard ; that alter this t h e. Senate did con sent to let Alr. Brown speak—that imme• diately after this the Speak-r called Mr. Rogers to the claim ir mid havin left it, b ;ingafraid as he, supposed, escaped from the Senate chamber through a window and cleared off: lie further stated that the governor lied issued his proclamation call- I big upon the :Militia to come there and keep ne peace, and some troops were expected 0 be at HI irrisburg, theri or shortly,—that heir party thought it would be best to have more there to help to keep the peace, and he expected that a great many thous %AV - r.urza,r•th Dec •,, it, ;le t V:4 • .:-... il ..' ' . I ,: ' • :4 ' ''. - 1 Vri: • - isA -'47i: • 1 , , •.'':4-' •*.a...., ' ..... :—..• .., 4. , . •- --E , • . Gettysburgh, January 1 1 0 9 1539. ands would be there to help ; that they (the Democrats) had sent out expresses in ditThrent directions and had no mderstand im ! so that they would have a great number ;here to help them.--he IOC:II:Med the nlttneS of at number of idficers, captains, &. - 7. of A i tillery, and other troops, that were ready to come to help their party, but de fitment cannot now recollect the 11:1111e9 of the offwers said Snyder then merviontid ; he said he had not the least doubt that a !rent many thousands would come there under arms, that a much ;,:eater number would come there than the Governor got to route, and they, that is the said Snyder arid others, as deponent then understood him, had determined that if the troops h•ou;.eht there by the Governor, sprlh•d a single drop of blood, that every one of the•tn should be put to death. The said Snyder detailed what he said had been dune at Harrisburg nt considera bly greater length than the Inoegoing---a considerable part of the finangoing, to the est of deponents knowledge and belief, is in the precise words used by t: e said Snyder, changin , the same from the third to the first person where necessary as applicable to the person speaking, and the remainder is the substance of what he then stated in relation to the matter before referred to; he also stated how he had led or assisted to lead men up to the Arsenal to turn out these in possession of it or take it—that they had :lent off an express to get 1I r. Porter to come down and be iantiguratod the next Tuesday, if the people thought fit no do so. The said Snyder further stated that be hail that day, or by that day's mail, received a letter from flarrisburg, inform ing him that his presence there unaht be beneficial to the democratic party, and he was deters fined to start again to Harris burg early the next morning. • Al,l'll DURITA 11. Sworn and subscribed brfitre we, Decem bet 24, 1s:!8, M. Writ/fr.:EY, Justice of the Pe ,, e9. &c To rite i'copie oi etldWig. Funa,ow Cum ---I pro: MINI you u more extended account of the alarming act-. of the last month. which 'compelled me to withdraw trots the Legislature. The circumstances which led to that stop, have boon so falsely stated by guilty parti zans, that 1 am aware that calm, impartial omit, wi I at present, find it ditlioull to coin. !nand universal belief But the transactions of the period are too impia tom to he mint ted in history and he who shall be foiled worthy to write an enduring account of the ri s e and fill ()four Republic; of the establish-I tent, and overthrow of oaf Liber ty, will discover the teodency, and do j.istice to the actors of this crisis. Oa Tuesday the 4th day of Doceinher last, the members elect assembled at Harrisburg accordance with the ( &institution. to or ganize the different branches -fthe Legish• tore. It was known that several cases of I contested elections were likely to be present !ed to the several Houses. 1t was doubtful I which sot of Senators from the lluntingdam district, was ere itled to their sent, in o w first iostance, although it was well known that the Ano..Thisimic members had received above three hundred more votes than their! .apponents. But, in consequence of the re• tutu] Judges from the several Counties hat: ing tailed to carry out the vote of Iluntioi, don Count% , in their addition of the several returns, the Van Buren candidates chimed their seats on the orgionzal ion of the Senate, although, if the vote of Iluidmj,don were includ.d,they were in a large innioritv; and although the votes of Huntingdon County were regularly returned by the return led ges of that County, to the '.!..ecretiary of the Commonwealth, and by httn, to the Senate. In the District composed of Chester,Del• aware, and M ootgoote ry, r. tiro ,ks iecetv• ed u !majority of seventeen vines over his op ponent Mr. 13 11. But, in makniz out copies tin- the return Judges in the Trappe District, the Clerk wrote two hundred arid tive , itirsix Ow number of votes cast for Mr. (tall,) so that it an .01 well be read two hundred and seventy six, although the true number (2': ti) was curried out in n figures. The retort Judges chuse-:.`o reinlit severity sixot mad!. . up tneir returns accordingly, thereby giving Air. Bell thirty three of a undo' i y m the district. This they did from the face ()Utile rein: Us of the several countiesoilthough they had befiire them, the returns, tally papers, Jud_tes and Clerks of the Trappe District, ready to prove the error. The County Judges decided, perhaps correctl),lliat their duty being merely clinical ald nut judicial, they could nut correct it. In the County oll'hilalelohia,which steer ted two Senators, eight Reproeentatives o mid 1(1 districts, two nu:whets of (.ion, r.Ss, the return Judges met "add up" he voids gi•••• en in the . several Districts. C. J. Ingersoll appeared before them, an I proved that in the 7th Ward of the North .rn Liberties,the Judge (a Van Buren man) !mil lost the tally pipers. give tsh tut :WO m ti'W tty for the Van Bureii ticket. Ingersoll asked, not that it should be set aside, but that all the votes of all the ‘Vardi of the N. Liberties, seven in number, should besejec ted, being near 80u0 iu aft, and giving to the Whig Candidates, about 1000 majority. The law is explicit. The Judges could do nothing but "add up" all (Ito votes returned from the several Districts, without inquiring into their legality. That is. reserved tor the several branches of the I,cgishiture. The Van Buren Judges, how, vu r, determined to "add up" only tile remaining diitricts, utter excluding tit seven wards of the Not thern Liberties. The Whig judges determined to add up all the votes given 10 the county, and culled upon all the return judges to tfirnisli the returns from their respective districts, and did add up all the Votes thus furnixlicd, some of the judges withholding theirs.— The returns thus legally "added up," were duly sealed, directed to the &Mille+ Mid HOLISO (4 Representatives, handed to the High S!teriff, and by liiin stint to the Seers• tary of the Cumm'aegith.asdue tea by law. 1110 Vail liUleil judg s added tip a liart of the reiutns,r,ud roused to and the lid.alice. although offered to thew A few d tys to: they were disposed of in the Saeriff's office. (as is suppose,.) although that is out officially known. By the returns made by those judges wit p went upon the principle of east ing up Xe 4rhole sunder ul . votee, and which were officially transmitted to the Se. cretary of the Commonwealth, the wing oicmibets were cleated by between one and Iwo thousand majority. Suveral seats were to be contested in both Houses upun the above and other return b The moaner of conducting these cout,sti•d elections, is regulated by the Constitution and laws pa,sed ui pursuance the I eel, and is easy to lie underst. od. Bit the ditlieuliy was likely to at Ise in organiv fig the Houses as to who should have ttteti seats tu the trtst instance. By the law of 1799 applicable to all sin gle county districts u 14 pr ovided that "as soon as all the yetis shall be read elf and counted, the judges of each districts, it, case the cotany be divided Imo districts, .1,01 make tut under their [Muds a tau statement and certificate of the number of votes which shall have been then and there given for t 101 l candidate, distinguishing the station or ( thee he has voted for, which [lumbers shall be expressed in ‘.........L. ..., length, and nut in figures only: and sue of the said judges shall take charge of such certificate, and, tin the fourth day after the day of election, produce the same in a meet ing of one jud i tt Irma each district within the said couity, at the Court Heusi-, and for the city and county 4.f Philadelphia, a , the State lleus. ; tor which service lie shall be allowed out of the county Treasury, leo cents lot every mile he shall have necessa. rily travelled, in coining from his proper electent district: to the said Court House, mid in returning therefrom to his own h ome; and the judges oldie several districts of the county co met, shall add tog. ther the aunt her of votes which shall appear to be given 11,r any person or persons who Shall there-, unto be tumid to be highest iii vote, or elected as Repiesentative, Senator or other officer, and shall ferthwith make out dupli cute semi 1/WI of the election of such pertain or persons as shall be so elected and chosen to any (Ace or station, which the electors of the said county ate entitled to choose for themselves unconueeted with any other county or district; lied when a Governor is to be chosen, like ret urnso: till die votes given for any person or persmis for Gov 'el nor; and ha vine ll,dg d one lif CMc ii of the said returns in the ..dice of toe nary of the county, shall enclose, seal mid direct .when the same relates to die choice of u Governor, to the Speaker of the Satiate ; when w the electiou old Senator or Seim ators, to the Semite; when to a member or members oh the House of Representatives, to the House of Representatives; when to, Sheriff or Coroners, to die Secretary of the Conan mwealth ; when to a Commissioner or Gmumssiotiers lor the euioly, to the Clerk lit the Court of Cleaner Sessions of said county. And one of the judges shall deliver the returns so sealed and directed to the 3heriff ut the county, endarsoig thereon the time of delivering the same; mid the 1 said Sheriff shall within fifteen days [here after, cause the return di ectetriblhe Cle:lt of the Court of Quarter Sesslons, to be de livered agreeably to the said direction; and having received the returns of any district fur the election of Senator or Senators. or oho or more members of die (louse of Re presentatives, which (nay by law be direet• ed to be completed and made out within t:te said county, tar the Solia! election, the said Sheriffshall forthwith by himself or his deputy, transmit the Allele of said returns to the Secretary of the Commonwe tith, so that the same 8101 be delivered into the Secretary's office within twenty days atter the 'last of the returns shall have b :en re. ceivtd by the said Sheriff; in which case and not wherwise, he skull be ent , tled to reserve from the 4 State 'Treasury, or war rants drawn by the Governor, ten cents fur every mile he shall necessarily . travel, in going from and returning to his proper comity:" .. Thir is the whol4law which has any bear ma'l. on the Philadelphia Cpunty returns, which his been the pretext fur so Muck law less conduct: • The returns were nattle out by the. Judges who added up all the Districts which were Imo:shed them, "enclosed, seal ed and directed" tfivir returns to the Senate mid House of Representativi , h, one of the return Judges endorsed them "4 iffioial re turns of the County of Philmh•lphia,'' rind algLod his name as return Judge; delivered them to the SheridTof the Conn Iv ,w ho trans mitted them to the Secretary of the Coin moo wealth as the official returns. Being sealed, ref course the Secretary had no right to inspect theta: and, if he coold h a ve div un ed their contents, he had no right to judge whether they were true or false returns. He had but one duty to perform—to transmit them to the seven - II houses to which theN were directed. They were the only returns from the County which he could thus trans mit until the -Houses were organized and capable of calling on him for further infeir• motion. Those returns might lie' false, or the persons !heroin i eturned wo•leetedonight have been unduly elected. The law supposes such cases might happen, nod has provided the teitir.dy m iircordancti with the Consti tution. But that remedy void,/ not he applied because the issue e•auld not he made up until the membeis r turned to the Secretary; and by him to ;he House, had been duly sworn in. Until then. no parties existed between whom to form the easue. It is absurd to say that the prima facie decision of the coutes• ted seats in the House of Representatives, can' be postponed until all the undisputed re• turns are read and then those members de cide, the disputed 'ones; because, until the Speaker is elected and the members duly qualifi.l.l, they are not a body competent to entertain any question. Every thing Onto rior Ur that,is a mere consentable agreeme; t alm) , so many gentlemen. And by the Constitution and Laws, there must be one hundred members capribl" of voting for Speaker,and t ilting their seats at the organi zation. If the disputed seats are to be post potted until such organization is perfected, it would be easy to defeat it alto ether, by cootcsting rill the seats, and, leaving none us umpires. This, however, is an entirely false view of the matter. The noose is compe tent to take no vote at; to the right of mem• hers to seats. There: must, in every in stance,be Siltintr members upon the returns cormt•al "UV iScc,Aft tim wealth; and the only way by which they be unseated, is by a pe.tition presented by the cluirmng members, complaining of a false return or undue elect ion oldie returned members—and that petition referred to a Committee elected by lot, according to the act of 1791; whose repot: is final and con-. 1 elusive. • He who supposes that the flouse;or the members thereof (except the Commi aforesaid) can, by vote, determine either the prima facie or ultimate title to seats, has examined the subj , ct with little, atiennoti;or little ability to understand'it. Never, since the Ac: of 1791 until the late • ReVolutiona• ry proceeding, has it b •en pretended, that if objected to, any member could take his seat on any other evidence than the return furnished by the Secretary. So well estab lished were the la W and the practice, that no difficulty wou:d have been anticipated in any of the above named'eases, had not cer tain party organs have given notice. "that the Van Mren members for the county of Philadelphia, should hare their seats on the . first any or the Sessicp , , and if it Was resisted, ticenty thousand bayonets should briale in if: OM/ the best blood of the (`pantry should flow in the streets." Thi4 wit, believed by most gaol citizens, to be but idle gasconade as it could not be sup posed that in II Republic scarcely half a century olri , , traitor s could be found bold and proiLate enough, to brio. , an armed mob to overawe the Legislature, and pro cure by force, what, if they wet° entitled to. they could have hgally obtnined in a few days: and what, if not entitled to, might semi be made to appear; and whether Cll. titled to or hot, enforcing it by a rebellious multitude, is certainly and fatally destruc tive to liberty. When the members had assembled at he seat of Co•vernitient, a few does before he day of orgauization, it was ascertained That a lar. 4 e Humber of hired ruffians had h-en hrou!.flit from tin. Quhurf)s of l'lnlade!. phia, armed wtth dewily weapons, to en force the claitni of the Van Buren members to their soots; anti, as some of their leaders dcelar.td, “to thrqu, the Legiala 'lie out of the Trin , lows" if they refu•ed it. The Anti• Vim Buren members of the Senate and tb.u. , e of Ropresentntives , then n9setnbled to dc::berale as to the proper course to be porsupd ; awl to consult as to the true lekal orkaniziag bu . th branches, that they might do °idling uoildvisrdly and nothing to be.ripeoted of. They hold two ieterinal meetings un Saturday and Alenday. at each of these, Mr. Sintlun, a Senator Irmo the County of Lane/titer, pr-sided. After full deliberation, and examination the Ctmaritimon und Litvs several 11f,5141/- tint's, winch 1 sh:4ll, iu n future number, give at limigth, were unanimously passed, deciar inZ itiat the only legal mode of organizing in the first instance, was upon the returns twidd l ed through the Secretary; and that if it were alleged due they were, false, or fraudulent,.that could be tried only accord ing to the act of 1791, by 'a Committee after the organization " Among the rnPmbers of the !louse then present, were Che4er Butler and John Stiirdev.vit of Lezerne, end John Montelius or Union courvy, trichim , in all, fifty, two members of the House, and a quorum of the Senate. On the Ist Tuesday (this 4th) of Decem ber, the members elf .et_ essen.bled in the Hall of the [Luse of Iteprosentatives. An 1111tISIla I tramber of people filled the galleries and lobby ; several of the aisles, and the open Prince in front of' the Speaket's chair, were choaked up with rude looking strana-, ers ; and the chairs of several membe rs .r. were surrounded with rough, brawny bul lies. My , seat had the honor of being guarded by eight or ten of the most desper ate brawlers of Kensington and Sprig Garden, who thrust themselves determined ly against my chair and when 1 left it oc casionally, one of thernoccupied it until my return. Most of them wore coats with out side pockets in which their hands - were generally thrust ; and, as I afterwards sat isfacterily ascertained, were armed with double barrelled pistols, Bowie Knives, and dirks. Men of a similar description arid similarly accoirered, occupied the platform around the Speaker's chair. They seemed to be under the g uidance of such men as Jack Savage, J. J. McCahen, Thomas C. Miller, Wm. Leiper, Lewis Corryell, Charter Pray and others, when several of my friends, seeing my dauger, endeavored . to eitroduce themselves between these rut= flans and my chair, Pray (a claiming mem ber firm' the courtly of Philadelphiajcame up and whispered to them "to stand close, and be ready." At the usual hour the Secretary of the Commonwt-alth appeared, and announced to the members elect thatlier delivered to them "the official returns of the late dee- . tide for Menthere oldie House of RePresen-' tail res." tie deposited them eon the Spea ker's chair and withdrew. A member elect then proposed that they shoal() be (trued and lead ; to which all agreed. nuclei* of the last House, Who was present, was the pereon desigoatt d to ern and read them. This is Usually the case, although he is no longer in office, having gone : out with the these that'elected him on the second Tues. , t-e, -X.i.to.. to - ecetliter. October. Hut having emit fiance, he is generallY'slifecteir fur this Purpose. no did proceed to open and read the returns, until he reached the County . of Philadelphia (being near the fist.; Upon their being opened, Mr. Pray rose and pulled' from his pocket, what he said was a certified copy Of the true return, allegrag . ( that the one opened was . 11 false return. ' Mr. Hopkins proposed that both sheuld be rein! Thos. 8. Smith, of the city of Phila. dolphin, rose and ohjectet to reading any paper but the returns fureished by the Sec retary of the. ! coinnionwealth; declaring, that as the House was not organized mid capehle of voting on or examiniug any con. tested return, nothing could be dune until a Speaker was elected, and the Members sworn in upon the returns 'officiously fur nished. That he hoped none who thouglft that the legal rnodir, would violate the lew by voting on !Or. Hopkins' proposition. , • The Clerk, however, asked the gentle-, man if he should read both returns; seam said "yes," and he did read them. Alter he had finished reading all the returns, I rose and stated (in substance) that a differ ence of opinion as to the legal mode of or ganizing the Muse, . was likely, to arise; hut, as this was it governMent of laws, I trusted no difficulties would arise to disturb our orderly proceeding. If either party ' erred in its judgment of the law, that error could be peaceably corrected by the.proper tribunals. With those tribunals, we were willing to trust our case ; and I hope our opponents, would see the propriety of Billow ing the same course, end doing nothing . to disturb the peace or sully the honor of the Commonwealth.' That I would propOse that we should proceed to organize by elect ing a Speaker, and that the names of those members returned by the Secretarv,should be called. If any gentleman thought any other mode legal, they would call. such names as they pleased, and if in so doing two Speakers should happen to be, chosen, sly they certainly would be courteous enough to find room fiir both on the Speaker's plat. form until the law decided between them. I then named tellers Mr. Watts Nod Mr. Zeilin, and asking the gentli3mefl if they were agreed, they. answered affirmatively, and the tellers went to the - Speaker's f desk and called the nam'es of all the members returned by the. Secretary—filly two of them voted for Speaker—several others an swering but out tiainfrig any candidate for Sweater. .. • Gen. Cunningham was declared duly elected, and took the chair. Then for the first time in a Legislative Holl ib that I have ever witnessed, II 'large nuoillar of persons in the goners-, lobby and liallThisqed. The oath was admmistered to the Spank er by Mr. Smith nod by him to all the mem ber., who presentod themselves to take it-- filly two ineludiqg himself. Motions were made alp committees appointed to Milani the Senate and the Governor oh our orgnoi• zit on—and in older. to preVent itpo,eihlo any collision with the other body then or- ganizing, a resolution ((DNA by lir. ertsbh was passed fixing our time of meeting at It)
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