Speech #500010856

But there is a defective record. and they claim that it is a rule of law that parol testimony can not cure that defect. Suppose this to be so in an ordinary judicial proceeding. does that control this parliamentary proceeding? Should it control me if the evidence presented has convinced me that the sitting member was duly naturalized? I say no. because I am bound by the obligation I have taken to decidethis question in accordance with my judgment whether that does or does not coincide with the rules adopted or the opinions expressed in other cases by another tribunal. The application of an arbitrary rite of law upon a question of mere fact in an issue so important as this is simply absurd. A case might easily be supposed where the record would be defective and the certificate lost. and where sworn testimony could be produced to prove the naturalization beyond the shadow of a doubt. Would the chairman of this committee vote to unseat this member in obedience to this arbitrary rule. although he knew that he was eligible and admits that he was elected? Sir. the majority report of your committee strikes at every naturalized citizen. It makes that precious right which the policy of a beneficent Government has conferred upon him dependent upon the existence of a record which may never have been made. or which may be lost or destroyed. And if he have acquired the confidence and respect of his fellowcitizens sufficiently to be placed by their suffrages in a position of honor and responsibility. it places it in the power of a mean and mousing opponent. whom he had defeated. to drive him with disgrace from his seat. This is a simple question of fact to be determined upon our confidence in the veracity.under oath. of the sitting member. He is a Scotch emigrant who came to this country in boyhood. and for more than thirty years has gone in and out among the citizens of the Twelfth district of Indiana. He has acquired their respect. their affection. and their boundless confidence. and finally the party with which he had always been associated determined to testify their regard for this adopted citizen by selecting him as their candidate for Congress. and then a strange thing happened. He not only received the unanimous vote of his own party. but 3.000 men stepped from the ranks of his opponents and declared by their votes that although they did not believe in his political views they did believe in him.