Eternal! he ought to exercise that right forthwith, to-morrow, or any
day--to recognize the Opposition in this body and the Southern
members, the majority of the whole body, as the true Senate. And then
what would become of you gentlemen? Oh, if the lion of the Hermitage,
and that great statesman, the sage of Ashland, were here in the seat
of power, how soon would they settle this question! They would say to,
and they would inspire those to whom they spoke, 'You Southern men are
kept out of your seats by violence, by revolution, against the
Constitution, against right; the Union is dissolved, the Government is
brought to an end by keeping the Senators from eleven States out of
their seats when the Constitution expressly states that every State
shall have two Senators.'

"There is no plainer principle of constitutional law than that the
President has the right to ascertain and decide what body of men is
the Senate and what the House of Representatives when there are two
bodies of men claiming to be each. It is his right to do so, and the
people of America will sustain him in the noble and manly and
patriotic performance of his duty in determining the identity of the
true House. It ought to have been done at the beginning of this
session. When a petty clerk took upon himself to read the list of the
Representatives of the people of the United States, and to keep the
Representatives of eleven States out of their seats, the Constitution
guaranteeing to them those seats for the benefit of their constituents
and country, that subordinate never ought to have been tolerated for
one day in the perpetration of so great an outrage. Whenever Andrew
Johnson chooses to exercise his high function, his constitutional
right of saying to the Southern Senators, 'Get together with the
Democrats and the Conservatives of the Senate, and if you constitute a
majority, I will recognize you as the Senate of the United States,'
what then will become of you gentlemen? You will quietly come in and
form a part of that Senate."

Mr. Doolittle opposed the passage of the resolution. Referring to the
plan proposed by Mr. Davis, he said: "If such a thing should
happen--which God in his mercy, I hope, will always prevent--that the
Senate should be divided, and one portion should go into one room, and
another into another, each claiming to be the Senate, I suppose the
House of Representatives could direct its clerk to go to one body and
not go to the othe