r. Rousseau appeared at the
bar, when the Speaker said, "General Rousseau, the House of
Representatives have declared you guilty of a violation of its rights
and privileges in a premeditated personal assault upon a member for
words spoken in debate. This condemnation they have placed on their
journal, and have ordered that you shall be publicly reprimanded by
the Speaker at the bar of the House. No words of mine can add to the
force of this order, in obedience to which I now pronounce upon you
its reprimand."

Early in the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress, an
interesting case came up relating to the privileges and immunities of
a member of Congress. Charles V. Culver, Representative of the
Twentieth District of Pennsylvania, having been engaged very
extensively in banking, made a failure in business. In June, 1866,
during the session of Congress, one of his creditors caused his arrest
upon a contract for the return of certain bonds and notes alleged to
have been lent to him, charging that the debt incurred thereby was
fraudulently contracted by Culver. In default of required security,
Mr. Culver was committed to jail, where he remained until the 18th of
December. Mr. Culver claimed his immunity as a member of Congress,
under the clause of the Constitution which provides that Senators and
Representatives "shall in all cases, except treason, felony, and
breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest during their attendance
at the sessions of their respective houses, and in going to and
returning from the same." The judge decided that the offense fell
under the constitutional exception, and was to be regarded as a
"breach of the peace." From this remarkable decision an appeal was
made to the House of Representatives itself, as "the highest court of
the nation, and depository of its supreme authority." The case was
referred to the Judiciary Committee, who reported a resolution,
unanimously adopted by the House, directing the Speaker to issue his
warrant to the Sergeant-at-Arms, commanding him to deliver forthwith
Charles V. Culver from the custody of the sheriff and jailor of
Venango County, and make return to the House of the warrant, and the
manner in which he may have executed the same. The Sergeant-at-Arms
proceeded immediately to execute the order of the House, and in a
short time the Speaker announced that Mr. Culver was unrestrained in
his seat as a member of the Thirty-ninth Congress.

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