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SteluCcS dt dNU uIlucT WHICH thcy IIuppCuCuS are no way entitled to respect in free Gov ernment, existing under a written ConStitu- | tion. But, for ourselves. we stand on the plain words of that Constitution itself. A thousand preccdents elsewhere made, wheth- CT ancient or modern, can neither rescind, nor control, nor explain away these words. The words are, that "each House shall KEEP a journal of its proceedings." No gloss, no ingenuity, no spacious interpretation, and much less can any fair or just reasoning re- concile the process of cxpunging with the plain meaning of these words, 10 the satisfac- tion of the common sense aud honest under standing of mankind.

 If tho Senate may now cxpungc one part of the journal of a former session, it may, with equal authority, expunge another part, or the whole. It may expunge the entire record of any one session. or of all sessions.

 It seems to us inconceivable how any men can regard such Q power, and its exercise at pleasure. as consistent with the injunction of the Constitution. It can make no difference what is the completeness or incompleteness oI Inc act of expungingr or by what means cone; whether by eras,Ire. obliteration,. or deiacement; if by defacemeR4y as here pro- posed. whether one word or many words are written on the face of the record; whether little ink or much ink is shed on tile paper {; or whether some part. or the whole, of the origlnal written journal may yet by possibil- ny DC traced. If the net done be an act to expunge. to blot out, to obliternte, 10 erasethe record. then the record is expunged, blossed out. obliterated, and erased. And mutilation and alteration violate the record as much as oolNeraoon or erasure. A record. subsea 9uently altered, is not the original record. . R po longer gaves tas6 account of tho pro.