Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1839-12-19

returns were false and froad1'ctp made, his com'is
SION notwithstanding the grca; seal IS appended
TO- like the retura& of which i is only :nton-cG 10 DC
evidence is not only fraudulent, ous does not give
shad,, Of tie 10 membership Tie floor Of the House
All the votes offered and received by the judges o.
the election and entered on The poll hacks, :" idt A.
the clerks of the countless or the Governor a;'u
Gil had right to determine, good ana iegai:
they received the votes of men not qnailfeo, or
votes Of those who were qualified 10 vo'e inc HOUSE,
and the House alone under the Constitution, can nu
til correction; but the clerks were oonnd 10 cer., w
returas truly, and the Governor co''hss'o" :" ''
form TO the facts of the case ~
Thcv were bound b. every obligation, - conni an
or the votes received by the judges, and 70 cer'l
here; and any return OF members, fonnaea upon NJ
number Of votes than was received aho c"u.'" - ~
iudres and entered on the poll hooks Is Ja'S ''
I'D ou., he 80, aside on such talSeh"od appearing 70
the House; and the House must, in place Of 'e tase
return make irae return OF those persons c"'''" "
their seats IN H. Y>o-.,;. NOM
hor scerod majority of the people votes, and thoSr
votes wcrc counted and entered on the P"i' ooohs' ~
not DISPUTED bv the judges and inspectors % a.,
The i mt denied BY any one IN the House, OF e'i
-, rhov wore then entitled 10 the returns ahu
neonn,;ss;ons as MEMBERS and inasnuch as tiis HAS
hoo i,,rr,pcrly withheld il is the duty OF the HOUSE
- iInrc that they are entitled and, by virtue thcre
~ =, ,I;r scos as members, until by purging the p"ils
on both SIDES ii shall be shown thai IN" wings I"c
on;.od , ma ioriy OF the votes OF qualified voters.
X r,rrht man should countcnance an attempt 10
d the count on the poll books, should arhce or
fraud be tolerated in the r'rn OF mcmoTt w" u,'
moi receive the highest number OF Fo'cs' "hu'SPu "
the time Of making the return !
Srho ,nr;,v of nur public officers should in this DC
Len above Suspicion that the people should De satissu
with the expression OF the pnb'ic VIII through ~.
b,lot box: and the higher the grade oil The ocer ,na'
shall violate the public trust, the greater sho"u "
,ha ,nhlic dccsaton of the act IL VIII not 40 10
ns.f false or fraudulent return of the vote as gwen
M The snrmisc Of few illegal votes NO man. wiz"
eyer he be- whether Judge, clerk, or Governor, S''o"
dare |, set aside the popular vote once gwen, 'icI'
on the poll books, counted ana Pu"l'sheu o' a ;.,
Horse without uSurpailon do srch ac': unless y : '
shown that the voters not qualified 10 VO'r, ana
this upon proof taken where the election is con''S'"'
and then only upon due notice And the making OF
false or fraudulent return, or commission iohaeo "'i
such with the rice of putting enc set OF members az
the House whom the people had not chosen, and keep
ing those whom they had chosen, IS an act OF usu
patton, and an outrage on popular rights, WHICH Siouio
meet with universal execration .
But the attempt to effect all of this by the votes OF
those very men 50 improperly renrned IN violation OF
the rules of the House. The prccncc that they are
not personally interested in the event Of the decsion
is an outrage upon our Understandings, almost as
hard 10 endure as the act Is wicked ana c.sorgaii-
zng.
The election is the Of the people: the return 10 inc
act Of their officers and agents.
The crtion gives title to seat here: the return is
only sridence of such title. The Governor ccrtihcac,
or commissions is only evidence otthe return
The Ionse is Judge Of BOTH but has no power 10 give
membership on account of return which IS false, or
commission founded such, whenever It appears that
the rsturn does not state trulr VIII" was elected.
The idea that Governor commission gives title to
membership, is absurd. ~
Suppose four candidates for seat IN Congress. ne
first obtains return from part Of the returning officers
he hur:es of to he Governor and gets his c0mmS'on
under the broad sf The second gets the returns from
the whole of the officers, who have made an erroneous
addition of numbers he gees the Governor gets ms
commission under the broad seal ! third takes the re-
turns from all Of the returning officers, and upon
computation, isioGnd that he Is entitled l" me
rrturas: he goes and gets his COMMISSION \ io"rth
rocs 20 the poll BOOKS and finds that IN entire p.eenci
or townsh has been omitted in counting the votes be-
fore any Of the rtturns we're made and by counting
those votes he s entitled to membership Now here
would be four rTcnt titles membership; each con-
secuyc title would be better than the former all would
be derived from the rcurRS; and the House would be
compelled to Judge between them, and make return OF
him who had thc hes, right TO the return.
Would not be farcca 10 hear the first three, who
had the Governor commissions, under the 6ro"0 sea-,
each procaimng their cs paramount, on ;hc pr!n-
c,p,s Of State soverri gnty-ihe fourth man, whose
rah, superseded thc whole, account Of his unds.
putcd majority the poiltooks, beng kept out OF
the House: leave to the Judgment Of the House on
which dc the prime plcs oC State sovereignty would
require ,ac.a 10 act. Whether vii, YOU 10 homage 10
the wax OF the Governor p-ouse!y distributed, or 10
the ballo; box