Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1839-12-24

and the Governor calling TO ms assistance HIS rrVy
Council are acting simply returning officers, not
officers of the election Returning officers whom?
Certainly not 10 any State tribunal, but to Con-
urrss and as returning officers they act not rs State
officers, but officers of the House of Representa-
tves who the sole and exclusive Judges OF te re-
turns of their own members. In making the returns
then it * clear the State officers who required by
State law TO make them, act, properly, not as State
officers, but returning officers of the House OF ne
presentaiiyes The State laws bind or regulate Con-
rress no farther to returns than Congress may see
proper in their discretion to adopt them They have
never by any act of their own, adopted them in this
case Until this question arose, those State laws were
never brought before Congress for their action. So
long as returns have been undsputed the State laws
have never been brought to their knowledge or under
their cognisancc. .
1t is admitted ON all hands, that Congress seldom, if
ever of late years require credentials from MEMBERS
and why. Certainly because questions as to returns
have seldom been brought before Congress Iii gene
ral!y known from variety OF sources, ndisputab!e,
who are elected and returned by majority of the votes
of the people The vcrfcaon of that fact has seldom
been called in question respects the returns smply
Only two cases are ccoeced to have occurred in more
than the half century which has elapsed since the for
nation of the Constitutionthe case OF Spaldng and
Meade from Georgia. and the of Moore and Letch-
or from Ky The former was of the omission OF
duty by returning officers sending forward the returns
within the time prescribed by the State law, and in that
case determined By Congress, by giving effect to the
votes of the majority cast at each election DISTRICT With
out regarding the time prescribed by State laws tor ma
king returns The latter case OF returning ofhcer
attempting Judge of the returns and supprcssng them,
and was corrected by Congress setting aside such I'M
lawful act and indicating the sole and exclusive pow
er of Congress to Judge of such returns. But this
precise has been decided by Congress. 1t
has been already stated that the commission granted
by the Governor of New Jersey to Messrs. Halsted,
Avcrigg, Stratton, Maxwell and Yorke, void as a
commission and defective certificate of return, be-
cause docs not its face, conform to the law OF the
State of New Jersey, by expressly determining, as II
ought to have done, who had the greatest number OF
votes of the whole State for Representatives. The
form of the commission taken from old law of the
State which has long since been repealed, and is IN
conformity to such law and such FORM which has been
improvidently followed ever since, without due cons
dcration and revision 1t is due to the Governor OF the
State to make this admission; blame is attached TO
him for this conformity to an obsolete law but the
question is now for the first time brought before Con-
gress for examination and decision, and If necessary
for correction. Congress is now called on Tor the hrs
time to decide the subject, and must co free from
any ENHANCEMENT of precedent.
What then, is Congress to determine Certainly
not as TO the Of conducting the election, which
it is admitted on all hands to be within the consttu-
tional orbit Of the Legislature to prescribe; but the
question is simply to the returns of that election
The question the merits of that election not
before the House. II can only bs brought before the
same, and, in the nature of things, cannot be pre-
scented until the question TO the returns Is first set
tied Until that time, who can petition: Certainly
neither Of the parties before the House contestIng
the returns. Those holding the Governor commits.
sion and claiming it to be return of them, cannot
petition against the election Until it is decided who
is entitled to the return they cannot petition on the
merits of the election against return in their favour
the other party, because they controver only
the return, not the election. Neither party call in
a. +. =, III tIn
majority Of votes given at such election and Of
entitled to the return One party the other is enti-
tied to that return and such RETURN prmo acc, is TO
be given to the party having the majority OF votes.
Congress must necessarily decide that question an
Hmne. BY giving construction to State laws unlntiu
cnced BY State decisions, because, if il s admitted that
the Safe had right to pass such laws, II cannot be
denied that il passed for the Of Congress- and
of must be decided by Congress ultimately, and
in the last resort and State decisions only weigh
the opinions Of enlightened men the sub
iect-such State DECISIONS being non judec,
have no binding force. This will not and cannot be
controverted.
The question: then, to the merits of the election, is
not before the House. and only be brought be-
fore it by Petition after the question 10 the returns
decided This is question simply as TO the return Of
members, and, in the way in which it arises is fire."
from any question to the merits of the election
These questions distinct ordinarily and especially
in this and il is remarkable, that in enupcratng.
in the Constitution of the United States, the power of
the House, the order of parliamentary inquiry is re-
vcrscd. The FIRST question III the English House Of
Commons is, TO qualifications; the second returns the
third and last, the elections of its members and,
dnarly, are decided in that order, although it is ad-
mtlcd that, in some cases, the last two may be 50
blended to make decision the elections necessary
TO decide the right to the return Such not the pre-
sent case, and chicanery blend the two. II is
simply question as to which of the two sets Of
didates is entitled TO the return.
Those who hold the Governor commissions insist
that they entitled to the returns solely upon that
evidence. They offer other evidence The others
insist that they entitled TO the returns because they
commissioned by majority of the votes of the peo-
pie Of the State Of New Jersey, for them at the
polls, and they Offer as evidence of that fact, the
turns of the township officers of all the townships OF
the several counties in the whole State.
Ii is not denied that the Governor has granted such
commissions under the broad seal of the State nor is
it denied, that the Governor gave his commission upon
casting up the votes not Of the whole number Of the
several townships of the several counties in the State
but only the votes Of the several countless emitting the
townships Of Milvillc, in the county of Cumberland
and South Amboy, in the county of Mddlesex in which
townships elections were held at the times places and
in the manner prescribed by the Legislature of New
Jersey for that purpose. So far there is no dispute
about facts, and the question to the pra acie right
TO seats Representatives of New Jersey is obviously
simply question of return.
Mr. tialsted and his associates insist that the Go
acted in pursuance of the law of the Stale and
that he was restrained by that law from casting up the
votes of the townships of hllllvie and South Amboy
because The clerks Of those countless the proper re-
turning officers, did not insert those returns in the Ger.
tilted lists which they transmitted to the Governor
Here, again, there is dispute about facts. II is ad.
mitted that those clerks did not insert those votes in
the certified lists which they sent to the Governor,
and that the Governor did not cast them up or
them.
IL Is further admitted on all hands that the township
officers of the polls, after they closed and the clerks OF
the counties IN their respective acts, return
ing officers; and it seems indsputabe that, as such,
as well as by the laws of New Jersey, they were mere
ministerial officers; and it is equally ndspuablc that
The Governor of the State and his Prvy Council in
casting up the votes mere ministerial oficers;-
but II IS insisted, and not without strong reason that
nasmuch as the Governor and Prvy Council were
to determine which 'sx persons had the greatest num-
Der of votes from the whole State and inasinuch as
the Governor had IN ho ;c,J