Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1850-01-14
Whiggery last Winter. and Whiggery
this Winter-Certificate Of Election
then and now.

The Journal professes 70 believe that Ger
tifcates of elect on do not amount to great
deal - that they are not evi lence pr,m ia
cie, to entitle persons elected to perform
their duties. Let US test this opinion with
high whig authority.
On the 18th of March last, the Senate
and House of Representatives met in joint
Convention to elect certain officers. among
which was an Associate Judge for Gallia
county. Bv reference to the Senate Jour-
nal, page 629, the following will be found:
'.The convention next proceeded to ballot
for an associate judge for Gallia county,
with the following result:
"Joseph w. Ross received 40 votes
Franklin Carroll IS
Blanks
"Joseph w. Ross having received ma
jority of all the votes given, was, by tie
Speaker of the Senate, in presence of b til
houses, declared duly elected associate
judge for the county Of Gallia for the con-
stitutional term Of seven years from and at
ter the 18th day Of March, 1892
In making out the certificate of Election,
the Clerk of the House certified that Frank
lin Carroll was duly elected. This certif-
cate, signed by the Clerk, was sent to the
Governor, who thereupon issued Com
mission to Carroll, the defeated candidate.
The error was discovered and pointed out.
Yet Governor Ford decided that he could
not look behind the Certificate Of the Clerk,
although the Journals of the Senate and Of
the House of Representatives, showed that
Joseph w. Ross, the present Representa-
tive from Gallia, and Jackson, was not on
Iy duly elected Associate Judge, but was so
proclaimed by the Speaker of the Senate in
the presence Of the two houses.
After holding the commission, thus OBJ
tanned, for time, Mr.. Carroll returned it
to the Governor, not daring, under the
circumstances, to so fly in the face of public
opinion as to exercise the duties of an Office
for which he was candidate and defeated.
What then did Governor Ford do? He
had the evidence bef,re him that Judge
Ross was elected, but he could not COM
mission him as Judge, for the seven years
he was elected, because Coz Ford could
not go behind the Certificate Of Election.
Subsequent to the return of the commits
sion to the Governor, Judge Ross was NOM
mated as the democratic candidate for Rep
resentative in the GaIlia and Jackson dis.
trict, and whiggery began to fear he would
be elected. Gov. Ford, to rid the whig
party of so formidable an opponent, con-
strued the return of the commission by Mr..
Carroll, into resignation, and acting upon
the advice of the federal leaders in Gallipo-
lis, he sent to Jud ge Ross commission, not
for the term for which he was elected, but
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resig-
nation of Mr.. Carroll, which would only
last until the rising of the next General As
semblv. which commission Judge Ross very
properly returned
The Ohio State Journal justified Cover
nor Ford in his action in this matter, last
winter. Then certificate of election,
made out by the Clerk of the House of Rep
resentatives, was evidence behind which the
Governor could not go-was evidence worth
more than the Journal of the Senate, the
Journal Of the House of Representatives,
the declaration Of the Speaker of the SEN
ate in the presence of the two Houses, the re-
ports in the papers, and common fame, all
put together.
The same paper that then justified Gov.
Ford in defeating candidate duly and le-
gally elected, now takes ground that GER
tifcate of election, although it was made
out in pursuance of law, and signed by the
CLERK, with the seal Of office attached to the