Litchfield enquirer., 1864-06-30

lotuCion reported Oy Q maJority oi LIS Col' mittee of the House of Representatives. de- clasing Dr. David E. Bostwick of this town entitled to the seat now held by Mir. Wright was defeated, it appears, by the votes of a small number of Union Republicans, under the lead of Mr. Charles Ives of East Ha- ven. The Committee, appointed by the House, had held several sittings, and had weighed carefully the evidence presented, of tue iIlegality of the majority upon which MT. Wright now holds his seat, had thoroughly scanned and tested the legality of each vote called in question, and had decided by ma jority report, that the evidence was conclu- sive in favor of the claim of the contestant. That the House, therefore. should over-rule the decision of it's own appointed Committee, and reverse, under the pratings of 8 pollpar rot, the careful judgment of those who had all the evidence of the case before them, seems to us to be so utterly unprecedented and un- becoming, that we cannot forbear word of comment upon it.
 We shall not attempt to go into the matter of the illegality of the votes called in ques' ton, partly because the Committee found the essential facts in the case, as have been claim ed by the Union voters of Litchfeld, viz.- that there were nine illegal votes cast for ?. H. Wright; and partly because, strangely enough, the question of the legality or illegal I ity of these votes did not come prominently before the House. If we can arrive at the reasons which the busy gentleman from East Haven, who sometimes acts with the Union men, and oftenar does not, did give for the ground of his opposition to the report of the Committee, We apprehend them to be these:
 First, that such cases can only be brought before the House on a regular petition, served on the sitting member before the session of the Legislature, in accordance with the stat ute prescribing the manner in which petitions of an adversary nature shall be brought to the General Assembly. It has, however, been re- peatedly decided that such cases--not being prefe,ved to ths General Assembly, but to the House of Representatives alone, arc not with in that Statute. Whatever question, there fore, there might formerly have been upon this point, we had supposed that the right of either House to unseat one of it's own members, for sufficient cause, upon a simple resolution, was established beyond doubt.
 The second ground of objection brought forward by the meddlesome member from Oys- ter Point, seems to us to reach all contested elections and strikes blow at the right of appeal from the decision of part;zan boards of registration, which we do not believe the peo- pie will sustain. This is, that since the pas sage of the Act of ls60 no decision of a Board of Registration upon the right of an elector to vote, can be rericwed by either House of the Legislature under the consttu- tioaal power given them to judge of the quail i6cations of their own members This claim is so preposterous that we do not choose fur ther to notice it, than to invite general ref erence to that Act; upon an examination of which, we imagine, no one of larger mind and legal aoumen than the learned lawyer who blazes like beacon light from the East Ha- ven sand bar, will find any thing which can bear any such construction as that which the irridesceut Ives is pleased to put upon it.
 The Selectnen and Town Clerk of each town, we might inform the gentleman, have from time immemorial decided upon the legal ity of votes offered at Electors meetings, and that Statute referred to seems rather to limit than to increase their powers. They have no control whatever over the matter after the Wednesday before election, and at their ses- sions on the Monday and Wednesday prece- ding the election their powers are much more strictly limited than formerly. But upon the construction put upon the act by this new ex. pounder of the law, our Legislature, in seeking to prevent illegal voting and to remedy :;ne abuses allowed by partizan boards, have in fact given these boards unlimited power to ad ] Tit as many illegal votes as their party neces sities may require.
 The final decision of the House, as we have said, seems to have been based upon these novel principles enuncated in the main, b, the member from East Haven, rather than up on the merits of the questions involved since it will hardly be claimed that the House could have been 50 we'll informed of the thirteer distinct cases brought before it's committee a. were the committee themselves, whose decis ion was thus over-ruled
 To the whole Unlon party here at Ltchfeld
 the i'll considered action of the House in thi
 matter has, we are free to say, caused tn, deepest modification. They have from thu beginning demanded an investigation of th, case. and, in compliance with their earnest re quests, the matter was examined, a resolution Introduced, and upon full hearing before the committee,two ofits three members decided tha the evidence was conclusive in favor of the right of Dr. Bostwick to the seat. The con : trary decision of the House, over-ruling by z . piti:ul majority that of their committee, ha: deprived us of the fruits of sharp politica :, nght, and of thorough and extended investi oNh nlk