Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1864-01-25
From the indianapolis Journal

The Eligibility or Governor Norton.
AS an attempt has been made to ere
ate doubt of the eligibility of Oliver
P Morton to the office of Governor, the
Chairman of the Union State Central
Committee has, sought the opinions of
some of our most eminent lawyers on
the point, and below will be found in
full that of Judge Morrison, formerly
Attorney General, and a Democrat,
with the coneurring opinions of num-
Der of others. The Judges argument,
it will be seen, accepts the same con-
struction, and proceeds upon the same
inevitable assumption, that ours did.
It-deelares it impossible that the Con-
stitution could have meant to make the
accidental succession to the Office of
Governor bar to eligibility when there
is not syllable that even looks in that
direction. Unless we are to make
constitutional provision, we have nothing
to warrant the suspicion of Governor
Morton's eligibility, which some Demo
cratic papers are so anxiously striving to
strengthen We donos propose the i'm
possible task of strengthening Judge
MOrrison's argument, but we may en-
large little upon one point of it. He
says if the trainers of the Constitution
had intended to exclude any other officer
than the Governor from more than four
yesrs possession Of the Office in eight
years, they could have said so. AS they
didn't say so, we must suppose
they didn't mean it. This is not
only a fair, but an inevitable in
ference where the subject is of so much
Importance, and so sure to command the
utmost distiHetness the convention could
give-te all provisions afectingit More
over it cannot escape the attention of
anybody that if the convention had in
tended to bar any officer byan aceiden-
tai sueeessiont to the Governorship, they
would not have said that ''holding the
office for four years insight should ope-
crate as such bar, for unless a Govern
er1dieds the moment he was inaagurated
the Lieutenant Governor could not hold
-four years an that term, and could only
Hbe barred, therefore, by being elected for
so much time as would make up his four
years In other words, he could only
become ineligibleto the office ofGovernor.
To this nonsense that construction of the
Constitution necessarily leads which
makes the accidental possession, for an
indeterminate period, of the Office of
Governor a bar to eligibility, The con-
Eention never could have overlooked so
palpablea fact as that Governors don't
die or resign at fixed and easily ascer-
tanned dates, and that consequently if
they made a.defnite term of years a bar
to eligibility, they must provide some wav
to let an acting Governor serve beyond
the tmeior which his predecessor was
elected. If they had intended to make
any length of possession, four DAYS or
four years lacking four DAYS, a bar. they
would have said so. We cannot byrnere
construction, terribly strained, impeaeh
the justice of the Constitution SO far as
TO make it exclude an acting Governor
for week occupation of the Office as
fully as. 1t does one for two or three
year possession. Those who maintain
the ineligibility of Gov. Morton must
make the Constitution guilty of that
monstrous folly
Another consideration An acting
Governor can serve only for the remain
der OF the vacated term. An election
must dispossess him. AS he cannot hold
four years IN term Of only four years,
OF which a predecessor has used up
some portion, an election, unless he is
elected, must deprive him of some part
of the term which the Constitution saws
he may have. Now if he serves foyr
years without an election, in order that
he moy enjoy his full rights, the Consti-
.tptional provision in regard to elections