The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-02-11


, to counting the electoral vote of an
State, except that there is no such stat
, entitled to vote, or that the certidcat
transmitting the vote is irregular In form
or that the vote was not given at the tim
or In the manner required by law or b
the electors shown 10 be duly elected, an
evidence, to prove that the electors Wer
chosen Dy fraudulent or Illegal votes, O
that an election is irregular or inval1
II when duly certified. until law regulatin
the subject is enacted, and no vote OF tn
House can be taken to decide the objection
Sehenek asked consent to offer resolu
Fl tiOn, as follows:
Resolved 6y the House Of Representatives.
| That no proof being formally admitted t,
sustain the objection made to counting tn,
Votesof Louisiana for electors OF Presfden
and Vice President, this House, withou
affirming or denying anything IN relation
to the manner in which the election o
said electors was conducted, decides tina
electors should not He counted, and thai
in the opinion of the House, the saIa.
| should therefore be counted.
/ Objection was made by EldridQe. Butler
OF Massachusetts, Wood, and Whitemore
| ~Siianks OF Indiana asked leave to Offer
| House, the acceptance OF the vote OF
| Louisiana for President and Vice-PresI.
dent viii encourage the criminal enforce
| rebellion. and involve the murder ol
| thousands in those States. u '1-fsl
| Objection was made.
Mullins asked leave to submit few re.
| marks.
Randall objected.
| At a quarter past two, a message was re-
| celVed rom the Senate, notifying the
/ House that the Senate had resolved that
| the electoral vote of Louisiana should be
1 counted Immediately thereafter
| The Senators returned to the Hall of the
House. the members OF tae House stand
/ ing, while the senators took their seats.
/ The President announced that by the
/ concurrent resolution of both HouSeS tile
vote OF Louisiana should be counted. 1t
was thereupon announced by Pruyn-7
/ The following states were then an
nounced by TelIers; Indiana, I3 Illinois,
10; =, Ada6ama' os "a =; Maine :! Mssouri; nj! II
consin, 8; Iowa, 8; California 5. and NJ IN
IsesOta fall for Grant and Colfax. Ore
| gon, 3 for Seymour and Blair. and West
| Vlginia 4; Nebraska, for Grant and Col
fax.
The presiding officer having handed the
teilerS the electoral vote OF Geofgfa, But
Ter. of Massachusetts, rose and asked for q
reading of the certificate.
Presiding Officer-Let the certificate be
read.
| The certificate was read by Pruyn 1t
shows that IL meeting of the Electors was
held on the 9TH OF December,f instead Of
the I'd, and That the nine votes were given
for Seymour and Blair. - szr
Butler said. 4 object to the vote or tE
state OF Georgla being counted, and send
my Objection In writing to the Chair.
The objec ions We're read by Pruyn as
follows; l object under the joint rule that
the vote OF tile State of Georgia for Presi-
dent and Vice President ought not 10 be
counted, and L object to the counting
Thereon, because first, among other things,
The vote of tue Electors in the Electoral
College was not given on the first Wednes-
day IN Becember, as required by law, and
no excuse in justific stion for the omission
of such legal duty is set forth in the cert!-
ficate of the Electors Second, because mt
the date of such election, the State had
not been admitted TO represent ntatiOu as a
state in Congress since tile rebellion O{
her people, or because ~ was not entitled
thereto.
b, That at the said date the said state of
Georgia had not fulfilled in due form All
the fequiremenis OF the Constitution and
Laws of the United states, known as the
Reconstruction Acts, 80 iLs TO enIitle said
state To be repreSented State OF the
Union In the electoral vote of the several
States for the choice OF President and Wee
President.
4Ih. That the election pretended TO have
first Tuesday In November last past, was
not a free, just aud fair election, bat the
people were deprived of their Just rights
therein by force and fraud.
The SpeakeT-The point in reference to
the decision of the President of the Senate
must be submitted TO that officer when lie
is occupying the chair in his official ca
paeity. The Speaker of the House does not
rule for the President of the Senate.
Eldriilge - The difference between the
Speaker OF the House and the presiding
officer of q joint convention can have
nothing 10 do with tue question, exeepi
That we are To act on what was done by the
convention; and the Speaker is awIlrc Of
the fact that the presLtlIng officer OF the
joint convention decided twice against
points. raised by The gentleman from
Massachusetts.
Speaker-The opinion OF the Chair is
tbs same as before aunounced- The pom {
on which the two Houses separate was
on the objection made by the gentleman
from Massachusetts. The President of thu
Senalle, as the members know very Well,
hesItated as to the constructions OF the
joint resolution, ana finally decided That
the Senate should retire. The ueci sion
and the retiracy were both on the p Dint OF
the objection made by the gentleman from
Ma achuSettS.
After further points of order had been
raised by Munger and Farnsworth and
OverruIed by the Speaker, vote was
taken on the direct question whether the
vote of Georgia should be eounted, and il
was decided IN the negative by n vote OF I
yeas to $50 nays. Tie only Republicans
voting yea being Baker and Hawkins.
The House then disposed, by unanimous
consent, OF a considerable routine of bust !
ness. ff gFa
Young, of Georgia, declared that he en-
tered his solemn protest, in the name of
the people of Georgia and in the name of
the Constitution, against the action of the
The Speaker remarked that 1t would ap-
pear in the proceedings IN the Globe, but
could not go on the Journal of the House.
After waiting patiently about an hOur,
and as there was no sign of the return of
the Senate, Thomas, of Maryland, offered
House to extrieate itself from unnecessary
entangleme 1T in which ft had got into,
namely, TO reconstder the vote by which
Georgia was excluded from the count.
Speaker--Did you vote with the majority?
Thomas-I did.
Speaker-Then your motion is in order.
Thomas-Wtll the Chair allow me one
single moment?
Speaker-The question Is not debatable
under he joint rule
Thomas-I have risen to q parliamentary
inquiry. was about to ask the Chair
whether 1t is competent for the House to
vote to supercede the concurrent resolution
of both houses. -... .s...a-.. IS
speaker-As a reply to that question
would involve discussion OF the question
OF what transpired IN the joint cOnYeu-
tion, over which the Speaker has no
power, the Chair must decline to answer
The Chair can only answer questions af-
fecting the House. 4. @
Thomas-I submit a motion to recon-
slider, and Will let each member act on his
Dock ery-I move to lay the motion on
tke table.
The House proceeded to vote by yeas and
nays. During the vote a message was re-
ceIved from the Senate announcing that
it had resolved that the objection made to
counting the vot4 of Georgia was in order.
+ Wood moved that further taking of the
vote he dispensed with, the Senators being
in waiting. 4 trtE ttt# A
The Speaker ruled that the call of the
roll could not be arrested except by con-
stitutIonal expiration of Congress.
Butler-No, no. Let the House stick to
The vote was concluded, and the motion
to reconSider was laid on the table, by IL
yeas I'D % nay
Nays-The following Republicans voted
with the Democrats against laying IL on
the table: Baker. Beamen. Beatty, Bing-
ham, Boydeu. FarnsWOrth, HaW kinS.
Hubbard, OF Iowa; Jenckes, Ketchum,
KoOntZ, Latin. Lawrence of Penn; More
head, Pile, Smith, Wilson, Oi Iowa; VIM
dom.
The Speaker at 4: :25 announced that the
House would receive the Senate.
The Senators entered the Hall for
the third time, and Senator Wade, as
presiding officer, called the joint conven-
lion to order, and announced that the OBJ
tectiOns OF the gentleman from MaSsaclIu-
setts were overruled by the Senate.
Butler renewing the attack impetouSiy-
Mr. President, rise to a question of order.
The presiding officer vaInly attempting
TO ignore the question, directed the telleTs
nrIrll ILL lIcn..n. 4.