The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1870-06-07

tion provides; the vote is counted and
the.man is declared to be elected Cover
nor Of Ohio,is inaugurated, and the other
party, the defeated candidate, goes to the
district court and asks the court for .
aandamts to get possession of the of.
fee Will the gentleman tell me to
whom that nsdnddmus will be directed
A maaddmus is a writ that commands
somebody to do something. If it is an
alternative writ it commands somebody
to do something or show canse why he
does not do it. To whom will your writ
of a,andamas 60 to put the defeated can
didate into the pessessionsW the guber.
material chair of Ohio? 8 Shall it be 3
writ of, manda0a,,s to the incumbent to
get OUT? Shall that be it n In other
words, shall 1t he 4 writ of qaeo scalp'aa-
to? If it is, then it is not writ ofRaa
damus; that is all / have ioasay. .i,.g
Take any other ease, say that of Q
judge. A judge Of the supreme court OF
a State is elected and duly commissioned
by the Governor, and the defeated can
didate goes to Judge Leavitt, of Cincn.
natl, to get a amanddmus to put himself,
the defeated candidate, in possession. j
should like to know to whom the manla
mus is to be directed -qa-..
Mr. STEWART / ask if the writ OF
manddmus is never proper proceeding
for the purpose of getting possession OF
an Office?
Mr.. THURMAN. 1 will answer that
question, and l will show the only case
in which it is = proper proceeding. A
mdadamas is never a proper proceeding
in cases of contested election The ca
ses to which it applies are where a man,
! for instance, in England, is entitled to be
q burgess; mandamus issues to the
corporation to admit him if he is wrong
fully excluded from his right. Ifaper-
son is corporator and the other stock
holders exclude him from his right as q
corporator, a maRdamus will lie to COM
pei them to receive and admit him as a
corporator But in no case whatsoever
lis a naadamus the proper remedy for
the purpose of trying the question be-
tween A. B and c D, which OF them is
entitled'to an Office, s59H
Mr.. STEWART. The Senator will
observe that the words sor other appro-
pirate proceeding are also there and il
a mandamus is appropriated will not
discuss in what case it IS; but if it is ap-
propriate in any case, that is sufficient
provision. s'.i' z siti1h b4f4ys
Mr.. THURMAN, Asis suggested to
me by my friend from California, Mr..
Casserly, the Senator might as well have
said in his bill "a writ of attachment or
other appropriate process. :" Strike out
your manddn,us. Do not letthe Judi
ciary Committee, for Gods sake, appear
before the profession in this country
with such a provision as that in their
bill. Put s'qao aca,raato" in if you
please, but do not let "mondamus" stick
there If you do, hope the Senate will
issue maadamus to the committee to
strike it out. Laughter.
But that IS not. all, Mr.. President
lHandauus or quo ararraato, what is this
fifth section practically? Here, as | have
said, is man declared to be elected
Governor of the State of Ohio or Indi-
ana,and the disappointed candidate does,
whatl Contest the election under the
constitution Of Ohio or Indiana? Not
a bit of it. Contest. it before the tribu-
nal provided by the constitution of Ohio
or Indiana to try that question, the, SEN
ate of the State? Not bit of that ;
but he goes to some little United States
district Judge and sues ont an "appro-
pirate remedy p What appropriate
remedy" forsooth,. is it? A quo ,cdr-
ranto3 Then under the quo scarranto
you undertake to canvass all the votes
of the State of Ohio, the Sta e
of Indiana, or the State of New
York. When will you get done ? Will
you do it before or after that mans term
of Office has expired? And hcw will
you do it if there is contest under the
State constitution and laws, land the body
entitled to try it by that constitution and
those laws shall decide the contest one
way, aud your little district Judge of the
United States shall decide 1t the other
way? Suppose the senate Of the great
State of New York should decide in fa-
vor of the incumbent, and your little
bit of one horse judge beg pardon
for using such slang expression-your
little district judge of the United States
should decide it the other way? Would
not that be most harmonious admins
tration of constitutional law in the Uni
ted States? Would it not make our in
stitutions the envy of mankind Would
not all the thrones of Europe crumble
into dust in admiration of this most ex-
cellent and harmonious mode we have
of providing for the election of officers
and providing for the settlement OF con
tests and seating the successful candi-
dates in their chairs. No, Mr.. President
| it will not do.
say, with the most entire respect fol
my friends of the Judiciary Committee
who have reported this bill-and it is nc
a1ectation when l say that-that / an
lost in amazement that such a crude
piece of work eyer came from theil
hands. / know that committee well;
have sat with them too often, / have dis
cassed with them in the committee-room
and in the Senate too often, not to know
their learning, not to know their ability
and I must confess that / can hardly
conceive how 1t was possible that such q
bill as this ever came from the hands ol
as able committee as that.
But that is not all. This applies to
every officer of the States; nay, more,to
every officer of the United States. Now,
I want to put 1t to the committee: here
| is an election tor President of the Uni,
ted States, and Mr.. A B receives ma,
jority of the electoral votes, it is said
and Mr.. C D, who is defeated, says that
in the State of New York there were So
many men not allowed to vote who were
entitled to vote under the fifteenth amend
ment, and if their votes had been cast
for him then he would have had the eIcc.
toral vote of the State Of New York and
would have been elected President of the
United States. Now, Senators, how dc
you suppose that question is to be tried
Before district judge Of the United
TStates inst think Of such a ouestiou