Middletown transcript., 1876-12-09
COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTE.

COUNTING THE ELECTORAL VOTE.
Unless some change, which there is
now but little reason to expect. shall
come upon the men who have the con-
troll of election affairs in Louisiana.
Florida and South Carolina, the two
Houses Of Congress will have deyolved
upon them, at the session now so close
at hand, the most serious and moment
Gus duty that has been thrown upon the
National Legislature since the founda-
ton of the Government The struggle
in 1901 in the House Of Representa-
tives between the party which supported
Jefferson and the party that advocated
Aaron Burr was severe strain upon
the patriotism Of. the men Of those days,
and upon the powers Of endurance of
the young Republic. So was the Pre-
sidential election by the House Of Rep
resentatives in 1925, when Jno Quincy
Adams was elected by the House. al
though General jackson had large
majority of the popular vote and large
plurality of the Electoral vote. Both
elections created intense excitement and
anxiety. But neither one of them was
beset by the embarrassing and serious
circumstances that attach to the present
situation. There was no dispute then
about the vote Of any State; there was
no doubt about the fairness of the re-
turn Of the popular vote; there was no
question about the authority or the
decisive power of the tribunal that was
to decide either of those elections. They
were both instances in which no candi-
date had received majority of all the
Electors appointed, and the language Of
the Constitution was clear in referring
the election of the President in such
cases to the House Of Representatives
voting by States. Excitement and anx-
iety were extreme, but the law was
clear, and the tribunal undisputed.
1t is not SO in the present most un-
fortunate conjuncture. The nineteen
Electoral votes of three States are in
dispute. and the one decisive vote is in
volved in them; the fairness of the
popular election and the integrity Of
the count in every one Of them is chal-
lenged ; lawful and orderly proceedings
are substituted by trick and stratagsm,
and, in at least one instance, by indis-
putable fraud The votes of all three
will, in all present probability. 60 to
Congress to be counted on the second
Wednesday of February next, accord
ing to the Constitution, and that body
has not one syllable of undisputed law
to enable it to sit as an adjudicating
body to adjudgc these complicated dis
putes. This much was led up to by
our article Of yesterday, which present.
I'd the existing state Of the law. and its
and unsettled condition. It
IS with respect to these unfortunate sur
'oundings that We say that the two
Houses Of Congress will probably have
EAST upon them the most trying and
duty which those bodies
nave ever yet encountered, and moth
ng but the most self-denying and lofty
can carry them and the
country safely through the crisis, if it
hall come upon them in the form which
low appears to be imminent.
If a certificate shall be presented to
he President of the Senate, and by him
o Congress. purportiDg to contain the
electoral vote Of State, but which
'ote may never have been cast at all.
here is no settled law to prevent that
'ote from being taken into the account.
f two, three or four certificates shall
ome from two, three or four, or even
dozen States purporting to contain
ach of them the legal Electoral vote of
State, there is no uncontested law to
uthorize the two Houses to inquire
nto the validity of any of them. or to
ecide in binding and final manner
1hich of them shall be counted and
7hich of them shall be thrown out. If
certificate shall be presented void of
II form Of law. there is no undisputed
ule or regulation under which any
ldicial action can be taken upon it BY
be two Houses There is only the
inform custom Of eighty years, and the
'wenty-second Joint Rule of the two
Iouses-but both of these are now in
ispute. There is in fact nothing to
epend upon now to give effect to the
'ill of the people, except the spirit Of
onor, equity and patriotism among the