The New York herald., 1876-12-28
A New Complication In Florida.


we printed yesterday seemed to indicate
that the dispute respecting the Florida cleo
ton was in fair way to settlement. Gov
ernor Stearns, who has deeper stake in the
result than any other man in the State,
bowed to the decision of its Supreme Court
and advised the Canvassing Board to obey
| its order. Secretary of State McLin
had notified the other members of the Can
vassing Board to meet in his office yester-
day IN orning to recanvass the votes in
obedience to the judicial mandate. The
action of the Supreme Court Of Florida
showed that, in the opinion Of that tribunal,
the first canvass was illegal, and the re-
publican Governor, who has had SO many
motives to study the question and acquire
n complete knowledge of the facts, was un-
able to find any valid ground Of opposition
to the order of the Court. If the matter was
to be left in the hands of the State authori-
ties there would probably be new canvass
of the votes, with probable reversal Of the
former result.
This prospect filed the republican man.
ayers in Washington with CONSERVATION.
If it should be established by the new can
vass that Florida was really carried by Til
den all chances of making Hayes the next
President would collapse The republican
leaders in Washington, therefore, deter
mined 10 forestall such calamity at all
hazards. There were intimations to
this effect in our Tallahassee de-
spatch yesterday, but they seemed
hardly credible. Our correspondent
communicated n rumor that instructions
disregard the order of the Court, declaring
that no backward step must be taken, and
saying that Judge Wood, of the United
| States Circuit Court, was on his way to
| Tallahassee.
! Strange and astounding rs it may seem,
| tho incredible rumor Of Tuesday was trans
formed yesterday into an accomplished tact.
The instructions from Washington proved
to be no fiction. The mandate of the high
est judicial tribunal of the State, whose
binding authority had been recognized by
Governor Stearns, was boldly trampled
under foot. A notice was served on At
torney General Cooke by Secretary of
State McLin, that the meeting of the Board
of Canvassers would not be held. It had
been suddenly decided to disregard and
defy the mandate of the Supreme Court, not
because the republican State officers deemed
it illegal, but because intrusive party lead
ers in Washington had urged them to re-
fuse obedience. They were in danger of
being arrested and punished for contempt
of court, but they were reassured on this
head by information that Judge Wood, Of
Montgomery, Ala, was on his way to Talla-
hassee to discharge them on habeas corpus,
as Judge Bond did the Canvassing Board Of
South Carolina.
This was the first attitude assumed by the
administration. leaders in the State. But
they evidently became frightened, and Mt
tempted to juggle with the situation by sud-
denly holding a meeting Of the Board
Despite the protests of the Attorney Gen
eral, the Board, while recanvassing
the vote, took care to throw out
whole county and accepted several
| illegal returns while the true ones were be-
fore them. The whole proceeding was a
fragrant violation of both law and common
sense. To first refuse to obey the order of
the Court and then attempt to cheat that
tribunal by hurried and illegal canvass
shows how desperate these men have
become.
The country is becoming accustomed
to this kind of proceedings that it is not
likely to be startled or surprised at any
thing but unabashed violations of law are
| hxy <ha;r ;.o
aggravation of such offences to repeat
them. They might be committed once
from haste or inadvertency, but they can be
persisted in only by deliberation and in
pursuance of settled purpose. There is
real ground for alarm when the de-
cisions of courts of justice are braved
and deied at the instigation OF
distant party managers who assume
to overrule the judgment of the regular
tribunal. Pray, who clothed them with au-
thority to supervise judicial proceedings
BY what law or under what color Of law do
politicians in Washington erect themselves
into n court of appeals from the highest ju-
dicial tribunal of State, and decide, with
out hearing and without argument, at the
distance of several hundred miles, that the
Supreme Court Of Florida has made an iile-
gal decision?
This resistance to the highest tribunal Of
a State, when the Governor and all the State
officers had bowed to it, does not admit of
any explanation which can reflect credit on
the Washington intermeddlers. The mu-
tiny which they have melted against a judi
cal decision will be interpreted by the
country as an admission that they dare not
have the Florida count reviewed. They
seem to fear exposures which will prove
that the first count was illegal or fraudulent
They ara unwilling to risk Mr. HIVES,