, 1876-12-14
THE Presidency.

lyn ought certainly to care for him. lie ard hlA
| vile sro entirely In It's line OF business.
THE PRESIDENCY.
To the Editor af Tia Tribune.
LINCOLN, ILL.,, Dec 1--we do not have to
talk With Trambull or Palmer, or any Of tho
brilliant lights Of the Democratic party. to com
! prchcnd tho policy Of tho party on the Presl-
| dental question. When we hear one Of fts
small lights, even nero village spouter, say Of
the Oregon outrage that II furnishes q case re-
| qulrlng the Senate or Congress to 20 back Of
the action Of the Returning board, therefore
tho doors wtll be- opened by which Democrats
can do tho same thing as to three Southern
| States. VIC know that they hare their cue from
Democratic headquarters.
We propose 10 examine thEa questIon very
briefly by tho light OF the Constitution, asaun-
Ing that tho rule known as the twenty
joint rtrlo Is not Ia force. Whether II Is or not
VIC know that the Constitution 10 In force. II
tho rule violates tho Constitution 1t Is nullity,
| and II the Constitution and statutes furnish
ru1o or rules OF notion, plain. practical, anl
complete, no othera are Of any usa whatever.
| Dy the Constitution tho Prcatdent Of the Scn-
ato prcstdcs when the certificates arc opened;
not only that,-hc Il required To open them,
md they arc to bo counted. BY whoms NVe
| maintain that tho President OF the Senate has
| the right to count them, but 1t IL not incumbent
on him to do SO In pcrson; and suppose the
counting may be delegated to two or three gen.
tlcmen appointed for tl,at purpose BY the Presi-
dent Of the Sen1tc. The persons so appointed
should bc meinbers Of the Senate, at least We
think they ought to be, for II Il should result
that The nouFe Of Representatives should be
REQUIRED to choose t Prc:idsnt dent T. ~ would a bc
hare OBLIGATED fn counting tho certificates LII the
| Senate.
Upon the count In the seuate 1.-THE pcr.on
ssea 3spE s' gsfs ssa2 ns5 ss % gSes Ss sn aa ts
q tho whole number Of Electors appointcd.n
That rl,to is plain, E'sltive, and direct, aceord-
Ing to tho Constitution. Tho President Of tho
| Senate lu1lcially knows TINT not more than 8t0
Electors have in fact been appointed, and
II q greater number should be slown by papers
purport!ng to be certificates las there doubtless
| win H. consequence Ut double certificates from
four Suites, he must know that some ME
! fraudulent.
The President OF the Senate 1udfciallv knows
| that Oregon is entitled to cast three Electoral
votcs, and three only. Two certificates may be
that three votes hare been cast for Hayes md
Wheeler, and in the other two for Hayes and
Wheeler and one for TIlden and HendriIhA. lie
vii! know that three Of these SIX votes neces-
| sarily q fraud or mistake.
| The ttlrec cast fur HAYES and Wheeler will be
| accompanied bJ showing that the Republican
Electors received more than :, 100 rotcs in ex
ponents Tho sealed package containing tic
three uuycs and Wccclcr votes may not contain
tho certificate Of the Governor TINT they or my
Of them had been chosen Electors br the people,
because Cronin. poekrtcd tho evidence md re-
| fused to surrender It; but the package contain
| lug the other certificate will contain the Goy-
cruor's certificate Lhat TWO Of them had been so
chosen, md that Cronln was the third.
Then the President of the Senate, with the
two certificates before hin. and accompanying
papers, showing an aggregate Of SIX votes cast
In Oregon. three VI Which he knows use neces.
sarily Illegal wi'l hare no lilicuty whatever IN
back Of the returns. All the evidence required
will be before him, aud It will show that tho
Governor causcd to be certiaed tue election OF
Cartwright and odell--met; tho third-Cro-
min, wllo had not In fact been eleeted-dil not
| meet with the two. The two filled the vacaury
m 9a Sacs :" "a o1 ares sn9 n9sS
CT. Tllnt was legal act, In the do!ng Of which
all the forms Of law were complied with: Gro
| MIN, refusing to meet tho other two, aud being
assumed to fill them, and that triu opcucd 40
Electoral college to cast three Electoral votes,
! one for Ttlden and Hendricks.
| The acts OF one OF these colleges were neccs-
presented to the President Of the Senate upon
the, face Of the papers contained tn the two
| scaled packages.
Any person With three gra,us Of common
sense could decide that question, and would
pru,nptly do so, by saying that the three to be
counted were those contained in tho package
representing three votes for Hayes aud
Wheeler.
Tho act ot. n corrupt Governor, By which 1t
was Intended to swindlc Hayes aud Wheeler out
OK one vote, 10 % atmsy as not to possess the
consistency OF th!nnees. IT cannot possibly a.
ford the prctext that YVES intended, that OF en-
abl!ng tao Democratic paTty to &C. behtui tho
action Of the Returning Boards In South Caro-
linn, Florida, and LoulsIaua.
The man who would degrade tho nigh Office
tbe fraud-he did not originate tt--shoiild
be held beneath tno contempt Of even scala
| wags. It Is 10 be rcgrotted that honorable
Senators IN either party will IN. a fey weeks
probably isaYe no power to eject him, but they
can show him that utter contempt That attaches
to dshonest man.
Ks to The three Southern States, no difficulty
| can arise. The President Of tho 8cnato knowa
intltcially that Chamberlain was Governor Of
South Carolina, stearns Of Florida, aud kel-
logg Of Louisiana, and also knows 1udscially tho
number Of Electoral votes that each Of those
Wheeler votes Of these states will bo accom-
panied BY all the cyidcnca required to make
thcn legal, and in a condition to bo laxtnlsy
counted, while those for 'Tllden md Hendricks
will not contain erch evidence. As there will be
two sets Of certificates from each Of those
Slatcs, l'o will necessarily know that one Will bo
illegal. and tho eyidcuce appearing on the face
Of tho papers will CLEARLY demonstrate where
| tho tlleEaltty Hes.
The States OF South Carolina, Florida, and
Louisiana arc entitled In tho aggregate to ntnc.
teen Electoral votes, no moro; and no more
| can be counted for them, The President OF the
SGIato must necessarily determine that 1s5 Is
majority oi 3o8; TINT tho persons receiving 1B5
legal votes will be elected. and must be so de-
clarct. Titden and Hendricks will have l84, prob
Ably not all Legal, because the disabilities Of
solnc Of the Electors Ind not been rem,oycd,-,
Il suy VIE rjvht to challenge < existcd, I'D Will the
twenty illegally cast for hltn In South Carolina.
Florida, Lonislana, and Oregon, would havo
fore, twenty Of all the votes legally and Illegally
cast must not 10 counted, OF rather. the legal
nncs must be, and the illegal ones not, aid.
upon tho decision that 1B3 given to Hayes and
Wheeler contain none that are illegal, 1t will
necessarily result that they must 6e dcclarcd
| elected. a.,
lnt some Democrat at my elbow whispers the
| Inquiry, Wlcre will this H0use Of Represents
| tlyes 10 while this Important business Is bslng
transactela, uaye the members Of that body