The New York herald., 1876-12-26
Presidential Contingencies and Pos
abilities.

Greatly as the prolonged Presidential
complication is to be deplored it is having an
incidental good effect in educating the public
mind respecting one feature of our institu-
tions. During this period of anxiety and sus-
pense all our best political minds are exert
ing their astuteness to discover some So
luton of the difficulty, and this part of
the constitution is surveyed on all
sides with keener scrutiny than
was ever bestowed upon it before
As every new idea or new crotchet is
Immediately ventilated in the newspapers,
and as the public interest secures it an at
tentive examination, greal deal of fog and
ignorance is likely to be cleared away in the
progress of the discussions. Although but
little light may be shed by the proposed So
lutions yet, as they must all set out from
acknowledged principles, the settled and
admitted interpretations of the constitu-
ton are becoming very familiar to the pub
lie mind. That habitual phrase, "the
Electoral College," does not meet us
with its former frequency, loose and half
informed writere having come to perceive
that there is no such aggregated body, but
that each Of the thirty-eight States has sep
arate electoral college, and that it is mad
missible to employ the phrase in the singu-
lar except with reference to one of these 1t
is not used in any other form in any
statute, nor would it have been in popular
parlance except from looseness of concep-
tion as to the precise organization of the
Presidential electors
Another point on which vague ideas have
been rendered more exact relates to the final
counting of the electoral votes in the pres
ence of the two houses of Congress- Hereto
fore the popular mind has been too ignorant
of the subject to perceive its difficulties.
These difficulties may not have been solved,
but they are now pretty we'll understood.
The effect of throwing out the votes of any
State is also better appreciated than it ever
was before. When one political party has
had great majority the rejection Of few
votes was of no practical consequence and
nobody looked very closely into the consti-
tutional points involved in such a rejection
1t is now at length perceived that it
may lead to questions of great delicacy
should be found illegal would that insure
Mr.. Tilden's election by the Electoral Col
leges? This is difficult question, because
it is not yet decided what constitutes ma
jority in such contingency. In order to
elect a candidate must there be majority
of the votes to which all the States are enti-
tied, or only majority of the votes which
are counted? If the former Mr.. Tilden
would not be elected if Florida or Louisiana
is thrown out if the latter he would be
elected unless some Of the States voting for
him should also be rejected.
The rule established by the constitution
seems perfectly clear where. there is real
doubt respecting the facts. 1t only requires
ga majority of the electors appointed" If
none are appointed from particular State
that State has no more influence than if it
did not exist. But if it appointed electors
and for any reason they did not assemble
and vote, the fact of appointment remains
and the electors to which it is entitled must
be counted to ascertain what is majority,
although they cannot be counted for any
candidate. If, for example, Florida should
be flung out on the ground that the
Tilden electors and not the Hayes electors
were legally chosen on the 7th of November,
they could not be counted for 1ilden, be-
cause they did not vote and certify accord
ing to law, and yet they would have to be
taken into the estimate in determining what
is o majority. The result would be no
choice by the Electoral Colleges, and the
House would choose the President and the
Senate the Vice President-a result which is
now generally expected by people who
frankly avow their opinions.
But even on this point difficulty has
been raised in connection with the fact that
Mr.. Tilden and Mr.. Wheeler are both citi-
zens of New York. careless reading Of the
constitution has led few people to believe
that it forbids the election of President
and Vice President from the same State. A
careful examination of its language will
show that this is an error. The constitution
does not permit the electors of New York,
for example, to vote for two citizens of New
York, but it leaves them free to vote for two
citizens of Illinois or Virginia or any other
State than their own. It neither declares
nor implies that the President and Vice
President shall not be from the same State.
But it will be coincidence without any ex-
ample in our history if both of the highest
officers should be citizens of the same State
What Are the Police Going To DO
About IT.
AS great an outrage as any connected with
tbo Pavenawood I'm rolarv will ha tho aecora