The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1876-12-21
Progress ofthe Conspiracy.

lUdl pan VI luC SOlnplIut'O'S IVA HN''
ing on to power by fraudulentcount
Of returns embraced North Carolina
as we'll as the other three Southern
States where the authority to can
vass was in republican hands, but
when it was asccrtaincd that Calilor-
MIA and Oregon had gone republican
and the vote Of North Carolina would
not be needed that State was aban-
doncd, the democratic majority being
larger there than in any Of the 9TH
crs. The programme then was to
have the scoundrcls composing the
Returning Boards in the three States
count in the Hayes electors with
out regard to cost or consequences
und then insist that their action was
final whether right or wrong-that
the appointment Of electors belongs
to the States without the right Of re-
view anywhere, and that the certifi-
cate of the Governor was conclusive
us to the election and qualification
In this way they were to shut out
the Democratic House from interfer-
ing in regard to the validity of the
returns, and with 1856 votes for Hayes
to lSl for Tilden they were sure to
win.
When the action of the canvass
ing board in Oregon was reported it
approved that democratic elcctor
had been counted in, one Of the Re
publican candidates for clector being
clearly Ineligible at the time he was
voted for. This action was based up
on the idea that votes thrown for an
ineligible candidate are the same as
blanks, or votes for dead man, and
that the person receiving the high
ost number Of legal votes is elected.
This view is sanctioned by many
prcccdcnts although it has sometimes
been held that where majority is
thrown Cor an ineligible candidate it
results in vacancy.
The two republican electors in Or
cgon refused to act with the demo
cratic elcctor, declared a vacancy,
proceeded to ill it and cast the three
votes for Hayes and Wheeler, but
the democratic clcctor held the Gov
crnor's certificate of election, cmbrac-
ing the three electors in the same
paper, and when they refused to act
with him he proceeded to fill the va
cancics in accordance with the law
of the State, and two votes were re-
turned for Hayes aud Wheeler and
one for Tildcn and Hendricks accom-
panied by the Governors certificate.
MISREPRESENTATION ofthings
is very embarrassing to the conspi-
rators inasmuch as it compels them
to admit the election Of Tilden and
Hendricks or abandon the theory that
the action of the State authorities is
conclusive. If they undertake to go
behind the wasting board in Ore
gon how can they deny the demo-
cratic demand to 90 behind the can
wasting boards in Louisiana South
Carolina and Florida? If the repub-
lican Senate can throw out the Ore
gon vote or change it why cannot
the democratic House do the same
with the other three?
The indications now are that the
conspirators have determined upon
u still more desperate and revolution
airy course to dofraud the country of
its choice of a chief magistrate.
They will now claim that Congress
has no right to go behind the returns
but that the President of the Senate
has-that he is the sole judge of the
returns and is to count, determine
and declare without any supervision
or interference on the part Of either
branch, and he is to adopt the Ore
gon return without the Governors
certificate and thus secure the 1S5
votes necessary. They propose that
the Senate shall not meet the House
in joint convention to count the
votes as done heretofore in every in
stance since the constitution was
adopted, but that the President of
the Senate shall proceed to count the
returns and declare them, in his
chair, on the day fixed by the consti.
tuition, simply sending word to the
House when he is toperform that du-
ty so that its members may attend