The New York herald., 1876-12-15

had weight with his fellow members ever
denied it. Even MS to most of the details
of this power they are committed. For in
stance, at the last session Senator Morton
introduced and advocated bill intended to
take the place Of the twenty-second rnle,
and one of the sections of this bill provided
that where two sets of electoral returns
come up from State, and the two houses
cannot agree as to which is the authen-
tic return, both sets shall be thrown
out and the State shall lose its vote.
Being questioned about this, Mr.. Morton
defended it at all points, as necessary and
just. He said, ''rhe effect of this section is
to determine which set [of electoral returns]
is to be counted and if the two houses do not
agree, neither set is to be counted" And
again, "The vote goes out the State has no
vote because unless there is some tribunal
to settle which vote shall be counted you
cannot count both, and therefore you can
not count either. You must have some
tribunal to settle that difficulty, and what
tribunal is safer than the two houses Of Con-
gress?" And again, II do not accept the sug-
gestion that the Vice President of the United
States has anything more to do in the bust
ness of counting the votes for President and
is prescribed for and enjoined upon him by
the constitution. That duty is in the pres
ence Of the Senate and House of Represen-
tatives to open the certificates. There being
no other duty assigned to him 1 infer
naturally that he is to do nothing more.
There can be under the con-
stitution no tribunal to decide on that 1.-TWO
sets of returns] or any other question arising
in the course Of counting the votes. The
duty is imposed upon the two houses Of
Congress. They alone can perform it."
Senator Sherman, agreeing entirely as to
the power OF the two houses, remarked in
the course of the debate, .The only question
before the two houses is as to the form and
sufficiency of n return, and that depends on
matters rather Of q historical character !"
Senator Frelinghuysen said, "The constitu-
ton imposes upon the Legislature the duty
of making provision for counting the votes. !"
Senator Christiancy argued that even with
out joint rule or Mr.. Mortons bill it was
q reasonable conclusion that if two sets Of
electoral returns were presented, and the
two houses could not agree upon the re-
ception of one of the two, "There is
nothing to turn the scale in favor Of
either. Could the vote be counted
Certainly not" It being urged by Senator
Thurman that it was a serious matter to de-
prive q State of it's vote, Mr.. Morton re-
plied:-"There are two sets [of returns].
The Senate resolves in favor Of one set, the
House resolves in favor of the other set.
There is disagreement. The Senator from
Ohio Mr.. Thurman] said that it was the in
tention that the State should have
vote, and SO say /. The intention is
that the State shall have vote, but if
the thing is in that condition that Congress
cannot determine which is the correct vote
it will be the misfortune of the State if the
vote is lost That is all you can say about
it," We could give many other extracts if
space allowed. Finally, Senator Morton de-
picted the dangers which would arise from
the absence of a rule or method in place of
the twenty-second rule, saying :-''There-
fore exhort Senators to avoid this danger
by agreeing upon some method. 1t is not so
important what that method is as that there
shall be some plan agreed upon that will
avoid these dangers that are right before u.s."
Well, ''these dangers" are now just nine
months nearer than when Mr.. Morton spoke
of them last March. Why is he now silent?
Why are the other republican Senators
silent? Is it because they love party better
than country? We do not like to think so,
and therefore we ask and await their reply.
Love and Murder.
While every murder deliberately planned
shows a vicious spirit that shocks every
thoughtful man, and while the murder of
woman by q man is a degree stronger of
that crime, the premeditated attempt of q
lover to take the life of O woman whom he
had wooed with view of joining his entire
life with hers shows deeper turpitude
These cases are occurring every few months.
1t has not been long since man in Phila-
delphia cut the throat of his mistress in
daylight, near the entrance of the Park.
Again, . few months ago German killed in
Chatham street of this city the woman to
whom he had plighted his troth. In both of
these cases the marble shafts over the
graves Of the victims keep silent but awful
record that in the name Of the law their
deaths are to this day unavengcd, and the
rufians who cut off their fair lives exist as
shameful evidence against the milksop
nature of the juries who acquitted them
because they were crazy. Tho insanity was
in the jury box, aud what is tho
result? An awful arraignment of all such
juries was made yesterday by the blood Of
another victim. horrible mischance gave
to the murderer name which is the incar-
nation of love. EuEene Christ leaves the