Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-12-02

z 5HOulu Eciuct " touut the NOlB 10
IS Hayes, that responsibility would be
long to il. If, as some people ar,
|. pleased to suggest, either house car
Q insist on a vote being counted, ",
Q might then have the vote Of Louisiana
L counted both ways, which would give
y the election to Mr.. Tilden-l92 to So
For it must be the necessary and non.
sensical result Of holding that either
house can count the vote Of State
/ that, whenever there are two returns
. from State, and the houses do not
} agree as to which Is the real vote on
the State, its vote will be counted both
} ways.
THROWING THE ELECTION INTO THE
HOUSE.
If then, the vote of louisiana shall
not be counted and Mr.. Hayes be al
lowed Florida aud South Carolina, he
will have 177 votes and Mr.. TiIden 1874.
and then either Mr.. Tilden will be
elected or there will be no election of
President. And it will then become
the immediate duty of the House of
Representatives, under the express di-
rection of the Consultation, TO pro-
ceed 10 choose President by the vote
Of States, each State having one vote,
aud if Mr.. Hayes should then be
chosen President he will be chosen
absolutely in strictest compliance with
all the provisions and forms Of law.
aud will be as absolutely and lawfully
President as any man ever was. So,
too, if the House should choose Mr..
Thlden.
The Constitution has provided for
no person or bodyt0 notiiyth the House
that there has been no election Esr
President by the electors, nor, by de-
Gliding whether to make OF withhold
such notification, TO judge OF that fact,
but has left the House the sole judge
Of the happening of the contingency
calling for its action. AS one of the
counters ofthe electoral vote the House
must necessarily know whether that
vote has resulted in a choice, and, so
knowing, does not require notification
of the fact. Accordingly, had the
Constitution provided for a noti6ca-
tion to the House, il would have been
to make its action in that respect de-
pendent on some other judgment Of
the happening of that contingency
than its own. But instead il leaves
the House 10 act upon its own knowl-
edge, independent of the action Of any
other person, and directs the House in
that contingency. of which il neces-
sarily has knowledge, and is itself to
be the judge, to proceed to chose n
President.
And to whom could the question Of
whether the power was TO be exercised
be so properly committed as 70 the
body which is to exercise the power,
to that great popular branch Of the
Government which specially represents
the people, and whose members, Of all
those connected with Federal Govern
ment, are alone elected by the people 2
Having, then, the ordinary aud usual
authority Of every superior body, in-
vested with the exercise of a supreme
function, Of determining for itself the
occasion when it may be lawfully ex-
ercised, and having, therefore, the
authority to decide for itself whethera a
President has beer chosen by the cleo
tors or not, and, if not, to then itself
choose the President, who can lawful
ly dispute the authority Of the Presi-
dent whom tho House Of Representa-
tives may thus choose?
TALKING REBELLION.
Gentlemen who talk lightly, there
fore, of having the Vice President or
the Senate receive and count the vote
of Louisiana against the objection Of
the House, or of choosing some ener-
getic man President Of the Senate that
they may have forcible officer 10 lead
the Republican party after the 4th of
March, or of an interregnum in which
Gen. Grant shall hold over, talk re-
bellion. The House Representatives
will not refuse to attend the counting
of the electoral vote. Ii will permit
the counting of every vote which itmay
judge lawful 10 be counted and no
vote can be lawfully counted without
its concurrence or against Its judg-
ment and direction. Whomever, by
the vote so counted, shall appear 10
have the majority Of all the electors
appointed will be President, and will
be accepted by the Democratic party
as such; and whomever, if no Presi-
dent be so chosen, the popular branch
of the Government shall then, in due
form, choose to be President, will be
80 accepted by them and il will bo
those who may see tit to resist the ex-
ecutive, thus lawfully elected, who will
be defying the law.
And even III there has been an omis-
sion in the Constitution, so that. strict
ly, no one may be elected according TO
its provisions, what could be 10 in ao-
cord with the spirit Of our Govern
ment as to agree upon an executive,
chosen by the House of Representa-
tives, acting by States That is,
chosen by men elected directly by tho
people, as the electors are, and acting
by States, as the electors do. IL was
to the House of Representatives that
the Constitution committed the cleo
tiOn of a President 10 the only con-
tingency of failure TO choose by
electors then foreseen. Had the con-
vention foreseen the contingency now
assumed by some it would, of course,
have committed the election in such
contingency also to the House of Rep
CONFORM TO THE SPIRIT OF THE CON-
sTITUTION.
Why, then, should not this great
people forbear strife, and adopt course
which, if no course be provided for by
the Constitution, would accord most
nearly with the spirit of the Constitu-
tion2 The more, as the result thus
reached would conform to the wish OF
the great body of the people, as just
And here let me add that to talk OF
a Senate, in which a majority Of tho
senators represented less than one
fourth of the people, whose power to
choose President is by the Constitu-
ton confined, first to the failure Of the
electors to choose one, and next to the
failure Of the House Of Representa-
tives to choose by the 4th Of March
following-setting up as their presid-
ing officer military dictator, 10 take
possession of the Government, against
the President regularly chosen by the
House of Representatives and backed
by an enormous popular majority,
seems TO me, even in view Of Mr.. Frank
Blair's famous prophecy, idle.
Doubtedless thesupremacy exercised
by the federal authority of lat0 years
aud the desire of property owners for
order, even at the price Of constitution
al liberty, has produced a pretty gem
eral belief that any one who can COM
mand Federal troops can do anything.
Rut fha ouaatiou IL mot What Eqdpral