Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-11-29

TOT hayes. ana then declare there has
been NO election..by thc..pcoplc, and
proceed to elect President through |
the democratic House, Eiwhich, of
course, would result in the choice Of
Tilden. This plan has, finally been
foreshadowcd from very significant
authority, viz: by the Hon. Clarkson
n. Potter, q member elect to the
next Congress from the state of New
York. Mr.. Potter is leading DEM
ocratic statesman Of the nation, par
ticular friend of Samuel J. Tilden,
the choice of Tilden as candidate
for the democratic Governorship of
New York. Itmay then safely be as
sumcd that this plan has taken. deep
hold in the democratic party. Throw
ing out the states of Louisiana and
Florida would give Tilden lS4 elector-
al votes, and Hayes It's, and neither
would have majority of the Elector-
al College, and therefore there would
be no election. In regard to count
ing the vote for President, the Con-
stitution says this:
.The president of the Senate shall,
in the presence of the house of repre-
sentatives, open all the certificates,
and the votes shall then be counted
the person having the greatest num-
Der of votes for president, shall be
president, If such number be major
ity OF the whole number of electors
appointed and IL no person have such
majority, then from the persons hav-
ing the highest numbers, not exceed
ing three, on the list Of those voted
for 40 president, the house of repre-
sentatives shall choose Immediately,
by ballot, the president. But in choos-
ing the president the votes shall be
taken by states, the representatives
from each state having one vote, a
quorum for this purpose shall consist
Of member or members from to-
thirds of the states, and q major
ity Of all the states shall be necessary
to choice"
This is positively all there is, save
what can be gathered from prcce-
dents established in the history of
the nation, in all the counts heretofore
had. All the prccedents of history
down to q very recent period, when
the twenty-second joint rule was
adopted, and which Is now abrogatcd,
60 to show that no motion Of any
kind interrupting the count was ever
permitted ; all motions attacking the
right to count the votes of q state, as
returned, have been ruled out of or
der. This is the prevailing history of
these proceedings. 1t all goes to show
that, as the certificates from the state
authorities give each state to one or
the other candidate, so they are to be
counted and so declared by the Vice
President.
Twice in the history of the country
the House has chosen the president,
viz: in the first election of Jefferson,
and in the election of John @. Adams,
but in neither Of these cases was the
vote of any state thrown out. These
s cases occurred when, on a full count
Of all the states, no candidate had a
majority In the electoral college, re-
quired under the Constitution. There
was NO such majority because more
than two candidates had run and so
divided the electoral college that no
one had majority. This is, ssader the
Coastitation, the only condition Of
things schich pe,nsts the House to
choose the Presidentin our judgment.
Let us examine for a moment tho
plan of Mr.. Potter, and the plan of
quite q large number of democrats,
and not improbably Of Mr.. Tilden
himself. The plain deduction to
be drawn from this plan, would be
that the House, In the years to come,
at each presidential election might,
for some cause, object to the counting
of the votes from sufficient number
of states to always throw the choice
into their own hands, and SO the peo-
pie would be politically ignored in
choosing president making it rest
solely in the lower branch Of
Congress. This clear proposition
shows the utter fallacy of Mr.. Potter's
plan, and its bold revolutionary char
acter.
Again, suppose this high-handcd
proceeding was inaugurated by the
present democratic House, and they
should retire to the hall of the House
Of Representatives to elect Presi-
dent. The Constitution provides that
in such cases the vote shall be taken
by states, and that q majority of the
delegation..f from each state, of course,
controls the vote of the state, since
there Is but one vote from q state.
The Constitution further provides
that quorum in the House, for the
election of president, shall be the
member or members from at least
two-thirds of the states. Now the
democrats have not tw0-thirds ma
jority, and suppose the republican
members, rightfnlly convinced that
the contemplated action of the dem
ocratic members Of the House wac
revolutionary, should refuse to sup
ply the necessary constitutional quo
rum? That il, suppose the republic
ans should use revolutionary means
70 defeat revolution, first inaugursted
by the democrats What a middle
this would leave matters in, and hence
how silly and foolish the reasoning
or plan that leads to such u result.
Let US look to the beginning. The
source Of all this conjecturing Of any
possible trouble, has its foundation
again In the irrepressiblc conflict.
Because men by tens of thousands
-yca, by hundreds Of thousands have
b.en terrorizcd from the polls,
have been dcfraudcd Of fair
expression of their will at the polls,
has this close contest come upon us.
The origin of all this wrong, Of all
ahae contest, lies at the door of Mr..
Potter and his party; that party
which once sought the dismcmber-
nent Of the nation at the point of the
bayoaet, but which now seeks control
Of Il by using the bristling bayonets
sround the polls and along the high
Ways OF the south.
Hon. Clarkson N. Potter, demo-
cratic member elect of the 45th Con-