The daily gazette., 1876-11-16
The Electoral College .
THE POWERS OF THE rREsIDEST OF The
sENArE--sENAToR MoRToN's VIEWS.

MANIFESTATION MoRToN's VIEWS.
WARRINGTON, Nov. 18.--In a letter
published in the San Francisco Chronicle
Senator Morton expresses the opinion
that the President of the Senate has the
power not only to open the electoral GER
tificates, but also to determine and an
nounce the result. This extraordinary
theory not only has no warrant in the
Constitution of the United States, but 1t
Is utterly opposed to the practice of our
Government and even to the declaration.
of Mr.. Morton himselfon other occasions
In the last session of Congress he strong
ly maintained the alb 'olute right of that
body to deal with the question, and in
troduced bill prescribing the manner IN
which it should exercise that right. On
the 18th of March, 1876, in discussing the
result if the two Houses should fail to
agree upon count of the electoral votes,
where two different returns should be
made, as in the case of Louisiana in 1873,
h esaid: "The vote goes out; the STATE s
has no vote, because unless there is some
tribunal to settle which vote shall be
counted, you cannot count either" The
State, in his opinion, would be disfran-
chised. In that debate he expressed his
disapproval of his present theory in the
following terms. (See Congressional Re
cord, 1876, p. ,G67.) ..
If, when the Senate comes to decide
the question which is the correct return,
there is q tie vote in the Senate, and the
Vice-President is presiding-not u Pre-
sident pro temp0re-he can cast vote
in that case, deciding the question in the
Senate; but there is no prorision IN oar
Constitution authorizing the president
or any other officer of Government to come
in and settle the question lchere the tco
Houses disagree. If there is tie vote in
the Senate the Vice-President can castthe
deciding vote; but ii is not in conformity
NTH The spirit of our Constitution to pro-
ride for some officer aoho shall settle bet,ceen
the t,co Houses ,chen they disagree.
Three days afterward Mr.. Mortar gave
his opinion against the pretended authori-
ty of the President of the Senate in this
precise and unequivocal language Gong
Record, 1876, p. 1,756):
Then the question comes, which is the
iHOTe TtdSoudDicJ WHICH Is Uue DeUJer,
which is the safer of the two-to adopt
that construction which gives this great
power to one man, the President Of the
Senate, why may be counting the votes for
himself, or would it be safer to leave it to
the determination of the two Houses of
Congress representing the State and the
people? fCe are open to adopt either one
of these constructions, l say the latter is the
safer, ,it is the more reasonable, at is in confor-
| nifty DiH the spirit of our Government and
| of popular institutions. l THEN ADOPT
THE LATTER CONSTRUCTION.
Here is a short debate which took
place on the 21st of last March Gong.
Record p. ,S42) in which he reiter ted his
opinion:
Mr.. MoRToN-The President of the
Senate pro temp0re has no casting vote
under the Constitution, but he simply
votes as Senator. If you give the Presi-
dent pro tempOre a casting vote where
the two Houses fail to agree in determin-
ing which is the true vote of State, that
right thus conferred upon the President
of the Senate is to give him by virtue of
law, and does not belong to him u,,der the
Constitution; SO that, after all we are de-
putting to an umpire or to third party
the exercise of duty aghich according to
the argument of the Senator from Terds,
and THINK VERY CLEARLY, TOO belongs
to the t,oo Houses as a part of the Legislative
p0soer of the country:
Mr.. MAxEY-That umpire is part of
our own body. He snot an outside body,
but is part of Congress.
M. MoRToN-That may be true. He is
member of this body either as Vice-Presi-
or as Senator; out the po,oer conferred
atpon him is not giUen blythe Constitution at
is 1,e,o p0a0er tohichaoe are c0nferr,ng upon
him. Ideny the poaUer to create an umpire
| to decide betlgecn the ttoO Houses IN A MAT
TER WHICH IS DEvoLvED UPON THE TWO
HOUSES By THE CONSTITUTION.
1t is Mr.. Morton himself who, in the
above extract, suggests the absurdity of
selecting member of one of the Houses
in which he may not only have participat
ed in debate and by casting vote, but
| where decision necessarily will involve
judgemnet upon his own conduct. In
the presentissue before the country, Sena-
tor Ferry, into whose hands Mr.. Morton
would like to consign the destinies of the
country, comes exactly into this catego-
ry.
We have already given enough to show
the inconsistency of Senator Morton's
present pretentions with the opinions
which expressed in calmer moments.
However, the temptation is irresistible to
present another view of the case to
which he has committed himself. The
following extract is from the Congress
iional debates on the 9th of March (see
Congressional Record, p, l,9i2) upon Mr.
Morton's bills
Mr.. WHyTE-I want to ask the Sena
tor from Indiana if he does not really un
der the second section of this bill in ;
certain contingency, do the very thing
which he now objects to doing; that is tt
lsay, upon certain contingency throw
the election into the House of Represen
tatiyes? Take this case and it is mathe
matical calculations it takes 1856 votes t.
elect President of the United States il
! the present college counting Colorado
Suppose there are three candidates at tn
election The Republican candidate get
l177 undisputed votes and the indeper
dent candidates get "a undisputed vote
: which he could do by getting Illinois an
Nevada, and Nebraska. Suppose tn
| - Il; Il ata crato 1fn N ppIi "a