The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1876-11-12
The Result.


The problem which has kept our thorough
fares filed with anxious inquirers for the
last two or three days is 'Will Tilden get
the other vote7' In point of fact every
one is satisfied that he has carried Louisia-
ma, thereby emitting him to seven votes
more than is necessary, but Louisiana still
has it's formidable Returning Board" and
people would rather count him in without
reference to our much " Returned" State.
There are, however, prophets of the dis
NAL ty pc, who say that the whole question
of the new administration must turn on the
vote of Louisiana, that the nation will after
all be brought face to face with the very
issue which wss 80 deftly lodged by the
Wheeler Compromise. 1t is premature to
say this now, and indeed indications still
give promise that some other Western State
will yet be found to have ranged itself
| under the Democratic banner and give Mr.
Tilden an electoral majority entirely above
quibble. But if not, what nextf
If the result must be decided by the votes
OF Louisiana, Florida and South Carolina,
and if those votes, apparently for Tilden,
should be.claimed for Hayes on the ground
of intimidation, who is to settle the dispute?
The Constitution simply says that the Pres
ident of the Senate SHALL in the presence of
the House and Senate, open the certificates
of votes and they shall be counted. But if
two certificates come before him from one
State, which shall he open Will Mr.. Ferry,
now President of the Senate, claim the right
of deciding which is the genuine certificate,
the one that he must open to be counted ?
Such an assumption would give him the ul-
innate settlement of all contests as to what
| persons had been chosen electors n any and
every State. This would be the only pro
gramme on which the Republican party
could perpetuate its power if beaten at the
polls, and who will say that they will not
adopt it if the opportunity presents iteelf
1t may be said that the House is Demo
cratic and would resist so monstrous mis-
construction of the Constitution. But if the
enate sustained the usurpation the action
of the House would be nu,lifed. 1t would
be stand off, and Mr.. Ferry's position
would remain unaffected. Therefore, if Mr..
Senator Ferry should choose to hold that
the Democratic electors of Louisiana lad
| SCcuLSu lhtl. AlhJoliy bulpuSu luIlL1'oa'
ton, and that the Hayes electors were
elected because in his opinion they ought to
have been elected, he would open the GER
t!fcate of the latter, and Mr.. Hayes would
then appear to have received the needed
majority of one vote.
This would be revolution. 1t would be
what the French call coup d'etat, made by
the principal actor, not in his own favor, it
is true, but in that of his chief and to the
advantage of his faction. 1t would be the
disposal of the Presidency of the Republi
otherwise than by the popular vote; and yet
the sovereignty of the popular vote is at the
very foundation of our form of government
If any other power than that give us CHIEF
magistrate, it is none the less q revolution
though you still call him President instead
of king, and though you still go through the
ceremony of voting instead of candidlJ
dispensing with it as az expensive alb
surdity.
5 Mr.. Hayes thus proclaimed President
would take his seat by virtue, not CT tht
peoples choice, but of a decision made by
: usurpipg tribunal. The Constitution hal
omitted to provide for euch an emergency
" as that under consideration. No>court cal
=. . take jurisdiction over it, for it lie strictl!
\ political; the highest political tribunal
= ngress-divides upon it and Mr.. Ferr.
r assumes ultimate jurisdiction. This, as W.
t say, would be usurpation, and any I'D
g ministration based upon it would be usurp
8 atory and revolutionary.
It Who, then, would take the Presidency
n If Mr.. Tiden was really elected it woult
e be his duty to take his seat without payin
g the slightest attention to Mr.. Ferry
~ count of the vote. 1t is a misfortune tha
the Constitution has not provided for sucl
a contingency, but that does not give valid
IL ity to an assumption of the omitted power
:. even by Mr.. Ferry. Where the law is al
- lent equity and justice must prevail, an
where citizen knows that the country he