The New York herald., 1876-03-20
The Twenty-seeond Joint rule.

mittee on Privileges and Elections, has
brought in bill providing for the. counting
of votes for President and Vice President
The Senate has been for week and is still
engaged in the consideration of this impor-
tant subject and it would be well should it
receive more general attention.
The object of the bill is to prescribe a
method of counting which shall take the
place of the twenty-second joint rule That
rule, lately referred to in these columns,
was adopted in 1865, and retained until this
year by the two republican houses of Con-
gress. 1t empowered a mere majority in
either house to refuse, without word Of
debate to count the vote of State. The
country was thus unable to Judge of the fair
ness of such rejections and those who might
be guilty of any criminal partisanship in
objecting to votes cast for an opponent could
escape in silence and with impunity. In
1873 Louisiana and Arkansas were disfran-
chised and the three votes cast by Georgia
for Mr. Greeley were thrown out, according
to the following clause of the rule:-"And
no vote objected to shall be counted except
by the concurrent vote of the two houses,
&c, and upon any such question there shall
be no debate in either house"
IL was fortunate for the peace of the coun-
try during the present administration that
the rejection of those eighteen electoral
votes did not change the result and that
Mr.. Grant was lawfully elected President,
even without taking them into account.
Early in this session of Congress the Senate,
without consulting the democratic House.
retired from the joint rule to which two re-
publican houses had SO long remained par
ties, and referred this whole matter of count
ing to Mr.. Morton's committee. AS might
have been expected, the spirit of the legisla-
ton proposed and advocated by Mr.. Morton
and his friends, in 1876 is quite the reverse
of that which we find in their rule of 1865,
1869 and 1873; and the new bill provides
that no vote of State shall be rejected Sex
cept by the affirmative vote of the two
houses" and gives ample opportunity fo.
debate
While Senators are exercising their inge-
nuity in establishing some method not only
Of counting the votes, but also of question
ing and deciding the legality of electoral
certificates, we may inquire what con-
stitutional authority they have for SO doing.
The twelfth amendment says that 'the Presi.
dent of the Senate shall, in the presence OF
the Senate and the House of Representatives,
open all the certificates and the votes shall
then be counted. The person having the
greatest number of votes for President shall
be the President" This means that the
President of the Senate shall open the GER
tificates, and that Congress shall count the
votes-that is, may adopt convenient modes
of computing the number cast for each can
didate, and shall declare the result. But
can this be construed to give either or
both houses power to reject the list of@the
votes of State sealed and certified by the
electors together with list of the names Of
the electors certified under the Executive
authority of such State? Are not these GER
tifcates primary evidence of the true vote OF
a State, which Congress is bound, under
the constitution, to accept? And apart from
constitutional objections is it expedient
that Congress should have the jurisdiction
claimed and could debate in that body,
during the exciting process of counting the
votes int close contest, ever satisfactorily set
tie the questions which might arise?
1t seems, however, necessary that somt
tribunal should decide which of two
sets of certificates are to be counted
and which rejected for it has been
seen that State had two Legisla-
lures and two Governors, and conse.
quently transmitted to the seat of govern
ment two sets of votes. Still, had it not
been for federal and military interference,
Louisiana would not have made two returns
at the last election and occasioned an appar-
ent necessity for legislation. But whatever
law may now be devised and whatever trib-
unal may be provided, the country will not
soon forget the twenty-second joint rule Of
1865, nor that the Senate and the House
have, for three elections, usurped power to
silently disfranchise State that this power
has been exercised, that it is only because Of
overwhelming popular majorities in favor Of
one candidate its dangerous consequences
have not already been upon us, and that
although they are now anxious to place
themselves on the record in condemning
their own rule, it is only to-day that the re-
publican leaders are proposing a remedy.
Mr.. Boutwell, says lat that time (l669) there
was a decided opinion that the rule was
bad one" Mr.. Morton refers TO former
speech in which he said:-sBut IL was cer-
tainly adopted without much consideration.
and with view apparently Of furnishing an
additional safeguard against receiving cleo
toral votes from States that had been in re-
belion." At the same time he says:-'1t is,
in my Judgment the most dangerous con-
triyance 20 the peace Of the nation that has
ever been invented by Congress torpedo
planted in the straits with which the ship Of