National Republican., 1877-02-20
A FEEBLE HOPE,

tits now known that the tenacious Demo-
cracy will take refuge 10 the tcxt of section
three thousand eight hundred and thirty.
six of the Revised Statutes, maintaining as
a last resort, that under Its provisions the
vote Of DR.. WATTS, Republican elector of
Oregon, will have to be thrown out, and
that the election will thereby be thro~ ~n
into the House. giving us Mr. TILpES as
President. That all may see how promis.
ing the prospect is for them, we quote the
section and give the facts touching the
resignation. The law reads thus:
whenever the.ofiice of any postmaster
becomes vacant the Postmaster General or
the President shall supply such vacancy
without delay, aud the Postmaster Gen.
eral shall promptly notify the Sixth Auditor
Of the change; and every postmaster and
his sureties shall be responsible under their
bond for the safe.keeping Of the public
property Of the postofiice and the perform.
ance Of the duties thereof, until the ex.
piration Of the commission. or until sue.
cessor has been duly appointed and quail.
fed, and has taken possession of the office;
except that In cases where there Is delay
of sixty days In supplying a vacancy. the
sureties may terminate their responsibility
by giving notice, In writing, to the Post.
master. General, such termination TO take
effect ten days after sufficient time shall
have elapsed to receive reply from the
Postmaster General; and the Postmaster.
General may. when the exigcncies of the
service require, place such office in charge
of special agent until the vacancy can be
regularly filled; and when such special
agent shall have taken charge of such
postoffice, the liabilities of the sureties of
the postmaster shall cease"
When his iuelgibility became known,
DIR. WATTS resigned his office as postmas.
ter, his resignation was accepted by tele.
graph, he was relieved from duty, and the
office was turned over to the charge of a
special agent, as provided above.
Now, as his successor was not appointed
and qualified at the time he performed the
function OF an elector, 1t Is contended that
he was still postmaster, and consequently
disqualified, and that his vote was void.
The clause providing that the postmaster
shall remain such until his successor Is ap.
pointed, is held to be Q controlling provis.
ion, and 1t is urged that the placing the
office in the charge of an agent did not
relieve him from his position, aud could
not, as by the terms of the statute
1t only has the effect to discharge the
sureties. And that this was its full
effect. 1t Is contended, is plain, because
the language OF the statute still refers to
him as postmaster ATE. the special agent
has taken charge and the sureties have been
discharged. But the better opinion is that
this Is fallacy, and that the use of the
word postmaster, In the last line OF the
statute cited, Is merely to denote the bond
discharged, and is not by any reason.
able construction q recognition of the con.
tinuing existence Of the relation of post
master.
Arecent decision of the United States
Supreme Court is cited, wherein it was
held that supervisor of q township, al.
though he had resigned, still held the Of.
flee for the purpose Of performing Its duties
until his successor was appointed and quail.
flied; and in that case mdnddmus was is-
sued to com el him to perform certain
duty. But we apprehend the view will be
taken that the cases are not analogous, and
that the question of the right to Q mand :.
mus will dispose of the present one in q.
vor Of the elector. The writ was directed
in the case Of the supervisor because the
terms Of the law Of the State had not been
complied with, and there was no one to
execute the Office. But here the exigency
contemplated by The statute existed, and
the Postmaster General had turned the du.
ties Of the office over to special agent, who
thereupon became chargesble with their
performance. Hence o writ of mandansus
would not lie to compel DR.. WATTS to d,
any act required Of postmaster; and If
the writ would not issue in such case
there was no longer any relation of the per-
son to the office-no oincumbency. Beside,
when the vacancy was temporarily filled,
1t was the same as If permanently done, and
the discharge OF the surties operated to
discharge the postmaster.