The daily gazette., 1877-02-05
,fR. TUcKER's ARGUMENT on
FRIDAY. I,4E5t

MI Tucker followed Mr.. Field. The
objections he said, which are madeby the
members of the two hoases of Congress
to the counting of the electors who voted
for Aessrs. Hayes and Wheeler are to be
presented this morning in form, to which
l call the attention of the commission
The first objection is that the said Pierce
and others were were nos appointed bv
the said state of Florida, in such manner
as its Legislature had directed. The sec
ond is that the said Wilkinson, Call and
others, the Tilden electors, were appoint
ed by the said state in such a manner as
its Legislature had directed. The third
is that qualified electors of the said state
in manner as provided by the law of
Florida did elect Wilkinson, Call and
and Others the Tilden electors The fourth
| is that the pretended certificate or paper
purporting to be such signed by Stearns
| as governor of that state, of the appoinr-
ment OF Pierce and Others, was and is in
all respects untrue, and was corruptly
! procured and made in pursuance of
conspiracy between said Stearns, Pierce
and Others to set up fictitious and unreal
votes for President ana Vice-President
The fifth is that said papers, falsely pur-.
| porting to be votes for President and
Vice President for the state of Florida,
are fictitious and unreal, and do not pro-
perly represent any votes as lawful acts,
| and were made out and executed in pur-
suance of the said fraudulent conspiracy.
! The sixth sets out at length what L will
/ state succinctly: That by quo aoarTauto
TO proceeding, initiated prior to the vote
| given for Hayes and Wheeler, by these
electors, on the sixth day of December,
and which resulted in an adjournment to
| the 25th or Goth of January, their election
and their title to the offices of the state of
Florida was declared utterly null and
void, and they were usurpers and pre-
tenders to the said offices. In that case
of q't0 1CdTTdnt0 the parties were the state
| of Florida er rel. Wilkinson, Call and
others, (the Tilden electors against the
/ Hayes electors) These are the objections
made, and they may be summarized thus:
We object to these votes being counted,
because we say that these men were not
elected according to the law of Florida;
and, not being so elected, can have no
title to the office. Secondly, we hold
that even if they had been elected ac
cording to the forms ofthe law of Florida
their election was tainted, and is void,
The whole question presented to this
tribunal is q question presented to the
two houses of Congress, and in which
they have substituted this tribunal in
their stead to decide, 1t is simply this;
under which we live by which fraud
can be prevented on the presidency?
| When Mr.. Tucher had completed his
remarks, Mr.. Kasson said that on consul
| tation he thought it due to the interests
represented by himself and Mr.. McCrary
| that he should ask further time to ex-
anime the certificates, which are all in
volved in these objections. He asked it
specially upon this ground, that instead
of the certificates, and papers to which
objections apply appearing in print in
the Record this morning, as was expect
ed, they had not appeared, and he had
no access to them until counsel on the
other side IN their printed document had
placed them before him. In addition to
that the magnitude of the questions pre-
sented by the arguments of Mr.. Field and
| Mr. Tucker were reason why he should
attempt to aid the commission more than
could be done by proceeding immediate
| " with his remarks, Several members
Of the commission expressing their un-
Willingness to permit any delay which it
; was possible to avoid. Mr.. Kasson con-
cluded that he would proceed after
short recess. ..-.E
| MUST AN UsURPER RULE!
Must IA man whom every body knows
to be an usurper be pronounced by the
two houses Of Congress cr by this tribu-
nal in their stead, to have - right to
that cffice to which he has no right
Shall The two houses Of Congress, the
sentinel guards appointed by the Con-
stitution against usurpation OF the high
Office; shall this tribunal, the substitute
for the sentinel guard, permit fraud to
crawl with Shiny trail into the executive
seat whence it may pring from its coil
and sting with fatal fang the life blood
of tae greatest republic in the world? Is
| the fat, of a returning board tainted with
fraud and based upon lawlessness, to
/, conclude the Judgment of the Amer
lean people in putting usurper in the
seat of Washington?
| Mr.. Tucker continued at some length.
He alluded to the quo acarrdnto case OF
the State of Florida, er Teldtione Wilkiu-
| son, Call and others, and to the decision
of the Supreme Court OF the State of
Florida in that case. The decision OF
| that Court, he argued, to be sustained
! by authorities, citing. among othor au-
| thorities; "HiCh on Extraordinary Rem-
edies," section 706. The returning board,
he regarded as merely one step in the
| authority by which promulgatl ons OF ell
ections were made. Tho final determi-
nation authority (if he were allowed to
make a WORD for the occaslon) provided
| by the state of Florida was the Supreme
| Court. Therefore, unless the primary
determinant authority, namely, the
board, is conclusive, not only in its ac-
| tion, but aiso as to the extent OF its pow
| er, then we must regard the proceeding
in Florida upon the action OF these ell
ectors rs a part of that determinant
power which the state has provided
against fraud and LEGALITY in the exer-
else of elective function