Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1877-02-15
EvARTs AND e'CONOR,
Their Arguments before the Ele<
-. tOrsa2 Commission.


Washington Special to Cincinnati Gazette.
EVART5 IN A NUTsHEIL. -
Stated in the smallest possible COM
pass, the subs.ai ce of his argument
was as follows: The only evidence for
the Commission TO consider is that
which goes to the basis Of facts and the
record on which the Governors certi-
1cate Il founded, the decision OF /. Q
State Canvsssers. Beyond this ii can
not 10, for II this boundary of final de-
terminative State action be passed.
here is no limit to the Investigation.
until it n ascertained how every man
Voted. II the Governors certifeats 4
. forgery, or IL it certifies to a false-
nood, the Commission can 60 back of
II To the Tact to be certified. That fact
Is the nnding of the lawful eanyassing
authority. The States twa record Of
the result Of its election is conclusive.
There could exist no adequate power
to 20 behind il that would not of ne.
cessity be judicial in its nature, and no
plenary Judicial powers have been con-
ierred BY law uIon any tribunal ex-
|cept those Inferior to the Supreme
Court. The Commission is not court,
and has no overs 10 adopt methods of
trial for determining the rights of in
dividuals. A quo yaryanto proceed
ing involves u trial by jury, and the
common law interposes a barrier
to the Commission assuming 10 go into
such an issue. As to the alleged ineli-
gibility of Humphreys, one of the
Florida electors, that hss been looked
into by the State Can vassing Board.
which examined him under oath and
found him 10 be qualified. There is
no act of Congress for ascertaining
whether an elector is qualified or not.
Congress cannot entertain the ques-
tions of proof. If a disqualified elector
passes the observation of the voters
and the guards of the State law, his
vote must stand unchallenged. If the
certificate should show that the electors
were Senators or Representatives in
Congress, their votes could be rejected.
because no element of extraneous proof
would be involved, but the disqualfi-
cation would be matter of ocular and
personal knowledge. The institufing
of quo tcdrrdato proceedings in State
court, while duly appointed electors
are performing their duty, cannot af.
feet the legality of their action. No
power can touch, arrest or reverse their
vote after it is sealed up and sent for
ward. The bottom of the 81 stem of
eiecting Presidents, that the whole
business shall go forward without de-
lay, and the office be filed at the ap-
pointed time. Ii every step in the pro-
cess can be hindered by judicial pro-
ceediags, the sovereignty OF the people
will be superseded by Government of
Judges, and there will be no resort but
that which the children OF Israel had,
to pray for king. After citing q
number of authorities i'm the rows of
law books on his table, Evarts sat
down, and --'--
CHARLES o'CoNoR,
who had been an attentive listener to
his speech, occupying chair close be-
side him, arose. His haggard, pallid
face, fringed with band Of white
beard, and crOwns d with snowy hair,
and his large blue eyes of almost pre-
ternatural brilliancy, gave him some
thing Of spe :tral appearance. There
was nothing unearthly about his
speech. however. 1t was dry, prOsy,
and lawyer-like. 1t lacked the conn.,
pactness and grasp of Evarts' address,
and was not impelled by as much in
tellectual energy. Noone would char
acterize it as masterly effort, never
theless, il presented in lucid and COM
preheHsible shape the points uron
which the Tilden case depends, and
the oHly brilliant passages were thuse
which dealt out invectives, which, to
say the least, were out of place. o.
Conor had the bad taste to close his
spe ech with a remark that sounded
very much like q fiat insult to the Re-
publican members OF the Commission.
He said that there was not person In
the country with the faculty of blush
ing who could look an honest man In
the face and say that the Hayes electors
were fairly chosen in Fiori a. As
nearly all the Republican Commission
ers have In public and private repeat
e1ly expressed the opinion that Hayes
carried Florida, the hit at them was as
direct as it was uncalled for.