The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1877-02-23
BY TELEGRAPH
Oregon Not Decided.
DECISION TO-DAY.
President Hayes Cabinet
WASHINGTON'S BIRTHDAY.
The Electoral Commission.
WAsn1NaToN, Feb. %.

o ClOCk. NIX. hlullncWb bpOhC Ill NppUsi-
ton to Cronin's certificate No. 9, conf
mencing with a denial that the republi-
cans had asserted in the Florida case that
the certificate was final and conclusive.
They had undertaken to draw a line of de-
marcation between the acts of state and
federal authority, which took the matter
up after it had left the state. They also
undertook to draw a line between things
and proofs; between the certificate and the
thing certified tc, and show that the GER
tifcrte was, to the thing certified being the
substance, and that where the certificate
did not show the thing certified truly 1t
could be corrected. He maintained that
they stood.today on the ground they ocsu-
pied in the beginning and which had been
hallowed by the decision of this tribunal,
viz; That a certificate based on the returns
was conclusive evidence of election. Mr..
Matthews read an extract from the decision
of Justice Field in the case of Bradley
VS.. Fisher, in which the tendency
to complaint by the party defeated is shown
going on from complaint to charges
of improper motive8 to the count. He en-
tered his protest against the hollow preten-
sions to morality that have been made the
substIatum of complaint in this case. Gro
min had been mounted on a pedestal for
public admiration by his inventor as a
model of the purity and honesty of cleo
tons, and there was no offer to prove that
he was paid So. 600 under pretense of ex-
penses to Washington. There was no Of
fer to prove the contents of the supposed
h ierogly phic characrers that could not be
read no offer of proof hat this was the
result of a deep laid scheme to defeat the
will of the people. He wondered Wien his
friend Hoadley referred to Worcester that
he did not produce that little pocket die
tionary and show the correspondence be-
tween Gramercy park, N. Y, and Salem,
Oregon. The law of Oregon required that
votes for electors should be given, received,
returned and canvassed the same as for
members of congress, and in the case of
members of congress il YVES made the duty
of the secretary of state to canvass the
votes, and there the statutory directions
end. The statute in relation TO electors
further provided that the secretary of state
should certify two lists showing who had
received the highest number of votes, and
there the canvass ended. The certificate
of the governor was sought to b. intended
here as q substitute for the canvass.
II was signed by the secretary Of
state simply as an attestiDg witness,
and not es 4 convasscr Of votes. That the
possession of the commission was not es-
sential to the discharge Of the duties of
the office he contended was a well settled
principle of law. The certificate of the
governor did not conform to the statutes
of the United States or of Oregon. In a
college which necessarily consisted Of three
lie commended that one could not act as u
body, and that the acts of a quorum could
only be accepted as the acts of the body.
In regard to what constituted a vacancy he
commended that if the governor was a COM
potent tribunal to set aside an election
then a vacancy existed which the remain
ing members were empowered to fill. He
combatted the proposition that ineligibility
made a non-election, or that votes cast for
an ineligible candidate were void. The
English decisions which declared a candi-
, date who was ineli sible but received a less
number Of votes than his ineligible oppo-
nent elected, had not been adopted as the
American rule, which was that in suct
case neither was entitled to the office. II,
however, an ineligible officer was objected
to by nobody, his official acts stood. Mat.
thews closed at 10 o'clock M, with the
: declaration that he had appeared not ai
counsel for any party, but in support of
great constitutional principle.
Jud ge Strong said the counsel had now
consumed two hours each, and still The
custom of admissibility of evidence was be
fore the commission. He thought that il
should be received now, subject to thu
judgment of the commission as to its Of
feet. The proposition was adopted, blu
neither the papers called for in the sub
p@na duces tecum served upon the pos.
master general were at hand, nor were wit
II nesses present, and at 1910 O'Clock thu
commission took q recess until 12:4t
o'clock.
Mr.. Merrick offered a certified cory O
the commission of Watts rs postmaster
and also the commission of Henry NJ. Hill
as postmaster, dated January 3, 1877, il
which it was recited that he was appointe,
November 8, 1876; that December IL, h
executed his bond and took the oath of OF
y flee. Therefore, said Evarts, unless you
hold that the governors certificate, and It
subtraction by violation of the governoI
duty, is sufficient to suppress the electors
college and the vote of a state you hav
4 here everything that you need under tn
act of congress without looking at the Gel
" t~iicates which they put on In support @
their title. Now we have another certif
~ cate and that contains nothing that cor
a. tradicts the other and nothing that by itse'
Y can stand OF its own inspection as an &C
equate transaction.
~ MIR. EVarts then called attention to tn
wording of the governors certificate, an
: commended that it did not comply with Ii
I'd act of Congress in that he undertook to il
sert the word "eligible" before the wor
= ''elector" to cover himself from condemns
ton for open and recognized fraud an
&C falsehood. Mr.. Evarts quoted from IL
lie. laws of Oregon to show that wbe
TO two persona are voted for, the OF
IS, receiving the highest number of vot'
wv should be declared elected, and argued thu
. his disqualification to office does not ele'
J. the other who receives the next highe