The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-03-07

Th~ Machinery by which the
President W hO was NOT Elect"
ed by she People Was
Counted in.
SoaacI, Of HOa.T. L. JOnes,of a. eE; :
lucky, House Of RePreSentH
sfVe~. February 90, 1877
..ShaH lhe Rights al Ghc E'c"pI- hIe
Barfel-ed Away and tlAe GinIn.
bIer's T.a w be Bowed 80
and Acknowledged
Supreme::''

and ACKNOWLEDGED
Supreme:''
Mr.. Speaker, we have at length arrived
al that pass in this cont st when words are
vain aud perhaps silence would bitter be
come us in view OF the imp nding solemn
result The stupendOus farce Is abont 10
/ close. and We are soon TOO sadly 10 realize
! the truth which we ought to have known
4 before. that in game of mum hers the seven
can never taxi the eight. Never II the
/ history of man have sIch mighty Issues
/ been committed as IL were To the toss OF
! copper or the throw of the dice box. In
deeG. for the Democratic party this oI;ri-
vance had not even the illusion of fortune.
/ Ii should have been seen by our leaders at
the beginning that a sure fatality awaited
Us and that the doors of this snare were but
/ the portals OF death. How it happened
lha. the chief priests of orr synagogue, 80
wise aud Iriel aud trusted. SHOULD have
brel inveigled into the acCep arce OF this
intricate scheme-ihis PandofaS box OF
evjis-uow seems perhaps indeed TO them
| selves. past com pTehenslOn. lJ was de-
vice equally unknown To the Constitution,
the laws. and To custom. And why, why
w-s ii aIop'
Pardon me, sir, while l recount a brief
| history. When this Congress Assem- ed.
on Il 4th day of December last, although
we OF the Democratic party, "a we'll a hum
dreds and thousands Of Republicans, be-
! lieved that Til aud hendricks hal been
| elected, yer, in order to ascertain the idctS
more eureiy and ! lace them beyond dis
! pute the SennU+ and House seut down t
! the States OF Louisiana, South Carolina, and
| Florida committees to make thorough in
| vestigation, and at an expense of near two
hundred thousand dollars. These commit
tees perVaded every avenue, every nook
and corner; raked those States as with
drag net examined thousands of witnesses,
and yet lie ore they had an opportunity u
- II Ill
formed to preclude and shut out all this ini-
mense ard costly tes' imonY. All WAS Tor
npughJ. The peoples money and the oner-
Gus ltbors OF their cOmml -teemen were
thus thrown away and lost. Both parties
ulittd in the app ,Intment OF these commit
tees, and The President himself, desirous as
! it appeared, 10 have a fair count of The clcc-
| toral vote in those States, requested Il nu.: -
| Der of genClrmen to visit them and aScer-
! tain the facts. But, behold, tue wise men
at the Capitol. for some reasons perhaps to
be developed in the near or far future, took
time by the forelock AID instituted this
most extraordinary mode of settling the
| greatest question ever known among men.
And now, sir, what have we seen? This
Commission has failed To do the very thing
for which it was appointed. Ii the clecto-
| raj bill settled any question at all it WAS
| that the President of the Senate could not
count the votes o! the STATES il WAS settled
| that his duty was sim ply to open the ceFtif-
! Gates and the votes were then to be counted
in such a manner the two Houses, as
| shown by their previous appointment of
their committees 10 investigate the facts as
| to which were the real votes of those
States, had the power to go behind the Ger
tilica-cs and the reports of the returning
boards, and by this bill the two Houses
delegated their powers TO the Comm issiOn.
It was, therefore intended by the very act
| which gave il its existence, the law Of its
being, that it should look beyond or 90 be-
hind the certificates and examine the evil
dence in order 10 ascertain what were the
true and legal votes OF those States aud
| which were the constitutional and legal
electors. The spirit aud letter of the bill
made this duty imperative on the Commits
| sion.
Why, sir, if these had not been the OBJ
jects and this the intention of the bill we
night "a we'll have allowed the President
| OF The Senate to stand at that desk and open
the certificates, CONT the votes, and declare
| the result. And as it has turned out it
would have been far better il lie had done
| -. IL would have saved Us much valuable
| time, much useless augmentation, and
vast amount of anticipation or apprehen-
! sion. 1t would have saved us more, sir. Il
would have saved the country the mortifi-
! cation and humiliation of seeing the high
est court OF the Republic, indeed all Chris
| tendon, yield TO the spirit OF party, drag
| the crminc In the dust. aud become a scorn
aud by-word on the lips OF honest men.
| The majority Ofthis Com mission have vio-
| lated their oaths and ignored the very in
| teuliOn of those who created it, and by
! every law, human and Divine, ought To be
! broken Will it be told me, sir, tn 1t il YOU
| or | or this House appoint an agency or
commi- sion to do certain acts under an ex-
| press law, published and known to all par
! ties concernc and to the world. that il such
agency or commi sion shOIld violate that
law or fail 70 carry it out, we would be
bound to SUIT in il orabide its unjust acts
or decisions, that we could not abrogate its
authority CT eNtricate ourselves from the
| ,I.Er-a. irzr =
or moral, that would compel our obedie'.n
or aCqu iesCente.
Sir, hold that this House would be ner-
fectly iustitiahle IL resorting to every legal
| aud constitutional III cans to annul tue de
cIslons Of this odiuS Commission and break
II to atoms. Sir, have we created A monster
to tear our our vltIls and ourselves power
less To resist? Have we made a wise To
crush US to death and shall we not stretch
out hand to defend our life? Has it come
70 THIS: Shall liberty die without struO-
gle! Shall the rights of The people be Jarteyed
dtody and The gamblers lar be BORED TO ami
acknowledged supremes Have men been
"dupeu" and shall they say dune on dime
ever and we will submit, your willing vic
TINS? Is that the manner in which the
representatives. of American freemen shall
act now at the threshold of another century
OF liberty and glory? God forbid! Forbid
it my countrymen! Men should not alone
consider their personal honor in this great
conJuncture but remember that thex Gdve n
great trust TO perform for Ms ..@opfe ney are
fductdrteS Of tAe rights Of millions
!, sir. for one, protest in the name of the
brave men / represent. in the name of right
justice and law, against the monstrous fraud
and villiany, and | will resist it to the end. |
would still turn to the constitutional mode
OF eiecting the President and Vice PreSi-
dent Ii we can arrive at no election by |
the people, the Constitution provides the |
manner of electing both officers That |
points ont our plain path of duty And |
now. sir, even now. let this Commission be |
broken by the resignation of our appointees, !
or any one of them who would immortaIize /
himself by the act. Their places, or his !
place, could not be filled by the terms of !
the bill, there being no provision for filling I
vacancy occasioned by resignation. The /
Commission could not proceed without a |
full board. Hence they would be scotched 4
and killed. Let this House then proclaim i
that there has been no election Ey the peo- |
pie and proceed at once 10 elect the Presi-
dent Follow the law, do right, and leave |
the rest TO God and the country