The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1877-01-26
Passage OF the Electoral Bill by tho
senate-Its Assured Success.

senste-Its Assured Success.
The passage of the Electoral bill by the
Senate yesterday morning by a majority OF
about three-fourths of the members voting
brings q sense of relief, although there has
been no reasonable doubt that it would pass
that body by handsome majority. The
vote was AZ yeas to II nays, lacking barely
one of q full three-fourths in its favor
We do not think this heavy prepon-
derance of any consequences as safeguard
against an Executive veto, for President
Grant has repeatedly expressed his approba-
ton of the bill and his intention to sign 1t
if it should pass both houses The strong
majority in the Senate is important only as
smoothing the way for its prompt passage by
the House. Having no fears of veto, we
are quite Indifferent whether it passes the
latter body by large or o small majority.
Pass it certainly will, and our informa-
ton leads us to believe that it will be at
least by two-thirds, and very likely three
fourths The House is more directly
amenable to public sentiment than the
Senate, owing to the shorter terms
of its members; and, as the strong
vote in the Senate is due in great
part to the warm Endorsement of the
bill by the country, we may expect this in
Auence to be even more potential in the
House. 1t is to be brought to o vote at
three O'Clock to-day, and in our next issue
we shall be able to record the fact that its
triumph is put beyond the reach of acct
dent
We have no opinion, and nobody has any
data for an opinion, as to whether Mr.. Hayes
or Mr.. Tilden will be installed as President
under the operation Of this bill 1t is one
of it's chief merits that the tribunal it con-
stitutes will be so impartial, honorable and
SO bound by s:rict law as to battle calcula-
ton and curiosity respecting the result OF It's
adjudication. The bill awards the Presi-
dency to neither claimant, and is so far
from foreshadowing the result that extreme
partisans on both sides make a violent recall
citration against it. Honorable and pa
triotlc men who are also stanch partisans-
like Messrs. Conkling and Edmunds on the
republican side, and Messrs. Thurman and
Bayard on the democratic side--accept and
advocate it because it protects the country
against formidable contingencies, and be-
cause they are willing to submit what they
believe to be strong case in behalf
of their respective candidates to the
sible statesmen and jurists who stand high
in public confidence and will be sworn to
do justice according to the constitution and
laws. If Mr.. Hayes has been legally
elected the tribunal will SO declare; if Mr..
Tilden has been legally elected the tribu-
nal will declare that The most important
points it will have to decide are not ques-
tions of fact, but questions of law; and
hence the eminent propriety of calling in
the assistance of men whose high judicial
station and trained capacity to decide
difficult legal questions fit them above all
other citizens for the performance Of such
duties.
The legal questions which the tribunal
will be required to adjudicate are
| intricate and difficult. Take for illustra-
ton one of the least important-that which
will be presented from Oregon. We, of
course, do not refer to the preposterous pre-
tence of Cronin to appoint an electoral col
lege and cast the vote of the State, but to
the title of Postmaster Watts to act as
Presidential elector, which he did. There
| can be no question that his election on the
! 9TH of November was void, the constitution
being explicit on that point. The real ques-
ton is whether that explicit prohibition can
be circumvented and evaded by an er postfacto
removal of the disability. Watts, although
the constitution forbade his election, re-
signed, on the day the college met, an Office
to which he had no title and to which the
constitution made him ineligible, and was
Immediately reappointed to fill the assumed
vacancy. What is the constitutional pro-
hibition worth if it can be so easily nullifed?
1t is true that Mr.. Watts resigned his Office
of postmaster after his void appointment as
a Presidential elector, but that er post fdcto
act could not validate his election. Whether
it could legalize his subsequent appointment
to fill the vacancy caused by his pretended
resignation of an Office he never held
is one of the questions which the electoral
tribunal will have to decide. If decided
in the negative Oregon will have but two
legal votes, and one of the possible results
of such decision might he a tie in the
electoral colleges and an election of the
President by the House of Representa-
tives. Legal intricacies of q more difficult
character will have to be adjudicated in
connection with Louisiana. The facts in
that State seem so favorable to Mr.. Tilden
that his friends are very confident; but
tho law will have to be considered as we'll
as the facts, and the law is more favorable
to Mr.. Hayes. It is q question Of State
law, and it is long settled rule
of the federal Supreme Court to
| cnnctrna Sfata laws in accordanca