The daily gazette., 1877-02-17
From the N. Y. Sun. o. l.'''' ''''.n
THE LOUISIANA DECISION FOR
HAYES.


Last night decision In favor of the
Hayes electors from Louisiana was given
in the Electoral Commission by vote of
to 7-Justice Bradley being with the
majority, and the division being upon the
regular party lines.
Ordered utst the eU dence be not receired,
This was the order adopted-8 to Tin
the afternoon, on the motion of Hoar of
Massachusetts,; and it practically carried
with it the decision which was given at
the evening session. 1t excluded all the
evidence offered in support of any and
every objection made to the counting of
the Hayes electors. Upon the introduce
ton of Hoar's order, Abbot of Massa-
chusetts offered numberofsubstitutesf
1t, one after the other, covering the vari-
Gus objections; bnt they were each and
all rejected-8 to las soon as offered
The first favored the reception of evil
dence to show the unconstitutionahty of
the Returning Board and its acts; the
second to show 1t was not legally consti-
tuted; the third to shows its alleged
frauds; the fourth, to show it had not
jurisdiction to canvass the votes for elec-
tors; the fifth to show that it acted upon
false, fabricated, and forged affidavits in
the rejection Of over 10000 votes; and the
| sixth, to show that it was guilty of false
pretences in the compilation and canvass
Of the votes. When all Of Mr.. Abbott's
substitutes had been rejected, Senator
Bayard offered a resolution tn take evil
dence regarding the ineligibility of GER
tain Hayes electors; and finally Mr.. Jus
tice Field offered general resolution in
favor of admitting evidence upon the
several matters which the Democratic
objectors had offered to prove; but these
also were rejected--8 to . and then the
Hoar's order against all evidence was
| pas ,ed,
The report of the Electoral Commits
sion will to-day be sent in to the Joint
convention of both Houses of Congress
SENATOR BAYARD's VIEWS
Senator Bayard. in an interview this
| evening, said that now that the ban of
| secrecy had heen removed from the pro-
| ceedings of the commission he was will
/ ing for the first time to talk freely upon
| the subject. He said that he had noticed
| that full accounts of the proceedings OF
the commission had been published from
time to time In Republican papers, and
that some of his associates in the Senate
had reproached him for not giving any
information saying that they had to 20
| to Republican sources for 1t. His answer
answer to them had been that 1t made no
difference that he should keep his part
of the original agreement. He said that
the decision of to-day was a sad one-and
on account of its far reaching Effects
| Under the decision as made all protection
for the States was gone. The precedent
established by this tribunal made it pos.
sible for members of the House of Repre-
sentatives for United States Senators and
Federal officials of any sort or character
for officers in the army even, to be made
members of the Electoral College, and
that there would be no power to reject
them.
| He also said thar under this same de,
cision there was no bar against an alien
a man convicted of treason. or ever
JEFF. Davis, from becoming President
provided he had been voted for in the
by the so-called State Governments
The opinion OF the commission was one
that had no basis in law or in fact.
was an opinion made solely to fit tn,
case. While he thus spoke so strongl,
in denunciation of the decision of tn
commission, he yet distinctly re-affirmet
his belief in the original bill.
He said it was goodmeasure, and tina
if 1t had been carried out according to tn
spirit of those who had prepared it, h,
believes the Democrats would have hat
not only a reasonable show, but woult
have been morally certain of their victo
ry. He said that the presence of a Wig
orous partisan upon such a commission
had its effect in poisoning the judicia
element. He pointed then to men tha
the Democrats had selected to be place,
upon this commission. In the Senat,
the two most active of those engaged il
the preparation Of the bill, and its warm
est friends, were selected. In the Hous
the Democrats selected there two origi
nal makers of the bill and one other VIII
was its firm friend. The Republicans il
the Senate had selected first Mr.. Mortol
who was its bitter enemy, who went upol
the commission for the sole purpose O
poisoning and defeating it, Morton haC
been the bitter enemy of the bill until b,
found that it could be brought to his use
and then he was 6ercely for it. Conlslin
who was its friend. was rejected after tw
days causcusing. Frelinghuysen, VIII,
voted for the bill in the committee, mad
speech against its character in the Sc
nate, in which he said that it would cer
tainly elect Hayes, Notwithstanding hi
opinion he says that he does not know O
single Democratic member of the com
mission who intends to resign. They in
tend to stand by the bill to very last
whatever the result mvy be. They Wi
rigidly perform their part of the original
bargain.