The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1877-01-25
CURRENT EVENTS,
Home and Foreign Nows
by telegraph. .4. s,.s,,..

9Emhracanr Home and ForciEn News
by TeIeErnpl,. 5ss sf.s,a
THE USE OF TROOPS IN THE S OUT HIM
PARCHMENT sTALKED OF--THE senate.
| . RIAL coNTEsT,IN iGEoRGIA, NEW JER-
sEY, MASSACHUSETTS, AND WEST vlR-
GINfA-THE LATE MEMPHIS ROBBERY
AND SHOOTING 5AEFRAY-ARREsT OF AN
ALLEGED OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES MANU-
FACTURER m CINCfNEATI-THE K1L-
BOURNE SUIT, &C.. &c.
a.,i,,,s4 .s,-sr.s b t;s Ea-s.s-, an
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. Session.
WASHINGTON, january "a; 1877.
a SENATE. '1:''t~s &C.
When the consideration OF the unfinished
bushes fbeing the bin In regard to counting
the electoral yote> was resumed MIR. Conk-
ling, who was entitled 10 the floor, not
having arrived, Mr. Sargent OF California,
took the door, and spoke In opposition to
tbe hill s9 = TIGiEu-h Htz8a.t p { ~ i','
Senator Sargent argued that the president
Of the Senate should count the electoral
vote as part OF the Executive Department
Of the Government.
Mr.. Conkling concluded his speech.
The Senate will remain in session all
night. No one doubts that the Senate will
pass the bill.
Mr.. Conkling presented petition hume
rously signed by merchants and business
men Of New York in favor OF the passage
of the pending bill in regard to the electoral
count. Laid on the table.
He said he would present to the Senate,
were it not addressed to the special COM
mittee, telegram received this morning
from Indiana, signed by thirty-seven Re-
publicans and three Democrats, expressing
their gratitude for the intelligent and patri-
otto labors Of the special committee, which
have resulted in bill for the settlement Of
the presidential question, and expressing
the most earnest desire that it may become
law. ......,
Among the signatures to the telegram is
noticed the names Of Conrad Baker, who
was once Governor; that of Leonidas Sex
ton, who was once Lieutenant Governor;
that OF Mr.. Gordon, the Republican candi-
date for Attorney General; and that Of Ben.
Harrison, who was the candidate for Gov
ernor, and carried the flag, and CALAMITY led
the late canvass in Indiana, though it was
disastrous. Mr.. Conkling then handed the
telegram to Mr.. Morton amidst laughter on
the floor and in the galleries.
| Senator Alcorn favors, and Senators Con-
over, Spencer, and Bruce oppose, the bill.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,.
| Speeches were made on the resolutions
reported by the Committee on Privileges
by Mr.. McDiil, OF Iowa, against, and by
hir. Bright, of Tennessee, in favor Of them.
They went over without action.
| Bills to extend the time for completing
the Northern Pacific railroad, for amending
the Texas Pacific railroad acts, and for fix
Ling the rates OF transportation across the
railroad bridge at Omaha, were reported
and referred to the Committee OF the Whole.
A resolution for select committee on the
use of troops in the South to influence the
election was introduced. After discus
sion, in which the proposed mode Of pro-
cedure in sending for persons and papers
was characterized as indecent and against
the proprieties and etiquette OF official life,
and in which Watterson, OF Kentucky, in
timated that impeachment proceedings
against the President had only been pre-
vented early in the session by the opposition
Of what was termed the Confederate ele-
ment, the resolution went over.
Mr.. Stone sent up and had read the reso-
lutions of the Chamber OF Commerce OF St.
Louis in favor OF the compromise bill on
the presidential election. The paper was
ordered to be printed in the Record.
THE ELECTORAL BILL.
The House resumed consideration of the
resolutions reported from the special COM
mittee on powers and privileges Of the
House.
Mr.. McDiIl, member OF the committee,
said he regretted that there were two re-
ports, and that the committee had not been
able to agree. A unanimous report on this
important question would have been spec
tacle worthy of the highest admiration. He
felt bound to differ from the majority OF the
committee, because they held that the power
OF the House was exclusive and absolute in
the count OF the electoral vote. II the doc
trine Of the majority is correct, then for
nearly a century the Congress OF the United
States has misunderstood its powers and
duties over the presidential election: In his
opinion the resolutions Of the majority were
condemned by the report Of the Joint COM
mittee; which report he hoped to see adopt
ed by the House and by Congress, for it
would settle this vexed question. With re-
ference to the count. he contended that the
House was present only in ministerial ca
pacity, and by no means in judicial capa-
city. il the House could exercise the power
claimed for it by the majority OF the com.
mittee, then henceforth the President OF the
United States would be the mere creature,
the mere puppet, Of the House OF Repre-.
sentatives, and would be obliged to do their
bidding. His independence would be ut.
terly subverted. The theory OF the MAORI
1 ty. too. excludes the president of the Sem
ate from any real participation in the count:
and thus the strange idea is advanced that
Z the person who is made the custodian ano
keeper OF the votes under the Constitution
is excluded, while those who are only in.
yited to be present are to be the judges. He
& would not contend that under the Constitu.
I tion1t the president of the Senate alone could
make the count; but he did insist that he had
a prominent part in the transaction. ); The
fathers of the Constitution evidently intend.
ed that this officer should have much to dc
with the count, and should not merely break
the seals Of. the envelopes containing The
votes, but he was ain actual participant in
the count. The Constitution :cdoes not
determine whether the president OF tht
Senate has or has. not q vote. but it settles
the fact that he. is q factor in the count;
The fifth resolution, which declared that No
j vote should he counted without the consent
of the House, was an assumption of authori.
ty which he could not by any means endorse.
There was nothing in tho Constitution to
warrant this assumption. In his
opinion it was not even. warranted
by the twenty-seeond joint rule. BE
was not bound to endorse that joint rule,
for he was not member OF Congress when
it was adopted. There was good excuse,
however, for Its adoption; for it was aques.
ton whether the votes OF certain States
should be counted by reason OF their rela.
Its- II MI 1T4 nlsyIo r