The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1877-02-05

here about going behind the action Of ,h
State. lie believed firmly in the soyel
eign power oil State to appoint any pei
son an elector, provided Il was done /
the manner prescribed by her Legisls
ture, and he believed that after the Of
pOintment was made In that manner n
man had right TO say il was not a
appointment III TO be made, anybody
whether an officer Of the State or an of
Ger OF the General Government, who TN
dertook 10 set aside such an appointment
as that would be guilty Of usurpation @
authority, and his net would be utterl
void. Therefore, II the Governor Q
Florida In this case, after the appoint
ment OF these electors was made BY III
people, undertook TO certify that the
were not elected and TO put somebody els
in their place, that act was utterly void
false and fraudulent. They were no
going behind the act OF the State in th,
case; they were only going behind tn
fraudulent act Of on officer OF the State
whose act had no validity whatever in 1t
When they were told that II the Pres
ident OF the Senate laid before tht
two Houses false paper; a paper thai
was absolutely counterfeit, and that thai
was the end oil il, and that no extraneous
evidence could be produced for the pur.
pose OF showing that the paper was q
forgery, the doctrine went too far. II
that proposition was carried out 10 its
logical conclusions, then it would follow
that the two houses Of Congress must
simply:receive whatever any body chooses
to fabricate and to lay before them
through the President Of the Senate, and
that neither the President OF the Senate
nor either Of the houses, nor both Of them
together, could do anything in the matter
but just take whatever was given without
inquiring into its genuiness. All the
work OF the eounterfeiter was as we'll
entitled TO be regarded as the truth us
the mere spawn OF n criminal got up for
purpose Of cheating the people OF the
State and the people Of the Union by over
turning and over throwing the great prin-
ciple underlying the institutions OF
the country. The man who undertook to
say he certified to the election of these
men while at the time he did il there was
on the record which Law before him evi.
dence that the fact was the other way was
the connterleiter md the paper issued by
him was fraudulent. II the paper was
fraudulent was it not as void
in law and us corrupt in
morals, as ifil was simple counterfeit
made by somebody else than by the man
who protessed to sign it. Mr.. Black cited
what he called evidence Of fraud, the
various proceedings to overturn Hayes,
and added: The State had determined
not TO be cheated out Of her vote, and had
determined that she would ascertain the
truth, in some undcniable way, by
proceedings, the correctness and truth Of
which could never be impeached. She,
had taken those usurpers by the throat
had dragged them into court Of Justice
and there in the presence Of competent
tribunal had impeached them; charged
them with the ofiense before the other
parties who were claimed TO be elected,
and set them face to face. The proofs
had been given on both sides and there
had been solemn adjudication by that
court Of competent jurisdiction that the
persons who claimed TO cast their votes
for Hayes and Wheeler had no right or
authority or power whatever to do that
thing, and that decision, Mr.. Black ar
gned, was final.
ARGUMENT OF EDWIN sToUGHToN.
Mr.. Stoughton, colleague CT Mr.. Math-
ews, said that this Court, unquestionably
will see that it employ no testimony,
not in harmony with law. The inrisdic.
tion Of this body is to count the vote, and
its power when counting, Is TO Use such
proof, il any, as the constitution and laws
permit. The purpose OF the testimony
offered, is to go behind, not merely the
Governors certificate but the proposal
is to so behind the action Of the tribunal,
which the State has set up, or else
this testimony offered, Is senseless
and worthless. What is specially offered to
maintain the right to have the votes
counted for Tilden? We have before us
a certificate OF the Attorney General OF
Florida, who dissented from n majority
Of the Returning Board, stating in that
certificate, with frankness, as he does,
that there is no method Of authenticating
that Tribunal, beyond his certificate
by the Governor. lltwould be an in viola.
tion OF the laws OF Florida for the Gov
ernor to certify to the election Of the Elec
tors who had been returned as such by
q minority OF the Board. What next
do we find ? n statute Of Florida, thrust
upon lis, passed on the 18th Of JAM, long
after these electors had voted, and au-
thorizing new canyasss That is the au.
thority for going behind the certificates
Of the electors which we suppose to be
legally coupled with the proceedings by a
quo warranto ultimating in n judgment
on the 26th Of January, declaring that
those persons who performed all their du-
ties on the 9th Of December were not
legal in their acts, but that all their acts
were illegal and invalid, and the learned
gentleman from Virginia (AIr. Tncker)
said that that swept away oil prior acts
of these officers dsfdeio, but he
gave us no authority. 1t had
often been held that where an
officer de factO was ousted by the proceed
ingS; all his acts were necessarily consid-
cred as valid and binding. Society could
not exist without such a rule. So here
the act OF the elector lawfully appointed
is legal and binding. The judgment Of
the Supreme Court Of Florida only de.
clared that the Returning Board had
made mistake, not that they had perpe-
trated fraud. 1t seems to me, in view
OF the Jurisdiction and capacity Of this
tribunal, in view Of its power to take tes.
timony, and in view Of the purpose OF
introducing this testimony which | have
undertaken to state, the application
ought to be overruled.
Gov. Wells Letter.
WASHINGTON, January S.-The follow.
ing is the text Of Gov. Wells letter which
lie sent to the House committee inquir-
ing into Louisiana matters:
The testimony Of Joseph H. Maddox
having been taken by your COMMITTEES in