New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-02-24

Vice President Of the United States, such
elections shall be held on the Tuesday next
after the first Monday in the month Of No
Vember in accordance with the cot OF Con
gress of the United States, approved Janu-
airy %, 1875 and such election shall be held
and conducted in the manner and form pro-
vided by law for such elections"
Now, in this presidential electors act
there are twoprovisions which do bear on
questions that we are to discuss as to the
proper method of carrying on, certifying,
and canvassing the election held last No
vember, if they were in force and will
ask your attention to them. I will trst
read section four, which is IS follows:
"That Immediately after the receipt OF the
return from cash parish, or on the fourth
Monday of November, If the returns should
not sooner arrive, the Governor, in the
presence of the Secretary of State, the At
tOrney General and district judge of the dis
trict in which the seat of government may
be established, or eny two of them, shall
examine the returns and ascertain there
from the seven pereOns who have been duly
elected electors"
Then there are certain administrative
provisions not important. Then the eighth
section is as follows:
THAT if any one or more of the electors
chosen by the people shall fail from any
cause whatever to attend at the appointed
T.
prescribed for their meeting, 1t shall be the
duty of the other electors immediately to
proceed by authority to supply the vacancy
or vacancies"
Now our learned, and ingenious friend
INF. Carpenterl argned that it was wholly
immaterial to the practical result of this
case whether you held that law was re-
pealed or whether You held that it was In
force. He said that if it was repealed so
as to carry down the canvassing section,
then section eight being carried down the
power to fill vacancies did not exist, and
two vacancies were therefore left in the
College of Electors, which, as he said,
would be enough for his purpose. and that
is doubtless true as regards the latter pro
position. But we are under no such limitar
ton as that. By the subsequent laws the
canvassing section was repealed, and by no
subsequent laws was the rest of the cleo
toraI act affected. Now that is the PROPOSE
ton which at least hberates us and
this commission from any confusion or from
any resort to either of the horns of the di
lemma. Why do we say thisf There came
about, in 1870 a revision of the statutes of
the State of LOuisiana-not q repeal, mot a
re-enactrnent, but a reduction of the laws
that were already understood to be in force,
and in regard to which the fat of the Legis-
lsture was to be impressed upon them that
thew were the laws in fOrce-a transaction
entirely similar to that which took place in
Congress in the prOductlonot the Revised
Statutes under which we now act. On this
point will read from book published in
1876.
Commissioner Bradley have the orig
inal publication, which the counsel can use
if he chooses.
Mr. Evarts-Iiwill be very glad to avail
myself of the volume. In the first place
there was a statute entitled Elections"
Then there comes, after the general pro
visions about elections granted under this
| consolidated table of elections, statute
concerning contested elections, which in
terms ia referred to as the statute of 1850
| mage 408. This contested election law il
reprinted as a law already in existence.
Commissioner Thurman-Is counsel read
| ing from the Revised Statutes!
Mr.. Evarts-I am reading from the edi
| ton Of 1875, which is the proper one.
Commissioner Thurman-Was chat passed
/ as one sct3
Mr.. Evarts-I understand that it was
| Then we have another title in these be
vised Statutes, separated 100 pages from
the other, entitled presidential Electors
ION page SOY, which begins by reciting thu
acts of Congress, and then in ten section
enumerates the provisions OF that subject
Now, those two laws, being for our puT
poses the same as the laws of 1868, we're il
force when these Revised Statutes cam,
into operation, unless by actual repeal
These were passed on the fourteenth o
March, 1870, and on the sixteenth of March
1870, a law was passed and is to be tOun
in the first edition of this compilation. In
title of this act ia the same as that OF tn
election act of 1868 in its general PROPOSE
lions to regulate elections and enforce al
tiele 1903. Now, this act provides, at se'
ton fifty-fOur, that the Governor, LieuteI
ant Governor, Secretary of State, an
John Lynch and T. G. Anderson, or ms
iority of them, shall be the returning OF
GERS for all elections in the State, an
there is at section eighty-fve - tn
final section of the act-the repealln
clause, "that all laws or parts of laws COL
trary to the provisions of this act, and a
laws relating to the same subject matte
are hereby repealed, and this act shall tab
effect from and after its passage" Nov
, what went down under that repeal2 In IL
! first place, upon general principles, all
! the Revised Statutes that came under Il
! title of elections" enforcing this provlslo
: | No. l03, and all parts of other laws TIL
: were within the purview of the conduct
! elections held in that State, and no 9th
: parts of said laws, were repealed by tn
: section. Now the election of 1872 was he
= under that law. Did anybody in Louisial
), conceive that the Governor was to canvas
Some question was raised whether the act
:, 1872 which was passed of the twentieth
: November to provide another RetuE
II ing Board, was IN operation, but t
courts of the State, in the authorities th
. have been proposed for your hORors' GO
: sideration by my learned associates, dlspC
of this question as to who were the retul
&c ing board and the cAnvassing board-bei
e one and the same thing, in November, IL
= prior to the twentieth of that mon
= Therefore, the whole operation of this
90 IN nf nF norton
- the independent acts, the general elect
acts and the presidential election act twh
- was not an act concerning their eleetl
but concerning the discharge of tn
4 duties, giving them nothing but the stat
y apparatus( remained UNMARRIED except
- canvassing board. Now, whether the
wasting board of 1868 was the same or 7
IF is not material. Now comes the act OF Il
n. which is reproduced.
N Commissioner Bradley-Right there,
o. your attention has not been called to it,
to me state that the digest of the staff
he made Immediately after the revision
"a publication in January, 1871, contains Il
al two titles-the revision itself under the
Nv of ELECTIONS" and the title OF presiden
IN, electors. The digest is made by John
N under the direction of the committee OF
re, vision, and in that digest, under the heai
nd Elections" he inserts the same title
De- the revision contains, with the exception
an the Returning Board, which seems to
ne cate the impression of the profession at
,ts time.
le- Mr.. Evarts-I thank you for the re
he ence.
", Resuming, MT. Evarts said: The Canv
ty. ing Board section of the act of 1868 wal
an pesled by the act of 1870. Did any of t
Of eminent learners who attended in New
ed, leans during the month of November
of gest that Governor Kellogg ought to
we vass these votes of presidential eleci
On But now the vice, the fault, the incur