The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1877-08-26

Senators and Representatives Of all parties,
and that tho Electoral Commission voted
that they would take no cognzance Of tho
Illegal and fraudulent acts of the Returning
Boards Of Louisiana and other States, be-
causo those acts were within the compe-
tcncy of those States respectively, and were
beyond the jurisdiction OF the Commission.
This is n full and unqualified endorsement.
not only Of the constitutional validity Of the
Commission, but of tho constitutional and
legal validity Of its decisions. We shall
now put this matter straight home upon
Mr.. WILLIAMS and all other asscrters Of Mr.
HAYts's title.
The first objection to that title is. that
under the Constitution all the Senators and
all the Representatives Of all the States had
no power whatever to dcvolve on n special
| tribunal or ON any tribunal the dctcrmi-
nation Of what electoral votes were to bc
counted and what were not to bc counted.
No matter who assentcd To it, the Electoral
Commission law was the dcvolution upon a
special tribunal Of Il duty which the Consti-
tuition intended should be performed by the
two Houses of Congress. The Constitution
vests the power of counting the electoral
votes in the two Houses and it is n maxim
] VI NiiiN'i 7il INV tildl u ufltGAlfu power
cannot bc delegated to another by the
trustee who is appointed to exercise it. 1t
was mere evasion of this universal princ-
! pie of law to provide that II special tribunal
/ should decide what We're true electoral
votes. and then that their decision should
! govern the count, unless "a majority Of the
| two Houses should ovcrrulc II. After the
! question on particular electoral votes had
passed through the alembic of the Commits
sion, and had come out Of it in the shape Of
determination having the authority Of Il
/ decision made binding unless somebody
should. 10y Directing to it, interposc sort of
appeal to the two Houses the two Houses
were fcttorcd by process that was entirely
cNtra-constitutiUnal and especially dam
gcrous. -
The next objection to Mr.. HAYES title Is,
that the decision of the Electoral Commits
sion affirming that the Illegal and frauau-
lent acts of the Returning Boards we're
beyond the jurisdiction Of the two Houses
could not be inquired into by the two
Houses. in counting the electoral votes, was
a lhphstrouSly false proposition Of cunstitu-
ti1nal law. Let it bee observed that. accord
Ing TO the theory of the Electoral Commits
sion law, what the Commission were to
decide, and did. 10y their vote of 5 to = decide.
WITS not. a. Mr.. WILLIAMS state, it. that
those fraudulent acts were beyond the
jurisdiction of the Commission, but that
they were beyond the jurisdiction Of the
two Houses in counting the electoral votes
The question whether they were beyond the
jurisdiction of the Commission involved only
the meaning of a statute The question
whether they We're beyond the jurisdiction
of tll" two Houses involved the meaning Of
the Constitution, because it involved the
whole scope and meaning Of the duty Of
counting the electoral votes 1t is utterly
and dangerously false to pretend that that
duty does not extend 10 any inquiry into
the frauds Of State officers who have sent
up false certificate Of the electoral votes of
their state. 1his is the point ON which the
people of this country are in danger OF being
deludcd 10y the decision of that uncon-titu-
tional Commission. II they accept this doe
trinc, if they allow it to become established
by precedent that State Returning Boards
can commit any frauds they please in de-
caring who have been chosen Presidential
electors, and that the two Houses Of Con-
grcss cannot inquire into those frauds. we
shall have just as many Presidents, with
just such titles as Mr.. HAYES as often
as majority Of the Senators and Repre-
sentatives can be manipulated into an ncqui- |
essence in tho rascalities Of Returning
Boards and certifying officers.
Another objection to Mr.. lIAYEss title Is, |
that 1t rests on the acts and conduct Of "A |
single individual, who held the casting vote
IN an unconstitutional tribunal and who is
believed to have been governed, not by the
arguments publicly addressed To his reason
and his conscience, but 10y appliances, solicit
tatlois, and pressure privately employed to |
induce hiin to act against his real personal
convictions Perhaps it may never be-
proved in this world, how Judge BRADLEY
was made To give his casting vote as he did
But, however this may turn out. the fact
that IA President Of the United States has
been made by the act Of a single individual,
and he not n member Of either House of
Congress-!n the face Of the most glaring
proofs Of fraud known 10 the whole worlds
Il fact that must forever remain one of the
elements Of Mr.. HAYEs's title. Even II it IS
To be regarded as only moral element in
that title, when IT is added to the legal and
constitutional objections, the whole together
give to the title an aspect SO revolving to
every sense OF constitutional and moral Obli-
CATION, that any Democrat, or any intell-
gent man OF any party, who can uphold Mr..
HAYES title AS "valid must be Il singu-
larly constituted individual.
All that can be- said about Mr. HAYES is
that he is de tdciO President, and that, in the
interest of peace, it is not eXpedicnt to use
physical force to eject him from the Office
But IN the interests of truth and Justice, Of
sound law and public morals, and Of the
future safety of our institutions, the validity
Of his title must be admitted by nobody but
those who have proiited or who expect to
profit by his possession OF the Office.