The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-03-07

hve members of the Senate. together witt
five others persons to be selected in th,
mode in which the bill provides, shall
act for the two Houses in counting tn,
e returns. This was subject, Mr.. Speaker
, which was considered very much a
: length by the distinguished men who
framed this Constitution. II is hy nc
means new question. 1t was debated
in that convention at great length, anC
t debated in the convention of every State
, where the Constitution was subsequently,
, considered. In the convention Oh Penn
, sylvania a distinguish member of the
Convention in 1887 and also a member o.
the State convention to ratify and adop
the Constitution submitted by ii, alludt
to Mr.. Wilson, of Pennsylvania, USED
this language:
The convention; sir, were perplexcd with
no part o. this plan so much as with the
mode of choosing the President of the
United States.-EIliot's Debates, volume 3
page 29..
So that it will be observed that in that
convention we have the testimony of Mr.
Wilson that no subject engaged more
largely the attention of the convention
than the meth ID and mode OF counting
the electoral vote. Then, sir, we have
the testimony of Mr.. Mason in the Vir-
ginia convention on the same subject, who
used this language:
We know the advantage the few have
| over the many. They can with facility act
| in concert and on uniform system; they
may join, scheme, and plot against the peO-
! pie without any chance of detection. The
/ Senate and President will form "A com bina-
| ton that cannot b. prevented by the Rep
| resentatives. The executive and legislative
powers thus connected will DESTROY al bal
ances In its present form the guilty try
themselves. The President i tried by his
! counselorS. lie Is not removed from office
! during his tri1l. When he is arraigued for
! treason he has the command of the Army
and may surround the Senate with thirty
! thousand troops. But | suppose that the
| cure for all evils, the virtue and integrity
| of our representatives. will be thought sutfi-
! Gent security .-ElliOt's Debates volume ,.
! page 1854.
| | will refer to what was said by Mr..
Iredale in the convention of North Caro-
lima, when commenting on the manner in
which the President was to be elected
and the vote counted Mr.. Iredale used
this language:
| The committee will recollect that the Pres
| ilcnt i, TO be elected 10y electors appointed
| by each State, according to the number of
Senators and Representatives which the
! State may be emitted to in the Congress;
| they are TO meet in the same day through
our the States and vote by ballot for two
persons, one of whom shall not be an in
habitant OF the Slme State with themselves.
These votes are Afterwards to b: transmit
ted under seal to the seat of General Gov
eminent. The person who has the greatest
number of votes, ii the majority of the
whole, will be President If more than one
have majority and equal woes, the House
OF Repre- sentatives are to choose one of
them. Ii none have majority of votes,
han IA of ~
choose which of the persons they think
proper out of the five highest on the list.
the person having tn next greatest num-
Der of votes is to be tie Vice-President, un-
less two or more shall have equal votes, in
which case the Senate Is to choose one of
them for Nice-President. If | recollect
right, these are the princi pal Characteristics.
Thus, sir, two men will be in Office ut the
same time: the President, who possesses in
the highest degree the confidence of his
country. and the Nice-President. who is
thought to be next person in the Union
most iit tn perform this trust. Here, sir,
every contingency is provided for. No fac
ton or omblnaion can bring about the
election. Ii is probable that the choice will
always fal upon man of experience and
fidelity. In all human probability no bet
ter mode of&lection could have sen devils
ed.
Governor Randolph, of Virginia, in the
debates in replying t. the criticisms of
MIR. Henry on the large powers invested
in the President AMI in favoring the
adoption of the Constitution, used these
significant words in regard to the election
of President:
How is the President elected? By the
people, on the same day throughout the |
United Sta'eS, by those whom the people |
please There can be no concert between !
the electors. The votes are sent sealed to |
{ 'OnUrp%S a
the Laws executed."-Eliot's Debates. |
Convention of 1877, volume 2, pages I6G, |
So, and $50.
So that it will be observed that two of |
the most prominent members of the con-
vention Of 1887, afterward acting in /
their State conventions, Mr.. Iredale, of I
North Carolina, and Mr. Randolph, of
Virginia, in speaking of transmitting the |
votes, did not speak of Transmitting them .
to the Vice President or the President of I
the Senate, but of transmitting them to
Congress, showing that the idea was that
Congress possessed power to supervise the
count of those votes.
We have witnessed, sir, in latter days,
an extraordinary assumption of authori-
ty and power, and particularly in this
last election, by those controlling the
military forces of the Government. That
too was a subject under consideration
by this convention, 1t was denounced
by no man in terms more emphatic than I
it was by Mr.. Dawes, when he reminded
the convention that Charles III in En-
gland had kept in pay an army Of 5000
men, that James III had incI eased it to
30, 900, and that this justly excited the
alarm, indignation, and apprehension of
the English people, so tnat when Will
lam III assembled the throne they in
grated that principle on the English con
stitution which so many of the States,
have borrowed, declaring that in no case
should the Executive arm, equip, or di-
rect troops except by the assent of the
Legislative Department of the Govern
ment.
So it. will be observed that in every
one of the conventions they spoke of re-
turning votes to Congress, and not to the
Vice President. The gentleman from
Ohio Mr.. Garfield in the course Of his
said that the first section of this
bill destroyed the electoral college entire
ly in the States. How so? On the con-
trary, it will be found in the sixth clause
of the bill that it provides that the action
of this commission shall be reviewed by
either House upon the motion of five
of the House and FIVE Senators.
| quote that portion of the bill in order
to show that the gentleman from Ohio has
neither construed the first section nor the
subsequent one correctly in referen nee to
this matter:
Whereupon the two Houses shall again
meet; and such decision shall be read and
entered in the Journal OF each House, and
he counting of the votes shall proceed in
herewith