The daily gazette., 1877-01-23
THE ELECTORAL BILL.
4 4 -F- ErN
CON OF THE DEB Ale
"a In THE sENATE. II -
'NAT0R MORTONiq OPPOSITION.
THE GHOST OF INTIMIDATION
STILL STALKING ABROAD.
SENATOR FRELINGHUYsEN IN SUP
PORT OF THE MEASURE. ..Iil

WARRINGTON, Jan, %, 1877.
SENATOR MoRToS's OPPOSITION TO THE
ELECTORAL BLL-THE IsIpoRTANcE
OF COUNTING IN HAYEs-A SPEECH AD-
DRESSED TO THE UNINBoRMED-coN-
TINUANCE OF THE DEBATE.
From the N. Y. Herald, OF to-day.
The debate on the Electoral bill was
opened this morning by Senator Morton
who had very large and attentive au.
dience, which went away at the close
with a general impression that Mr.. Nor.
ton had made failure. He seemed to
be in ill-health, and it is said this evening
that he means to speak again, perhaps to-
morrow. His argument consisted chiefly
of the assertion that "Rutherford b.
Hayes was elected President and must
and shall be counted in; that the Vice
President would count him, and there
fore the Vice President ought to be al
lowed to count the votes, and that any
bill, plan or law whatever would only
lessen MI, Hayes chanches, and ought,
therefore, to be opposed" He seemed
In the great part Of the speech to address
himself to i'll informed people in the
country rather than to the reason and in
ltelligence of the Senate. He said, for in
stance
"If we should fail to agree upon bill
this would leave the question where it
has been for eighty-four years, and the
Vice President, if he counts the vote,
will be no further wrong than his prede.
| cessors have been for three-quarters of a
century.
Probably every Senator who heard him
knows that the Vice President has never
since the time Of Washington counted
the vote, and that since the first Presi-
Dental election the two houses have but
once failed to adopt "method of exam
lining the vote" reported to them by a
joint committee precisely as this bill for
the same purpose has been reported by
| joint committee. .
1t was the general opinion, therefore,
| that Mr.. Morton was addressing his re-
| marks to-day to the country at large, in
the hope to excite hostility to the COM
mittee's plau in the:minds OF uninormed
persons, and this belief was strengthened
when he clinched what is certainly a
misstatement by the assertion that
Rutherford b. Hayes was elected and
should be inaugurated, unless a bill pro-
viding that he shall be counted out shall
be passed" -ift
ATTITUDE OF THE PRESIDENT.
The moderation and clear common
SGuSt VI UA~o r6Slutub are III TSIIWbulues
contrast with Mr.. Morton's assertions
The President is reported to have said
con cerning the bill yesterday, while dis
cussing it with several gentlemen, that
he desired its adoption; that it seemed
to him fair and just; that the decision of
such O committee was needed I'd give
Governor Hayes, if he was elec5ed, a
clear title to the Presidential Office.
CONTINUANCE OF THE DEBATE,
Mr.. Frelinghuysen followed Mr. Nor
ton in defence OF the bill, and after a
few words between Messrs. Sherman and
| EdmHnds, Senator Cameron, Of Pehnsyl-
vania, closed the day, and for few min
utes greatly edited and amused the Sem
ate and the galleries.
Mr.. Bayard said the time fixed for
| this bill to become law, if 1t should be
ever one, was measured now by days and
not by weeks. While his general views
were contained in the report which ac-
companied the bill, yet he felt every
member of the committee should give
expression to his faith in it, though he
would not retard the passage of the bill
in order to express his views upon it,
He would have sat in silence and per-
mitted this bill to have been voted ON to.
night, believing it to be just and essen
tial to the welfare of the country. Those
who were opposed to the bill should give
their reasons for opposing it. He hoped
it would be disposed of tomorrow So far
as the Senate was concerned.