The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-09-13

by such return he was declared elected.
:" The power of the Legislature to pass such
law cannot be doubted. Its validity, and the
conclusive effect due to the action of the Re.
turning Board thus constituted, have beer
passed upon by the Supreme Court Of Louis
lana. Hence the palpa5le error OF Judge
Black, who says, 1t is not denied that the sole
power of appointing electors for the States OF
Louisiana and Florida is in the people and
i adds THE seven reminded the eight but re
minded them in vain, that the due appoint
ment, which nobody in the world except the peo-
ple had the least right to make, was the very
thing which they were there to find out And,
near the close of his article, he states After
| all, there was but one question before the COM
mission. Had the American people a right to
elect their own Chief Magistrate? They had
the right. Their ancestors struggled for it
| long, fought for it often, and now, it fairly
| being imbedded in the constitution it cannot
| be destroyed except by force strong enough
| to overthrow the organic structure of the Gov
eminent ITSELF Who should know better than
the author of these high-sounding phrases that
all are utterly destitute of foundation? They
were. however, essential to point his ibels
against the majority of the commission for
unless it was the duty of it's members to violate
the law of the State disregard the
finding of the Returning Boards, scru-
tinize the polls, and count the vote given
denunciations degenerate into low and vulgar
abuse. Hence his unfOunded assertion that the
people alone had power to appoint the electors
and his rash declaration that the one question
before the commission was Had the American
people right to elect their own Chief Magis-
trate? No such question was before it. They
have no such right imbedded in their constitl-
ton or elsewhere nor have the people of
Louisiana or Florida the power to appoint
OH hat To-
land, vested in each State, to be exercised liz
such manner as the Legislature thereof may
direct.
"Indeed, those who framed and adopted the
constitution of the United States were careful
to exclude from the American people the right
to elect their Chief Magistrate. After provid-
ing for the appointment of electors, that instru-
ment declares that, should they fail to elect
President, the President shall be chosen by the
House of Representatives. each State, small or
large, having but one vote. By this method
a President may, as Senator Morton has in the
last number of this ReUieaU demonstrated, be
elected, not by the American people, but by
forty-six members of the House of Representa-
tlyeS, against the wishes and the vote of the
other 247 1t is a waste of time and space to
expose Misrepresentation like those we en-
counter in almost every sentence of Judge
Blacks article. Examine them, and but poor
skeleton remains.
"rhe question before the commission was
not, Had the American people a right to elect
their Chief Magistrate not, What was the vote
for electors at the polls either of Florida or
Louisiana-for in both States substantially the
same Returning Boards existed-bat who were
appointed electors by those States and by the
State of Oregon in such manner as their Legis-
latmes had directed. A State acts and speaks
through it's officers duly constituted and the
41n-1 Nv 4lA Do4-,-
Boards of Louisiana and Florida, and by the
Secretary of State of Oregon were the acts and
declarations Of those States. They could thus,
and only thus, manifest their will to appoint
electors; and those declared to be such, cy Re-
turning Boards or officers having exclusive power
to do so, were appointed by those States in the
manner directed by their Legislatures.
Judge Black admits that 1t is undoubtedly
true that the State has the right to speak on
this subj eCt through her own organs, and, when
she does SO speak, her voice should be regarded
as true and he then proceeds to declare that
the Governor is her proper organ for that pur-
pose, and that, as the Hayes electors had the
executive certificate Of Florida and Louisiana,
it would not have been unreasonable to hold it
conclusive unless tainted with fraud and
this, he says, gave the eight great legal ad-
vantage, which, he adds, they threw away
as worthless because they were hedging
for Oregon This statement contains
gross perverslOn of the truth, and of the pur-
pose of majority of the commission. The
Governor of the State was not the organ of
either Louisiana, Florida, or Oregon, 10 declare
or certify who were electors. He had no power
to canvass the vote cast or to declare the re-
suit, or to state who had been appointed elect
Ors. He was as powerless in these respects as the
meanest private citizen, and for the reason
that the Legislatures of those States had con-
ferred upon Secretary Of State and upon Re-
turning Boards, of which he was not member
the exclusive jurisdiction before mentioned
Hence, although by act of Congress certified
copies of the list of electors are to be furnished
to them by direction of the Executive of the
State, which, with their votes for President
and Vice President, are to be transmitted to
the President of the Senate, the list so certi-
fed is founded wholly upon the final action of
canvassing and returning officers, who, in the
language of Judge Black, are the organs of
the State, speaking her voice, which should be
regarded as true. The commission therefore
held that, while the final determination of
Oregon, Louisiana and Florida thus expressed
must be obeyed, it might descend beneath
mere Executive certificates of what those Or
gans had done and declared, and from their
own records read the will and hear the voice
of the State"
After description of the "loathsome fraud ."
by which it was attempted to return Tilden
elector from Oregon, the writer goes on to the
case of Florida With his usual positiyeness.
Judge Black asserts that in Florida the statute
creating the Returning Board gave it ministe-
rial powers, and no authority to reject votes
actually cast for any cause whatever, and the
Supreme Court of that State had so decided
He also averred, with equal assurance that the
Returning Board of Louisiana acted under q
void statute, and without the least authority to
do what it performed and this in the face of
a decision of the highest court of that State.
Party passion and professional zeal, coupled
with professional defeat, inspire reckless state
ments. That of Judge Black that the Florida
statute gave only ministerial powers to the Re-
turning Board-by which he means authority
only to count and not to reject votes-is
answered from the statute itself, which de-
clares:
"'They shall proceed to canvass the returns
of said election, and determine and declare
who shall have been elected to any office and,
if any such return shall be shown or shall
appear to be SO irregular, false, or fraudulent
that the board shall be unable to determine the
true vote for any such officer or member, they
shall SO certify, and shall not include such re-
turn in their determination and declaration
r. 4