New Orleans Republican., 1877-02-14

bury and Mcdonald, and by Representa- |
tives jerks, Tucker, Gibson, Field, Levy |
and Egbert.
MIR. Wood, of New York, submitted fur |
ther objection to the Hayes and Wheeler |
certificates, on the ground that the electors |
were not elected as provided By the Legis- |
lature.
Mr.. Howe, of Wisconsin, submitted OBJ |
lection to the Tilden and Hendricks Ger. |
Iifcstee, on the ground that there was no |
evidence these electors had been appointed |
in such manner as the Legislature directed, |
while there was evidence conclusive in law |
that neither of them had been SO appointed; |
also on the ground that there was no evil |
dence that McEnery was Governor of |
Louisiana in the year 1876, while there was |
conclusive evidence that Kellogg was, |
during 1876 and for several years prior |
thereto, Governor of that State, and was |
recognized as such by the judicial and leg |
slative departments of Louisiana, and by |
all the departments of the government of |
theEUnited States.
The Presiding 0fieer-"Are there further |
| objections to the State of louisiana" After
pause-''There being no further objection,
| all the certificates from that State, with the
papers accompanying the same, together
with the objections, will be submitted to
the Electoral Commission for Judgment and
decision. The Senate will now withdraw to
| its chamber"
|
The Electoral Commission was called to
order at four o'clock, and received the Ger
| tidcstes and accompanying papers in the
| Louisiana case.
Messrs. Field, Campbell, Trumbull, Car
penter, Merrick, Hoadly and Green, counsel
for Democrats; and Evarts, Matthew. Shell
labarger and StoughtOn, for the Repub'
licans, appeared.
The commission adjourned to eleven
O'Clock on Tuesday.
According to adjournment, the commits
mission met at eleven O'Clock on Tuesday.
Justice Clifford announced that two hours
for argument for each sidewOuld be allowed,
and the commission was ready to hear OBJ
iectOrs to Hayes certificates.
Senator Mcdonald opened, claiming that
the Hayes electors were not legally elected,
quoting the statutes of Louisiana, showing
two sets of electoral laws. Whether one law
repealed the other, or whether they should
run together, the proceedings of the Lo1isi-
ana Returning Board were alike irregular
and unlawful.
Mr.. Jenks concluded by asking the COM
mission to let the truth chine upon the
whole transaction. If you do, said he,
there can be but one single result; the
wisest of men, the strongest of men, can
not make the false true. No false govern
ment should be set up Solomon set up a
false government to his cost. If you at
tempt to blind the eyes of this mighty ma
| UlO0, your 6QICG Will D6 VOlut 1Of history
will know the truth and record it. No, we
want to clear out all the pollution, and to
purge the nation of the disgrace of the
, fraudulent act of this vile Returning Board.
, Mr.. HurlDut, one of the ObjectOrs to the
certificate No 2-the Tilden papers-after
briefly reviewing the history of Louisiana
, for several years since, claimed that the
, Kellogg government had been officially
recognized by the President of the United
States and by both houses of Congress.
John MeEnery has not attempted to exer-
a else the functions of Governor since 1874,
! and yet he now comes forward and attempts
to give certificates to men who claim to
have been elected Tilden electors.
/ Mr.. Hurlbut read one of the certificates
t to show its peculiar phrsseology, and that
McEnery did not sign himself as Governor
r and did not use the great seal of the State
+ he had no seal, nor did he have any Office
4 The fact being settled that Kellogg is the
only lawful executive of Louisiana, he
/ | would ask the commission whether they
3 had the right or The time to investigate the
8 election in that Statel He read from the
a laws of Louisiana to sustain his argument
3 Mr.. Howe followed Mr.. Hurlbut on the
. same side.
t The commission adjourned to six o'clock
On reassembling at 6 p. M. Mr.
D Carpenter asked the indulgence of the
!, court for an argument on the statutes pre-
? vious to the opening of the case, and the
submission of proof the time to come Out
of the four and half hours. The request
3 was granted, and Mr.. Carpenter began his
9 address, asserting that he appeared moi
only for the present elected President, but
: perhaps for the next Republican candi
date. He wanted precedent established
SO that if he should receive q majority Of
{ 10000 in that State, no returning board
3 could cheat him out of it. If the precedent
I | of returning boards was tolerated, who wat
| evr1 20 halt hat akawa
be another President 81 ected by the people,
, Why go into the expense of political
campaign, when returning boards can be
. brlbed for tithe of the cost He next went
into an inquiry as to the nature of the tri
Q buDal, and the character of its powers. he
argued that as Congress had reserved the
J right to review the action of the tribunal
: it did not and could not exercise iudicia
power. He submitted that wherever any
z measure was pending before it, the commits
l sion had the power to investigate to itl
hearts content; there was no limit to theii
4 power to investigate. 1t might be done BY
g a committee of either house, or by join
b committee, or by commission; the lat
!, ter had become common practice
; in England. He maintained that by
no construction could this committet
d be made to appear as anything else thar
/ a legislative investigating committee. The
a duty conferred upon the commission was II
inquire who had been duly appointed elect
d Ors in such States; not who seemed to b,
elected, but who was duly appointed elect
8 Ors of the State of Louisiana; and to do i
J. it was clothed with all the powers of both
It houses.
n If this commission could not go to the bot
Il tom of the question, then, indeed, it wa
J. bottomless, and there was no means to pre-
vent the greatest fraud that had ever beel
+ put upon the country. Neither the defeat
o ed candidate, nor the country, would b
r satisfied with the action of the commission
t If it was taken without an inquiry into tn
Z, facts, while all would cheerfully abide by
i decision reached after due investigation, /
q the decision here was technical one OI
d false certificates, the case would go to thi
! judicial tribunals to vex the country TO
l. months, and perhaps for years.
Mr.. Carpenter continued his argument
claiming that the title to an office rested in
Z the election to the office and not in the
certificates, and cited authorities for thi
: view of the law. He held that it was the
duty of the commission to 60 back of th
. certificates, and, if need be, 70 the election
to ascertain who were the legally appOinte'
electors.
: He next went into consideration of tn
+ election laws of Louisiana, covering tn
! act of 1865 which was Incorporated in th
! Revised Statutes. which were mad9 effect
!, i've by the act of March IA, 1870 to tax
) effect on the first of April. The genera
election law was passed on the sixteenth Q
March, two days later, but sixteen day
before the Revised Statutes went into opel
atiOn, and 3 question arose whether th
u act going into effect latest recalled the &C
passed subsequently, bat first to go int
If the law of 1858 AZ earr;ad into the r,