The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-01-11
SPEECH OF GENERAL DURBIN WARD.

Iorm escorted Dy the committee, ne was
loudly cheered. On taking the chair he
spoke as follows:
MY CoUNTRYMEN-We assemble on
grand, historic day consecrated to the
memory of that lion hearted, whose mot
to was. by the eternal the Union must
and shall be preserved" We must here be
inspired by the same patriotic spirit, tn
swear too, by the eternal "thdt The conSii-
tuition and the la,US shall be enforced" We
ask no more; will accept no less. To fol-
low the constitution, tne laws, the time
honored precedents ofthe past is to walk
in the path of duty and of safety. From
that path we will neither be seduced nor
driven: Wherever it leads, there we
travel, cost what it may, for this is the
road to peace and harmony, constitution
al union ana national prosperity. H..
Ny fellow citizens, the present crisis is
one of grave moment and yet one which
really ought to foreshadow no danger and
which can never lead to violence or dis
order if the people and the representa-
tives are true to the grand history of the
past and the grander promse of the iu.
ture. Who is president is comparatively
small matter and our deliberations
should Iise above mere party spirit. But
though the person who may be chosen is
ofslnall moment the principle on which
the present contest is settled is Of vast
importance ard you do well, my country
men, to meet and consult on this question.
1t may involve the existence of the re.
public itself. The friends of each of the
two candidates claim that he is elected.
This is not question to be decided by
windy harangues or by force or usurpa-
ton, by the violent dictates of party spi-
rit or the resolves of q town meeting. 1t
is great question of constitutional law
and can be otherwise settled than by
its rule and the long established usage of
the government. Let them be followed
and all danger vanishes. Let them be
departed from and who can tell the re-
sult2 The first and greatest question is,
who las Jurisdiction to decide this con-
test? The history of the past plainly
gives the answer. At the first election
for president the government was not
yet organized, no laws had been passed
and the government had to get its ma
chinery into running order, as best it could
with simply the constitution and the gen.
eral. public law as guides In 1893 the
tribunal of decision and the rules of pro-
cedure were first fixed by definite, we'll
considered action. Ever since that time
the tribunal and the rules Of procedure
have been the same. Disputes have arise
as to many different questions connected
with the acts of canvassing and declar'
ing who was elected president, but the
two Houses of Congress- have uniformly
assumed and exercised all the jurisdic-
ton that ever has been assumed and ex-
ercised, in verifying and determi' ing who
the people, through the electoral votes,
have chosen president and vice president,
And so they must do now. The two
houses of congress have this jurisdiction
and not the presiding officer of The senate
who is but the ministerial officer of that
body. He has not even, except by court.
esy, the right to preside over the action
of the Houses. In free America no one
man by his sovereign fiat is big enough to
count in president over the heads of the
people. When the two Houses have,
through their own appropriate means,
examined, canvassed and counted the
votes legally cast, then by their direction
and with their consent the president of
the senate has the august honor of being
their mouth piece and procaiming in the
forms of law to the peoples representa-
tives the result of the peoples choice. 1t
has ever been 30; and the two houses by
their committees are now preparing to
follow the precedents of the old times.
When the work of the two houses is thus
constitutionally done the result is final
and whoever is elected, Tilden or Hayes,
the people will see inaugurated. To this
concurrent action of the two houses SUBJ
mission is due and must be given. Tothe
usurpation of any other tribunal, submis-
sion is not due and will not be given. A
president with disputed title would not
command the respect of the Ameriuah
people and our constitution and laws are
not so defective nor our courts SO power
less sto have In quiet possession pre-
sident whose tenure of Office is fraud.
. When the two houses take jurisdiction
of the canvass and the count, the rules of
their procedure, subject only to the con-
stitution, they determine for themselves
In obedience to these rules or in the ab-
senCe of any such rules the two houses
must concur In counting votes enough to
makea majority of all the electors ap.
pointed or no candidate can be proclaim
ed as chosen by the electoral college and
the election ofa president will then con-
stitntionally devolve on the house and
that of vice president on the senate. The
votes Of the disputed states, Oregon,
South Carolina, Florida and louisiana
will be canvassed; the wheat winnowed
from the chaff; the law and the voice Of
the people respected; the arbitrary, lille.
gal and fraudulent work of the Louisiana
returning board will be'undone and tl,ir
teen thousand citizens restored to their
rights And for one l have abiding faith
that this constitutional course will be
taken and if it is taken and the law elects
Tilden and Hendricks they will be seat.
ed and judgement entered upon the
peoples verdict. rT1T-fI
My fellow citizens, perhaps ought to
CLOSE OuL uuJy lIupblb WOTu mOTo' We
hear il every where bruited about that
the president of the senate, under the
direction of a seat of partisan conspirat-
ors, resolved not to yield to the popular
verdict, will arrogate to himselfthe right
to receive and to decide which votes are
to be- counted only such as he knows
will elect Hayes, and then of his own
motion, without the concurrent action of
the two houses, proclaim Hayes elected,
and that Grant will enforce his inaugn-
ration by the military power ofthe gov
ernment. Bold and usurping as this
scheme is, it has been indorsed bv so
brave and influential a paper as the New
York Tribune, and is constantly asserted
by the eighty thousand Office holders of
the Radical party, And though charged
on them has not been disavowed by the
Radical leaders. tits this threat ofusur.
patton that gives the country alarm. a ~
Are we to be cheated in the capital as
we were in the South? Is the president
OF the senate to become an irresponsible