The news and herald. [volume] (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1876-1881, 1877-01-31


great lawyer who will lead tho de-
bate in favor Of "the fair course of
equal law which shall Justly settle
this dispute" Thurman's grey head
is seen among the officials at the
clerks desk, where he looks directly
at tho whole Senate. Ransom, the
Confederate General, who will be
known hereafter rs the Signer of the
Peace Measure, talks quietly to his
brother officer in the late war, Gen.
eral Gordon, of Georgia, whose
cheek shews conspicuously the plow.
ing path of u YANKEE" bullet.
THE ENTRANCE OF JUDGE EDMUNDs
But it is five minutes before l
o'clock, the hour set for beginning
the famous debate. Judge Edmunds
comes in quietly at tho Senate libra
ry door with couple of law books
in his hand, ono of which he will use
in his speech to quote sentence
from case in which the Supreme
Court of "thc great State of Penn
sylvania" and the Supreme Court
of tho United States joined battle
over q slave. The Chairman of tho
Judiciary Committee and tho first
signer of the report on the act pro-
viding plan for the counting of the
electoral vote gives unmistakable
token Of being great man as he
rises in his place, sends to the Clerk S
desk a morocco-bound, gilt~edge
copy Of the Constitution, and asks
thaG the twelfth article may be read.
His stature is tall and bis figure
rather spare, but his face is tho face
of one of those fine old Puritans with
whom we associate the very founda-
ton Of the Republic. It is impossi
bic to ignore the whispers around
you, from men capable of Judging,
that he is finest constitutional
lawyer of them ALL
IF he errs at all, he will cir in
being too technical remarks ono OF
the ablest of the Senators, rs they
all push forward into the vacant
seats nearest the speaker A mo-
mentary passes, while "Ulysses Jul
nior" (n boy just springing out of
his tcens) announces q message from
his father, and the Senator begins.
THE SENATOR ON HIS FEET.
He rises with dignity, but without
any of the fuss of outward prepuru-
ton. His desk is free from
papers or notef of any kind, the two
law books on his desk being the
only sign of an intended speech. He
speaks slowly and deliberately, with
Il distinct articulation, and the lis
tening and crowded Senate and gal
leries loso no word of the mastery
effort. After the first sen to nee.
spoken with his hand clutching the
lapel Of his coat, he moves out to
the front Of the desk, and raising his
voice slightly proceeds with his
opening Of tho case in "wllich ten
millions of voting citizens have been
engaged in contest SO close that it
has become matter of serious dis
pute between five million on one
side and five million on the other, as
to whom they have chosen to the
highest place in the Republic" He
does not make an exhaustive argu-
ment on the act, but takes up the
most salient points. The allusion
to the ditfercntg geographical sections
of the country in which tho Judges
Of the Supreme Court 1.-Two is the
finest bit of descriptive word-painting
in the speech. He brings out
strongly his view that "this is til
bunal to pass, not upon'a future or a
policy, but upon accomplished
facts" The right to 60 behind the
action of tho State Returning Boards
he discusses with all the skill of tho
jurist, and leaves the ascertainment
of that right under the ''now exist
ing laws" to tho tribunal to decide,
When he comes to the right of Con
gress to pass this bill, and the "pre-
tension" to use his own word, that
the occupant of the Chair of the
Senate has the sole and exclusive
right to count the vote, he riddles
the arguments of the holders of this
view and sums up President Ferry
and the paramount Congress in the
sentence, "the Judge in tribunal
decides, the clerk counts" The
only suspicion of departure from
the gravity of the occasion occurs
when he says. aftor stating several
propositions, "to borrow q phrase
from my friend from Ohio (Thu,-
many, 'that won't do .
He closes in the hearing of Gar.
field and Scott. Lord and Clymer,
and any number of members who
have come over from the other
chamber and filled the lounges and
chairs of the Senate's floor, with this
sentence
Having said SO much, Mr.. Presi.
dent, for he present I dismiss this
subject in the hope that tho Senate
will carefully consider whether it is
wise (by stimulating doubts in their
own minds, or by allowing their
wishes to outrun their iudgment) to
send this Republic on the first
Thursday in February or the second
WoGp ac1ou ~, that p,p,,kb Ill, H.