The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-01-25
THE ELECTORAL QUESTION.
\ Plan Proposed by the Joint C0mmit
tee for o settlement.

tee for settlement.
The roper. Of the ;nint committee an-
pointed by the Senate aud House of
Representatives 10 devise a Plan fer
counting the electoral votes was submit
;ed TO Congress on Thursday lust. The
report is accompanied by u bill to regu-
late the count and secure the decision of
questions arising thereon. These docu-
lnents were presented in the Senate by
Mr. Edmunds, aud in the House of Rep.
rescniatives by Mr. Payne. The report
is signed by thirteen members of the
omnlittec-Senator Morton alone dis
senting. IN presenting the report to the
Senate, Senator Edmunds, OF Vermont,
said:
81 am directed, Mr. President, 10y the
select committee raised under the resolu-
tion of the Senate, on the subject of
counting of the Electoral vote, to submit
ing bill The report is signed, I am
happy to say, by all the members of both
committees, (it being report in form,
joint and several, to the two houses, with
one exception; and all that wish to say
on tins occasion, after stating that we
shall desire to take it mp at the earliest
possible day, as time is running very fast,
possibly, and, hope, indeed, ON Sutur-
dny, the day after Tomorrow, but certain
~ on Monday, TO press it to q dctermina-
tion in some form steadily from that time
forth. only wish 10 say, in addition,
that the committee are of opinion that
the measure we recommend is rot, rs il
Is called, compromise, in any sense of
the term, but is 4 measure Of justice in
aid of the exercise of constitutional gov
crnment, and that in no sense of the
term will anybody haze n just right to
say that anyDody's opinion or view has
been SUI .ndered in any substantial re-
spect. 1t IS not measure of policy or
contrivance, but measure Of cDnstitu-
tional Justice for the preservation of the
peace and order of government"
REMARKS OF THE COMMITTEE.
We have applied the utmost practical
ble study and deliberation to the subject,
and believe that the bill now reported is
the best attanable disposition of the
different problems and disputed theories
arising out of the late election. 1t must
be obvious to every person conversant
with the history Of the country anG with
the formation and Interpretation of the
constitution, that tn wide diversity of
views and opinions touching the subject,
not wholly coincident with the biassed
wishes of the members of political par
ties, would naturally exist. We have, in
this state of affairs, chosen, therefore,
not to deal with abstract questions save
so far as they are necessarily involved in
the legislation proposed. 1t is, of course,
plain that the report Of the bill implies
that in our opinion legislation may be
had on the subject in accordance with
the constitution; but we think the law
proposed is inconsistent with few of the
principal theories upon the subject The
constitution requires that the electoral
votes shall be counted upon particular
occasion. All will agree that the votes
named in the constitution are the consti-
tutional votes Of the State and no other,
and when they have been found and
identified there is nothing left to be dis
puted or decided. All the rest is the
mere clerical work of summing up the
numbers, which being done, the constitu-
tion itself declares the consequences
This bill, then, is only directed to ascer-
tanning for the purpose, and in aid of the
counting, what are the constitutional
votes of the respective States; and what.
ever Jurisdiction exists for such purposes
the bill only regulates the method Of ey-
ercising it.
The constitution, our great instrument
and security for liberty and order, speaks
} in the amplest language for all such cases
iii whatever aspect they may be prescn-
ted. 1t declares that the Congress shall
have power Ito make all laws which
shall be necessary and proper for carry
ing into execution the foregoing powers
and all other powers vested by the con-
stitution in the government of the United
States, or any department or officer
thereof"
The committee, therefore, think that
the law proposed cannot be justly assoiled
as unconstitutional by any one. For
this reason we think it unnecessary,
whatever may be our own individual
views, to discuss any of the theories re-
ferred to. Our fidelity to the constitution
is observed when we find that the Inv we
recommend is consistent with that instru-
ment. The matter then being a proper
subject for legislation, the fitness of the
means proposed becomes the next sub
ject of consideration. Upnn this we beg
leave to submit few brief observations.
in all just. governments, both public and
private, rights must be defined and de-
to the very idea of such government,
aud is the characteristic distinction be-
tween free and dcspotic systems. How
ever important it may oe whether one
citizen or another shall be the Chief
Magistrate for n period prescribed, upen
just theories Of civil institutions it ia OF
far greater moment that the will of the
people lawfully expressed in the choice
of that officer shall be ascertained and
carried into effect in lawful |ay. It is
true that i'll every operation of govern
ment of laws, from the most trivial to
the most important, there will always be
the possibility that the result reached
Will not be true one. The executive
officer may not wisely perform his duty,
the courts may not truly declare the law,
and the legislative body may not enact
the best laws. But in either case to re-
sist the act of the Executive, the Courts
or the Legislature, acting constitutionaly
and lawfully within their sphere, would
be to set up anarchy in the place of gov
ernment. We think, then, that to pro.
vide clear and lawful m ans of perform
ing great and necessary function of
government in a time of such public dis
pute is of far greater importance than
the particular advantage that any man OF
party may in the course of events posi-
bly obtain. But we have still endeavored
to provide such lawful agencies of decis-
ION in the present case ns shall be the
most fair and impartial possible under
the circumstances. Each Of the branches
: of the Legislature and the Judiciary are
represented in the tribunal in equal pro-