The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1877-01-11


ment, I am forced to believe that the two
Houses Of Congress will participate in
the counting of the vote as they have
done in times past, and that they will
not be simply spectators Of an act per-
formed by, the presiding officer. of the
Senate.
Sd. The next House will not elect the
President No President can be chosen
bys the House of Representatives unless
It is done before the 4th of March, 1877.
IF no President has been chosen on that
day the president of the Senate will be
inaugurated and will serve until new
election eau, be held The. 18th article
of, amendments to the Constitution is so
explicit on this point that there can be
NO difference of opinion in regard to it.
4th. The vote of no State will be re-
.jected without the concurrence OF both
houses of Congress. Neither house has
ever exercised the power of throwing out
the Electoral vote of a State without the
consent of the other. The only instance
in which one house has rejected votes
occurred under the 22d Joint Rule, and
the concurrence in those cases took place
in the adoption of the rule. Nothing
which was done by the authority of that
rule can be cited as binding precedent
now that the rule is repealed. Speaker
Randall's idea that the 22d Joint Rule is
still in force will be repudiated by the
House if it ever gets an opportunity to
vote on the question. tH
5th. The genuine official returns Of the
three contested Southern States may be
received as prima facie evidence of how
the votes Of those States ought to be
counted; but they will not be considered
az final proof. In other words, both
Houses will agree to 60 behind the Off
cisl returns and decide from other evi-
dehce which return, if either, ought to be
counted in. each case. It seems to me
that the Senate by instructing its COM
'mittee to investigate the election in FIVE
Southern States and in Oregon, and to
examine into the qualifications of Elec-
tors in other States, has admitted the
right, the necessity even, of going behind
official certificates which may be illegal
or fraudulent, and acting on the facts.
The House will Of course demand it as a
right. 1
9Th. No questions either of law or fact
will be submitted to the Supreme Court
for its decision. The pretended inter
view with Judge Miller printed two
weeks ago has made the Democrats un-
willing to make the Supreme Court an
arbiter of anything in connection with
the Presidential controversy. They say
that although he has made qualified
denial of the authenticity Of the inter-
view; they know that his sentiments were
not misrepresented. .- The Republicans,
on the other hand, find difficulty in de-
yising a mode, of bringing any question
legally before the Supreme Court, and |
have been unable to find much, DISPOSE
ton among them to submit to that tri-
'bunal any of the questions over which
Congress. if any one, has jurisdiction.
7th. The Democrats will not get their
missing vote from Oregon. Some of the
Democrats still cling to the theory that
Cronin's organization Of the Electoral
College of that State was legal, but the
ground now held by the more conserya'
tive of them is that no election took place
in Oregon, except as to the choice of two
Electors. .
9Th. The House of Representatives will
not of itself declare that there has been
no election Of President, and proceed to
choose one: The right of the House to
elect a President is contingent on the
failure of choice by the Electors, aud
while the question whether the Electors
have succeeded or not remains open, a
vote by the House would be nnconstitu-
tional. illegal and void. Nor is there
any precedent authorizing the House to
decide this question. The trainers Of the
constitution did not contemplate the pos
sibility of doubt ever existing on this
subject, and SO they did not provide for
its adjudication; but the common-sense
view of the case is that whoever has All.
thority to count the Electoral vote alone
has authority to determine whether an
election has taken place or not. As no.
body asserts the, right Of the House, by
itself, to count the vote, I do not believe
that the Democratic party will claim the
=, right for the House, by itself, to deter
mine what the result of'the count has
been. '" '-''.
All that I have said in regard to what
: will not take place as to- counting the
Electorat vote will be subject to 'modif-
cation under certain circumstances which
I have not considered as likely to exist.
7 have assumed that in spite of all the
wild and extreme talk one hears among
politicians On both sides in Washington,
each house will finally be careful to take
no positive step for which there is not at
least the 'coofbrr of sanction in the consti-
tuition, the laws, or well-established
precedent. But ifeither party should 60
outside of that sanction and assume
powers which have not heretofore been
accorded It and the exercise of which
would give it an unfair advantage, then il
is impossible to foretell' how far the other
7 may 60 To counteract it. For instance, il
the House should plant itself on the ex-
treme ground that it has the power With.
nut the consent of the Senate to reject
the vote. of any State then the Senate
might also be driven to the equally ex-
treme ground of making its presiding
officer the sole judge of the validity OF
all the returns, Violent and threatening
demonstrations in the Democratic meet
ings on the 9th of January would also
Intensity the excitement and unfit both
houses to deal with the crisis with much
calnness or reason. But do not antci.
pate anything Of the kind.
,-''f g, q. L. w.
II THEELEcroRAL VoTE OF THIS STATE
In: conversation Monday evening Mr.
Saylor, of Ohio, the chairman Of the
House investigating committee for South
Carolina, said that he thought it very
probable that a minority-report would be
nude by the Republican members Of the
committee upon the electoral vote of the
State. Mr.. Saylor was asked how this
was possible in the face of the published
statement that the committee, as whole,
conceded that the, Hayes and Wheeler
electors had been elected, and the com