The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1878-06-21
THE PRESIDENTIAL TITLE.

Report OF the House Judiciary Committee.
The report which Mr.. Hartridge sub
mitted to the lower house of Congress,
in behalf of the majority of the Ju-
dietary Committee, declaring that the
Presidents title is unassailable-and
which was adopted by vote of ga to
14-is as follows:
The Committee ON the Judiciary, to whom
was referred House bill No. :, and the reso-
lutions of the Legislature Of the State Of Mary
land directing judicial proceedings to give ef
feet to the electoral vote of that State in the
last election Of President and Vice President
of the United States, report back said bill and
resolutions, with recommendation that the
bill do not pass Your committee are Of the
opinion that Congress has no power under the
constitution to confer upon the Supreme Court
of the United States the original jurisdic-
ton sought for it by this bill. The
only clause of the constitution which
could be plAusibly invoked to en-;
machinery for the litigation proposed is that
which gives the Supreme Court original juris-
diction in " cases. or controversies" between
State and the citizens of another State. The
committee are Of opinion that this expression
ceases" and controversies" was not intended,
by the the trainers OF the constitution, to en-
brace an original proceeding by State in the
Supreme Court Of the United States to Dust
any incumbent from political Office filed by
the declaration and decision Of the two houses
of Congress, clothed with the constitutional
power to count the electoral votes, and decided
as a final tribunal upon the election of Presi-
dent and Vice President
The Forty-fourth Congress selected COM
mission to count the votes for President and
Vice President, reserving to itself the right to
ratfy or reject such count in the way pre-
scribed in the act creating such commission.
=. Ill sH~l
the count made by the commission, and thus
made it the expression of its own judgment.
All the departments Of the Federal Govern
ment, all the State governments in their rela-
tons to Federal authority, foreign nations,
the people Of the United States, all the
material interests and industries of the country
have acquiesced in, and acted in accordance
with, the pronounced finding OF the Congress
In the opinion Of this committee the present
Congress has no power TO undo the work of its
predecessor in counting the electoral vote, or
10 confer upon any judicial tribunal the right
to pass upon, and perhaps set aside, the action
OF that predecessor In reference TO purely
political question, the decision of which is con-
fided by the constitution in Congress.
But, apart from these fundamental objec-
tions to the bill under consideration, there are
features and provisions in 1t which are entirely
impracticable. Your committee can find no
warrant of authority to summon the Chief JUS
tees of the Supreme Courts of the several
States to sit at Washington as a jury to try any
case, however grave and weighty may be its
nature. The right to summon must carry with
1t the power to enforce obedience to the man.
date, and the committee can see no means by
which the judicial officers of State can be
compelled to assume the functions of jurors in
the Supreme Court of the United States.
There are other objections to the practical
working OF the bill under consideration, to
which we do not think it necessary to refer.
1t may be true that the state of Maryland
has been, in the late election for President and
Vice President, deprived Of her just and full
right in declaring who we're legally chosen, by
Ieason OF frauds perpetrated by Returning
Boards in some Of the States. 1t may also be
true that these fraudulent acts were counte-
nanced or encouraged or participated in by
some who now enjoy high offices as the fruit Of
such frauds IL Is due to the present genera
ton Of the people Of this country and their
posterity, and to the principles on which our
Government il founded, that all evidence tend
ing to establish the fact Of such fraudulent
practices should be calmly, carefully and vigor-
ously examined. But your committee are OF
opinion that the consequence OF such examina-
ton, if it discloses guilt upon the part of any
in high official position, should not be an effort
to set aside the judgment Of a former Congress
as to the election of President aud Vice
President, but should be confined TO the pun
ishment by legal and constitutional means of
VIC ohohuoIo, diiu w tho picnoi Nalioh ahu pei
petuation Of the evidences Of their guilt, 80
that the American people may be protected
from recurrence OF the crime.
Three Republican members of the
committee, Mr.. Frye. Mr.. Conger, and
Mr.. Lapham, add the following:
We agree to The foregoing report, so far as il
states reasons for the resolution adopted by
the committee, but dissent from the conclud-
ing portion, as not pertinent to the inquiry be-
fore us, and as giving an implied sanction to
the propriety of the pending investigation,
ordered by the majority of the House of Rep
resentatives, to which we were and are opposed.