Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-06-04
A National Returning Board.

w NAnlUUIOUg VIC HAOllu NttlAl ~ lllAluH~
sible for so dangerous and revolution
ary a measure to be carried. 1t is In
fragrant opposition to the spirit Of the
Constitution, II is contrary TO the only
political doctrine the Democratic party
has left, and it is sure TO result i'm fraud
and wholesale injustice.
Nothing can be clearer than that the
Federal Constitution requires the Pres
ident to be elected by the States. The
Legislatures are to appoint Electors
in any manner they see fit; the Electors
are to meet in their respective States
and transmit the result Of their ballot
ing to the President of the United
States Senate. The laws enacted from
time to time to carry out these prOvis-
ions of the Constitution establish the
methods by which each State is to de-
termine through its own returning Off
GERS what Electors have been chosen,
and the proper authorities of the State
are to give to the Electors formal GER
titicates of title, which must accompa-
ny the statement of their ballots trans
mitted to the President of the Senate.
Nowhere is it so much as limited
that the choice of Electors may
be, or can be, determined, save
in their respective States, and by the
lawful State authorities. The votes
which they are to cast are regarded as
the votes of the States, not of the peo-
pie; and the States must select their
own agents in their own way. This is
so plainly in accordance with the Dem
ocratic theory of State Rights that it is
not easy to see how any Democrat can
bring himself to question it. During
| the arguments before the Electoral
Commission, the managers of Mr.. Til
denis case urged this very doctrine as a
plea for rejecting the Hayes votes from
| Florida. In the objections to the Re-
| publican Electors, Senators Jones,
Cooper and Mcdonald and Representa-
| tives ID. ID. Field, Tucker, jerks and
| Springer took the extreme ground that
| even If the certificates originally issued
| to the Republicans by Governor Stearns
" ever had any validity" they had been
" annulled and declared void " by the
subsequent action of Governor Drew,
and also by a resolution of the Florida
Legislature and Judgment of the Su-
preme Court of the State. 1t would be
impossible to make broader assertion
of the final and plenary authority of the
State in passing upon the title of its
Electors than by assuming, as the Dem
ocratic managers did in this case, that
after valid certificate had been issued
to one set of Electors the State could
annul it and issue another certificate to
a different set, and that its judgment in
this extraordinary and arbitrary course
must be conclusive upon Congress in
counting the votes.
But by the proposed joint resolution
the two houses of Congress are to re-
solve themselves every four years into
a National Returning Board to revise
the figures of the State Canvassers. The
names of all the Electors are to be sub
mitted for approval, before the votes
are counted, and if the two houses
agree in rejecting any vote it shall not
be counted. As the two houses are
now controlled by the same party, the
effect of this resolution would be tC
give the Democracy of Washington
absolute control over the choice of the
next President; and whenever the
Democrats find themselves on the
point of losing their majority they can
modify the joint resolution to suit the
new exigency. Under the famous 22C
I joint rule it was possible for one house
, to prevent the counting of a vote, and
! the rule was dropped because that wa'
considered dangerous. But in former
!, years there was general respect fol
the right of the States to vote for whom
they pleased, and most of the trick
and outrages by which the Democrats
now try to vitiate Presidential elections
: : had not been invented. 1t is an un
, pleasant truth to contemplate, but tht
probability of fraudulent objections Il
an Electoral vote is tenfold greater thai
it was ten years ago, and the chanc,
that the present Congress would decide
such objections upon other than purel,
partisan considerations is almost in
iinitely small.
If we would realize what the caucu
resolution means we must call to mint
the character of the objections whic
the Democrats raised to some of tn
Electoral votes in 1877. They attempt
, ed to throw out the vote of Mr.. Hum
t phreys, in Florida, because he had bee
4 United States Shipping Commissioner
? 1t was proved that he resigned tina
= office a month before the Novembe
D election his resignation was immt
a diately accepted by the Judge of tn
q United States Circuit Court, and ar
i other person was assigned to the dutie
v of the vacant place. Nevertheless, tn
n Democratic counsel before the Electors
e Commission insisted that the vot
o ought to be excluded, because the az
a ceptance of Mr. Humphreys resigns
v tion by Judge Woods appeared to b
o 1.-THE act of an individual, and not tn
IS act of the Court - If this absurd prt
> text had been admitted, Mr.. Tide
e would have been made Presiden
J. Trivial objections to the eligibility {
o Republican Electors in Michigan
II Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin
IS or to the regularity of certai
h appointments to fill vacancies, wer
/ warmly debated in the Senate and th
ia House; and everybody remembers VIII,
.. happened in Oregon when a sham Ele,
% toral College was set up with none
1t furnished by Colonel PeltOn, for tE
re purpose of defeating the admitte
1t wishes of the people of the State. III
% whole Democratic party fought toot
-e and nail for that piece of chicaner,
" and if the joint resolution now pre-
" posed had then been in force, with
IA Democratic majority in both house
il Cronin and "Gobble,n with the aid
e. Pelton's five thousand dollars, wou
ID have chosen the President of the Unite
le States.
le No reasonable being doubts that Il
Of same tactics will be pursued again. II
l. preparations are plainly visible.
IN would not surprise us much to hear eve
d. of the appointment of a Democrat
ht Electoral College in Maine by Governt
lg Garcelon's BOGUS Legislature resusC