Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-11-14

but go ahead and make the best fight we could
81 am well satisfied of one thing, and that is
that had Judge Davis been made member of
the commission in place of Justice Bradley, the
result would have been different. There was not
a member of the commission who had the moral
grandeur to rise higher than himself above the
pressure of party and be constantly and COM
pletely judge. There was not one of us strong
enough In combination of mental and moral
integrity to acquire convictions which would be
superior to our desires. In one sense it would
nave been fearful thing for man identified
with particular party, perhaps only recently
elected to congress by his party as its advocate
ana representatIve-it would have been fear
ful thlng Tor party man to vote against his
party on transcendent matter of that kind
Ihe circumstances were SO unusual, so out of
the range OF ordinary law cases, and the
opposing attorneys had been SO able
and profuse IN their arguments, each
side SO certain it was the right one until the
other had told its story-that great brain and
concentrated will were required in the man who
came to firm, we'll grounded conclusion. AS
for party. man, no matter how earnest and
conscientious, it seemed impossible for him to
conclude contrary to his party's welfare-a
mental impossibllity. No one expected any,
thing else of the ten members from the two
houses of congress-; but to the five justices it
was natural to look for something better
than this, for less biased even if not
absolutely free mental faculties. These we're
not partisans-were removed from all political
fields. The country had a right to expect more
of them than of the political senators and repre-
sentatiyes, yet, four of these justices were
known to have at least slight party preferences,
and a little allowance was made. The one man
of ali the fifteen to whom the country had a
right to look for the very highest type of the
Judicial quality, was Justice Bradley. He had
been selected the arbiter, the great umpire. In
his hand rested the whole matter. Upon his
vote hung the fate of the parties. We all felt
this, and after the first day or two all in man
ner settled down to the idea that the seven Dem
ocrats would throughout it all offset the seven
Republicans, leaving Justice Bradley the balance
of power"
81 believe it is now pretty well settled fact
that Mr.. Bradley early became a partisan COM
missioner IN the sense that the rest of Us we're
partisan. On one occasion and only one, and
that not an important one, did he fail to vote
with the Republicans. While it is not for me
to question the sincerity of his
action on any disputed point 1 am still satisfied
he failed to embrace the opportunity--such an
one as comes to one man in $4,000, 000-and rise
superior to all influences, interior or exterior
| tending to bias his judgment. But believe if
Mr.. Davis had been in his place he would have
risen to great height; that he would have been
judge and judge only in the highest and full
lest sense of the word.
81 know that Mr.. Davis has one
of the Hottest characters ever
known in American public life
accompanied by great mental powers and in
dividuaity. 1 we'll remember studying his
nDi ptnnn NIfri,f
ing shortly after the Inauguration at little old
fashioned tea party given by western senator.
Judge Davis requested Mr.. Payne, of Ohio, to
tell him his views of the whole case, and Mr..
Payne complied at some length. l can quote
him scarcely at all, but one thing he said im-
pressed me deeply. 1t was: ''The counsel
ON the Democratic side made a
bad blunder in the case of
Louisiana. They never should have asked for
the acceptance of the ballots of the Democratic
electors from that state, but they should have
demanded the throwing out of the entire vote of
the state as tainted with fraud, wrong and irreg-
ularity. There was precedent for this, and it
would have accorded exactly with the best in
terpretations of constitutional law. 1t is the
states privilege to cast ascertain and certify to
congress her vote for the federal president.
Her vote when properly ascertained and
forwarded is entitled to be counted, but when q
state sends to congress not one set of ballots but
| two; when two rival parties claim to be the
electors, neither with all their credentials in
regular form; when the whole election in that
state and the canvassiug of its vote has been
enacted by lawlessness, frauds, briberies, irreg-
| ularIties; when a state so loosely governs her
affairs as to drift into such deplJrable stu
| atom, her votes should be excluded altogether
II she cannot send up to Washington
| what congress could safely accept as an accurate
regular, untaipted record of the results OF her
Ill. Il
| This continued Mr. Payne, s'was the case in
| the state in Louisiana. There were charges and
| oountercharges of the evidence which the cOun.
| sci desired to offer. Such had been the conduct
of the election and of the canvass, that L doubt
if any man living can tell what the actual result
of the election was. There was ne
| such certlhcatlon of the result
as the government was bound to accept, and i
was clear to all the returns more nearly regular
were born in the greater irregularity and fraud
| Under these circumstances the vote of the STATE
| should have been excluded entirely. Florid;
might have been served in the came way anC
possibly South Carolina, but the Louisiana cas-,
was the most lagrant.'
This is only an imperfect fragment of MIR
| Payne's remarks this phase of the case
As he reached the depth of the muddl
and made it rs clear as daylight b.
his mastery Interpretation of the law of remov
| al of apparent obstacles, closely studied Judg
Davis face. lie said scarcelya word and no
long after Mr.. Payne had finished the converse
ton changed TO another subject, but | am Il
well satisfied as l live that Mr. Davis agree,
with Mr.. Payne, and that if he had been sittiny
in Mr.. Bradley's seat on the commission, Mr.
Iilden, not Alr. Hayes, would have been in
augurated.
''As l have said before,' con
! tinued the speaker, ''the one uncertainty 0
the electoral comm ission at the beginning wa
the position of Judge Bradley. | do not believ
it was expected, either in the committee or out
side OF it, that any OF the fourteen so-callet
political members would vote any other wa,
than with their party on all occasions. 1t wa
| tacitly understood that Justice Bradley was TIN
balance of power, but it was early to be seel
that Dir. Bradley was almost as partisan as tn,
rest of US When the Florida casC
came up he promptly voted witt
the Republicans on the main question
which eventually settled the whole matter il
Hayes favor. Our only hope then to throw
out al ineligible Hayes elector. When thif
question raised as to Humphreys, the fed
eral Office holder, an ineligible Hayes elector,
| vote was taken as to whether evidence of elig
ibilty should be admitted. Mr.. Bradley voted
with US, and when we adjourned for the nigh
there was some hope he would vote with tn,
Democrats to exclude Humphreys' ballot OF
the ground of his constitutional ineligibilitJ
when we should reach the question mex
day. Some of US had noticed for some time thu
strong influence which Justice Miller exerte,
over Justice Bradley. Miller was q man O
| great individuality, strength of mind and nor