Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-02-12
COUNTING THE BIG VOTE.
EDMUNDS CREATES A STIR BY
PECULIAR PHRASEOLOGY.

the Adjournment of the Joint Session
/ "A Spirited Scene in the Chamber
! During the PrOceedings-some of the
LudicrOus Incidents.
w ASHINGTON. Feb. 1.-THE electoral
vote was quietly counted by the Senate
and House in joint convention this after
noon, and the election Of Cleveland and
| Hendricks as President and Vice Presi-
| dent for four years from March next
was formally ascertained and announced.
! The joint convention was in session only
/ an hour and quarter. No objection was
raised to any of the electoral returns.
The form employed by President Ed
munds in announcing the result was a
novel one. Mr.. Edmunds prepared
it himself very carefully with
| view to the theory he holds
that the Vice Presi dent or President pro
| TEN. Of the Senate has no right to declare
! who has been elected President or Vice
/ President. The form pleased the Demo-
/ Gratis IN both Houses, because the great
majority of them hold the same theory.
1t ought to have pleased the Republicans
/ because it established a precedent for
/ Vice President Hendricks. The Repub-
/ licans of the House were content with it.
Mr.. Springer, of Illinois, always little
/ cranky, was the only man in the House
who criticised it openly.
sILENCED BY MR.. BLACKBURN.
His criticism was silenced by the ap-
! prOval which Speaker pro TEN. Blackburn
| passed upon it, but in the Senate Messrs.
| Ingalls,, Sherman, Wilson and COnger eX-
! pressed the view generally held by the
! Republican Senators, that the Edmunds
! declaration was not in good form. They
! formulated their objection in a resolution
offered by Mr.. Ingalls, which, on a
formal objection by Mr.. Bayard, went over
| until tomorrow. So did the customary
resolution offered by Mr.. HOar on behalf of
the Senate tellers to the effect that the
proceeding of the joint convention had
been properly conducted and concluded.
None Of the Republican Senators
had any intention of. throwing
a doubt en- the election of Cleveland and
Hendricks. 1t would not have been pos
| sible for any one Of them to have done so
had he so desired. The requirements of
the constitution were all met by the joint
! convention. The constitution provides
that ''the President of the Senate shall in
the presence of the Senate and the House
! of Representatives, open all the certifi-
| Gates, and the votes shall then be counted,
the person having the greatest number of
votes for President shall be the President,
if such number be a majority of the whole
! nulnUCA VI GiGNbO-b dDpOlubHUs,
OBJECT OF THE REPUBLICANS.
These provisions had been strictly fol-
lowed by the joint convention in a strictly
legal way. The Senators explained pri-
vately that they simply did not want the
! Edmunds form of announcement to be
| drawn into precedent. MIR. Edmunds
| said that he did not want 1t supposed
that any one but himself was responsible
for what he had sand. He also said that
if he were convinced that he had in any
| way exceeded his powers or failed to per-
form his duties he would at once resign
his office. In the House, after the
joint convention, Mr.. Keifer on
behalf of the teIlers pro-
posed the customary resolution
similar to that proposed by Hoar in the
| Senate. The Democrats, who had been
rather nervOusly looking all day for Re-
publican coup d. etat which would inter-
fere with the regular order of events, sus-
pected something wrong In the resolution,
chiefly apparently because Mr.. Keifer
offered it. Mr.. Keifer assured the House
| that the resolution was in the usual form,
| except that, instead Of being concur
| rent" in form, it was mere House resO-
luton. The Senate would adopt a sepa-
rate one. This had been agreed upon by
all the tellers, Democrats and Republi-
| cans.
MR.. HAMMOND sKEPTICAL.
Mr.. Hammond, of Georgia, asked Mr..
| Clay, OF Kentucky, the Democratic teller,
whether he had been present at that con-
| ference as Mr.. Keifer had asserted. Mr..
| Clay said that he had.
Mr.. Randall thought that it would do
to pass the resolution and then notify the
Senate of the fact.
Mr.. Poland pointed out that the resolu.
| tion, though in the customary form,
| quoted statute which had been repealed.
This was corrected. but the Democrats
| were suspicious. and. lead by Messrs.
! Cox of New York, Eaton of Connecticut,
Randolph Tucker of Virginia, and others
in opposition to Mr.. Randall, laid the
! Keifer resolution on the table.
Then Mr.. Clay, who had meanwhile
| consulted Messrs. Eaton, Randall and
other Democratic leaders, offered a resOlu-
tion in the form customary up to Gen.
| Grants second election, providing for
committee of three Representatives and
| two Senators to wait on Messrs. Cleve-
land and Hendricks and inform them of
their election. AS at first presented it
| provided also for a certificate of their
election to be signed by the President of
the Senate. At the suggestion of Mr..
Holman this provision was omitted, and
then the CLAY resolution was adopted.
This ends the proceedings so far as the
House is concerned. The probability is
tonight that the Senate VIII tomorrow
reject the Ingalls, resolution, and pass the
Clay and probably the HOar resolution.
But nothing that either House can now
do will in any way affect the result of the
count.
MR. EDNIUNDs CONGRATULATED.
When Mr.. Edmunds was congratulated
this afternoon by a distinguished Demo-
crat on the form of his announcement of
the result of the electoral count he said:
''It simply embodied nay views of the
constitutional powers OF the presiding
office of the Senate in tlat regard. l
wanted to put them on record in that en-
during tOrm." 1t will be remembered
that when many Republican Senators and
| members wanted to have Mr.. Ferry, of
Michigan, then President pro tenn. of
the Senate, during the period before
the electoral commission was
created, take the matter into
his own hands, and, as
| President of the joint convention to count
the electoral vote and arbitrarily declare
Hayes and Wheeler elected, Mr.. Ed
munds WithstOod them firmly. He was
aided by Mr.. Conkling. Mr.. Edmunds
maintained then as now that the Presi-
dent Of the Senate as President of the
Joint convention has no right to declare
who has been elected either President or
| Vice President. He must simply an
nOunce the result OF the count. All the
leading Democratic lawyers OF Congress
expressed great satisfaction tonight with
the precedent set by Mr.. Edmunds to-
day.
THE SCENE IN THE HOUSE.
The proceedings of the joint convention
to count the vote were without special
interest. The House had reserved nearly
a third of the gallery space for the fami-
lies of Senators and Representatives. Its
seating capacity is 400 persons, but, as
usual 800 tickets had been issued. So
half of their families had to be admitted
to the floor. The ladies in the reserved
galleries and on the floor gave color to
the scene. The general galleries were
packed with men very soon alter 10
O'Clock, when the doors were opened.
There were no spectators in the Presi-
dents gallery except two small boys, who
soon wearied of the proceedings and
went away. In the diplomatic gallery
were the Japanese legation and
Hawaiian Minister and his family. No
member of either the Blaine or Logan
family was present. Two Cabinet Off
GERS. Messrs. HattOn and Teller, were on
the floor. So were David Davis, John W.
Daniel, of Virginia, on his cTutches, and
Marshal Clayton McMichael.
Justice Miller. of the Supreme Court,
sat by Re preventative Ranney through
out the proceedings. The senate, under
the lead of MIR. Edmunds and Secretary
MeCOOk, appeared promptly at noon.
Mr.. EDMUNDs' BLACK CAP.
Behind Mr.. Edmunds, who wore then
and throughout the proceedings the rather
appropriate black skull cap with which
he sometimes shields his bald head,
marched DOorkeeper Isaac Bassett, the
white haired and white bearded, bearing
with great care the two braSs-handled