Year: 1877




The proceedings which Immediately fol-
lowed the opening of yesterdays session of
the commission fixed beyond doubt the
sweeping exclusion of evidence implied in
tho decision of the preceding day. The
commission had decided that no evidence is
admissible beyond the certificates and
papers submitted to it by the President of
the Senate. But it so happened that among
these papers was statement relating to the
writ of quo ,edrrdnt0 served on the Hayes
electors on the 9th of December, and the
democrats consoled themselves with the
idea that the quo ,oarranto proceedings were
already in evidence, and that the commission,
consider them. The democratic counsel did
not feel qnite snre of this point, and seized
tho earliest opportunity to bring it to test.
They accordingly introduced the Attorney
General Of Florida rs witness yesterday
morning and attempted to prove by him the
hour of the day at which the writ of quo sear-
rdnto was served on the Hayes electors. Mr.
Evarts promptly objected to tho question
as excluded by the order of the commits
sion. The objection was sustained. 1t is
too obvious that the ruling ont of
this testimony is fatal to democratic hopes
founded on the writ. Mr.. O'Conor and his
associates had laid special stress on the fact
that the writ was served on the Hayes cleo
tors before they had organized as an cleo
toral college, The hour Of serving the writ
was the very hinge of that part of their case
and the exclusion of testimony on that vital
point is in effect an exclusion of tho whole
quo warrunto proceedings as part OF the
Florida case. The consequence is that the
democratic case, so far as that State
is concerned, has completely broken
down by the inadmissibility of all the
proofs which have been so deliberately pre-
pared during the last two months. The
great mass of testimony collected and
digested with so much labor by committees
of Congress, and thought by the democrats
to form the main pillar Of their case, turns
out to be Of no more consequence than If
that vast machinery Of investigation had not
been set in motion. The democratic strong
hold, fortified with such infinite pains and
labor, has been fanked by their opponents,
who march safely past without find
ing an obstruction. Such hopes as
remain to the supporters of Mr.. Tilden
must rest on quite other grounds than those
on which they have heretofore relied. The
herculean work done by their committees
and the wonderful cross examinations of
Mr.. David Dudley Field will be treated as
so much irrelevant rubbish, which the COM
mission brushes aside rs having no bearing
on the case. Mr.. Tilden has no longer any
thing to stand upon excepting the certif-
Gates sent to the President OF the Senate and
such testimony as may be offered to
prove that particular electors were
ineligible. This is slender reliance. In
the case of Humphreys, the contested
Florida elector, it rests upon wire-drawn
legal technicality. The objection to the
Oregon elector, Watt is not quite SO un-
substantial; but the democrats must 30 very
sanguine if they expect to succeed when
their hopes hang on SO slender thread us
dispute over the meaning Of the word
svacancy," which is the turning point of
the Oregon dispute. The eight republicans
who form the majority of the commission
are not very likely to award the Presidency
to Mr.. Tilden on q mere refinement as to
whether there was vacancy which the two
undoubted Hayes electors we're empowered
to fill.