Year: 1877

nm American Warwick. We dare say that no
man in the country is more surprised than
Mr.. Justice Bradley in finding himself in


vested with tho stupendouS power OF
deciding by his individual action who shall
be the next Presi lent of the United States.


There was, indeed, possibility that the


decision of this great question might


rest in his hands from the moment


of his selection as the fifth men,


Der of the Supreme Court section OF the


commission but such contingency seemed


improbable. It was hardly to be supposed


that tribunal so select in its composition,


SO largely consisting of members OF our most
august judicial tribunal, SO restrained by


high sense of responsibility, and solemnly
sworn to ''impartially examine and consider
all questions submitted to the commission
that body of statesmen and inrists SO emil
nent for character, and bound by so impress
sive an oath, would act and vote as partisans
in o controversy of such magnitude
and dignity. Among the Inst things
expected from this high and responsible
tribunal was decision on strict party
line in every VOTE 1t was confidently be-
lievcd that tho odd member, the fifth Judge
selected from the Supreme Court. would
always be supported by such number OF
his fellow judges and of other members OF
the commission that no decision would de-
pend on his solitary vote. 1t was desirable
as q means of satisfying the public mind,
that the decisions reached by the commits
sion should not rest on divisions by
a party line. But the first impor-
tant vote showed that this was
delusion. It then became evident that the
fourteen members first appointed would act
throughout as thick-and-thin partisans,
seven persistently standing by the claim of
Hayes, the other seven by the claim of Til
den, and that the fifteenth member holds in
his single hand the power to determine who
shall be the next President. From the mo-
ment that it became evident that the ten
four judges would vote as stanch partisans
on every question, standing uniformly
seven against seven, from that moment twas
apparent that Justice Bradley is invested
with nm amount of political power to which
there has never been parallel in the his
tory of the United States nor of any other
republic. Judge Bradley will turn the
scale in every vote of the long series by
which the final result is to be reached.
Thus far he hos voted with the republicans
in. n.every essential and with the democrats in
every non-essential question. The fact that
he is republican himself creates q pre-
sumption that he will pursue similar
course throughout. How can he be ex-
pected to act with more elevation and
impartinlity than the other Supreme
Court judges who are members of
the commission? To be sure, pub
lie attention is more strongly di-
rected to him as possessing the
deciding power, and he has recognized the
popularity of his position by voting twice
with the democrats on minor points but
on all the questions which are really essen
tial Judge Bradley has thus far voted with
the seven stanch republicans and turned the
scale in their favor. That he will pursue
this course to the end there is no good
reason to doubt. It is still in his power to
make Mr.. Tilden President by voting with
the democrats on the Louisiana case or on
the Oregon case. He can, but will he? The
democrats must be in a wonderfully SAN
guine mood if they expect anything of the
kind.


The decision of the commission in the
Florida case is precisely what all sound
judges anticipated from the moment that
majority voted for the order to exclude evil
dence not contained in the certificates.
The exclusion of all facts which lie behind
the official attes.ations was o virtual decision
in favor of the Hayes electors, and the only
wonder is that the democrats thought their
chance in Florida worth any further contest
after the commission had ruled out all the
evidence on which they had intended to rest
their claim. The alleged ineligibility of
Humphreys was too thin to found any
hopes upon, and the democratic
arguments on that subject seemed too much
like the desperate clutching of drowning
man at floating chip or straw. There was
not even plausible pretence that Hum
phreys was ineligible, and Judge Hoadley's
long argument on that subject was trifing
with the patience of the tribunal. That
point was not even voted on by the COM
mission, the eligibility being too clear for
dispute.


The democrats, after this decisive defeat
in the first battle, have little to hope in the
case has, indeed, some peculiar features
which distinguish it from that of Florida;
but those features are not the ones on which
the democrats have heretofore rested their
hopes. Their case, as they had gotten it up.
consisted of great mass Of evidence which
went behind the action of the Returning
Board. Not particle of that evidence will