Year: 1879

able importance if it were founded in good law, It is to the effect that by the terms ot the XIVth Amendment to the Constitution ot the United States, State which appoints Presidential Electors by the Legislature or in any other way than by the vote of the people, in which all male inhabitants, citizens of the United States, over twenty-one years of age. are permitted to take part, forfeits it's right to representation in Congress. As the editor oi the Connecticut Western News is lawyer it is to be presumed that he has studied this question before shunting it into the discus sion but it appears to us that he has mistaken the meaning of the language on which he re- lies to support his claim. The second section of the XIVth Amendment reads as follows:

 Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole num- Der of persons in each State, excluding In dians not taxed. Bnt when the tight to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice. President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the ex- ecutive and judicial officers of State, or the members of the Legislature thereof is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States or in any way abridged, ex- cept for participation in rebellion or other crime the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the num- ber of male citizens shall bear to the whole number. of male citizens twenty-one years of age to such State"

 Here Hany election" must mean, not an ap- pointment by the Legislature, but an election by the people, It simply guarantees that if these several officers are chosen by the peo- pie the whole people shall have the right to

 cAI- II. tors then there is no election provided for by law, and no denial of popular rights within the meaning of this provision of the Constitu ton. If this be not SO, then Connecticut has regularly forfeited her right of representation in Congress ever since the Amendment be- came a part of the Constitution; for during all that time the people have not been permit ted to participate in the election of any of our judicial officers, except justices of the peace. Indeed so many States have forfeited their claims to seats in Congress, by having judicial officers appointed, that if there is any thing in this discovery, it is doubtful if there be enough left to form quorum in the two houses. So again where the Legislature, on the failure of the people at the first trial to make choice of State officers, proceeds to elect for them, the people are deprived of their right and the right of representation forfeited

 4u0 Ol Luo Al v LII uUt luUcuu tO give 1t any such scope as The Connecticut Western News seeks to fasten upon it They simply meant to provide that tat any election by the people the whole people should join, and not part.

 Something more substantial will have to be discovered to deter the Republicans of Con- necticut, New York and New Jersey from re- taiating, if the Democrats of Maine steal the Legislature and the Electors of that State- Hartford Post.

 ?, When we published the remarks alluded to above we had not as matter of fact studied the question very much and had no idea of ''shunting it into the discussion" We cer- tainly had no ulterior designs as the language of four esteemed cotemporary" would seem to imply. The question occurred to us while casually reading an article on the subject in another paper and it struck us that the ques- tion was 8 very interesting one or at least might be under certain circumstances, and was 8 Legitimate subject of remark although it might seem somewhat presumptuous, in a provincial paper. We are satisfied, however, that we were not very much mistaken as to the meaning of the language we quoted and that our understanding of the question was in the main sfounded in good law" according to well established rules of construction. The meaning of law must be sought in it's lan- guage and when that is plain it ''must mean what it says. We had supposed that the choice of President, or more technically, ol Presidential Electors, which the Constitution requires to be made on the same day through out the whole country was an election-one general election, and came within the mean. ing of the general term "Gny election" if any thing did. It has been so popularly under stood and designated. But the Post says no It is an election when the people make the choice but when the choice is made by the Legislature it is Gn appointment. We have heard of the difference between tweedle dun and tweedle dee but we could never fully com prehend it-doubtless owing to our unfortun' ate wart of comprehension. If we may refer to the ssContext," this distinction does moi seem warranted. For instance, it is provided that United States Senators shall be chosen by the Legislature and yet in the same arti ole we find this language: '"The time, place and manner ofholding ELECTIONS for Senatort and Representatives" &c.-clearing showing that the terms choosing and election are used as synonymous terms no matter how the choice may be made. In this connection we might cite 8 familiar illustration in this State For many years the Governor and all the State officers were elected-we beg pardon, were Gppointed-by the Legislature, and ev. cry year the good people of the rural "dees. tricts," dressed in their Sunday o-to-meetin clothes, would come up to the Capitol to cele- brste the joyous event. Why was it called Lection DaY?" How stupid they were in ye olden time. It should have been called Appointment Day.

 But grant that the construction of the Post is correct tand we don't presume to set up our humble judgment against such authority we only want to get at the truth, no matter on which side of the question it may lie) then, per contra we are confronted by another and perhaps greater difficulty, although it may not seem so distasteful to the Post. Section one of article two.of the Constitution provides that ''Each State shall appoint, in such man. ner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a number of Electors" &c.-Each State shall APPOINT is the language. Now if there is such distinction in the Constitution, as the Post would imply, between election and appoint. ment then it follows that the only Constitu- tional mode of choosing electors is by appoint ment by the Legislature, and then it follows further that all our Presidential elections for many years past have been irregular and void. If we were disposed to pursue the subject, which we are not, we might show that the construction of the Post involves what would appear very much like very great absurdity. The Constitution would visit the lesser of- fence" to wit: the denying of the right to vote to part of the voters with severe and