CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



273 



Mr. Yearaan: "Mr. President, if it requires 

 a distinct motion to determine the question, 

 I will move that all the returns before this joint 

 convention be opened and presented for its con- 

 sideration." 



The Vice-President: "The Chair is of the 

 opinion that the motion of the member from 

 Kentucky (Mr. Yeaman) is in order, being perti- 

 nent to the object for which the House and 

 Senate have assembled in joint convention. 

 The member will reduce his motion to writing, 

 so that the precise question shall be in posses- 

 sion of the Senate when it shall retire for the 

 determination of the question presented for the 

 consideration of the -convention." 



Mr. Pruyn: "I wish to inquire whether a 

 second proposition, one in regard to the count- 

 ing of the votes, can be entertained before the 

 two Houses shall separate. If so, I desire to 

 move that the tellers be instructed not to count 

 the vote of the so-called State of West Vir- 

 ginia." 



The Vice-President : " In the opinion of the 

 Chair the motion of the member from New 

 York (Mr. Pruyn) is made too late, the vote of 

 the State of West Virginia having been already 

 announced and declared." 



Mr. Pruyn : " With all respect to the Vice- 

 President, I desire to say that I understand the 

 rule to be this : the certificates of the votes of 

 the respective States have been opened, read, 

 and announced, and now the tellers, as the 

 proper officers of this joint convention, are to 

 pass upon those votes, and announce the result. 

 My motion is that the tellers be instructed not 

 to count the vote of the so-called State of West 

 Virginia. 



Mr. Whaley : " If it be in order, I would ask 

 the gentleman from New York (Mr. Pruyn) to 

 state his reasons for his motion." 



The Vice-President : " The language of the 

 rule under which the two Houses are now 

 acting is as follows : 



If upon the reading of any such certificate by the 

 tellers, any question shall arise as to the counting of 

 the votes therein certified, &c. 



" The question must be raised when the vote 

 is announced. In the opinion of the Chair the 

 member from New York (Mr. Pruyn) should 

 have made his motion, in order to come within 

 the rule, at the time the tellers announced the 

 vote of the State of West Virginia." 



Mr. Cox: "If the rule is that which has just 

 been enunciated by the Chair, how is it that the 

 gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Yeaman) can 

 submit his motion before the Vice-President 

 shall have opened, and the tellers shall have an- 

 nounced, the votes of the States of Louisiana 

 and Tennessee ?" 



The Vice-President : " In the opinion of the 

 Chair the motion of the member from Kentucky 

 (Mr. Yeaman) is in order. It does not apply 

 to a return where objection is made, but it ap- 

 plies to a return which has not been submitted 

 to the convention. It is a distinct motion that 

 VOL. v. 18 A 



a return shall be submitted to the convention 

 It comes within the latter clause of the joint 

 resolution, which relates to any other motion 

 pertinent to the object for which the two Houses 

 have met in convention." 



Senator Farwell : " I would suggest that the 

 question raised by the member from Kentucky 

 (Mr. Yeaman) has already been decided by the 

 two Houses of Congress in the passage of the 

 joint resolution which has just been read. It 

 is not in order, therefore, to again raise the 

 question in this convention, the point of order 

 having already been determined by the two 

 Houses of Congress." 



The Vice-President : " Does the Senator from 

 Maine (Mr. Farwell) raise a question of order 

 upon the ruling of the Chair ? " 



Senator Farwell : '* I raise the question of 

 order that this question has already been de- 

 cided by the two Houses of Congress in passing 

 the joint resolution under which this conven- 

 tion is acting, which joint resolution has been 

 approved by the President." 



The Vice-President: "The fact of that ap- 

 proval of the President is within the knowledge 

 of the Chair, and in consequence of that knowl- 

 edge the Chair has seen fit to withhold the 

 returns of the States in question. There has 

 been no official promulgation of that approval 

 of the President. Still, in the opinion of the 

 Chair, if either branch of Congress shall be dis- 

 posed to order the returns now upon the table 

 to be read, it is within their power to do so. 

 The reading of the returns would be one thing ; 

 then would arise another question, whether the 

 vote in the return so read should be added to 

 the count of the tellers. In the opinion of the 

 Chair the motion of the member from Ken- 

 tucky (Mr. Yeaman) is in order." 



Mr. Yeaman: "Before I submit my motion 

 in writing, I would inquire whether the submis- 

 sion of that motion would require the tempo- 

 rary dissolutipn of this convention and the 

 resolving of the two Houses into their separate 

 bodies in their respective chambers ? " 



The Vice-President: "The Chair has no 

 doubt upon that point. Each House must de- 

 termine the question in its own chamber ; and 

 each House has a negative upon the determina- 

 tion of the other." 



Mr. Yeaman : "Then I desire to submit an- 

 other suggestion." 



Mr. Washburne, of Illinois : " I object to any 

 debate." 



The Vice-President: "All debate is out of 

 order. The rule itself prescribes that no 

 question shall be debated in the conven- 

 tion." 



Mr. Yeaman : " Then I withdraw my motion, 

 if it requires the separation of the convention 

 into the two Houses." 



The motion was accordingly withdrawn. 



Senator Trumbull, on the part of the tell- 

 ers, announced the following as the result of the 

 vote for President and Vice-President of tho 

 United States: 



