CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



153 



State to show that the persons -who voted for 

 President and Vice-President were appointed 

 as electors of that State, as required by act of 

 Congress." 



The Vice-President: " The Chair wonld sug- 

 gest that any other objection to the count- 

 ing of the vote of Texas be now submitted to 

 the joint convention." 



Mr. Dickey : " I object to the counting of 

 the electoral vote of the State of Texas because 

 four of the electors, less than a majority of 

 those elected, undertook to fill the places of 

 other four electors who had been elected and 

 were absent." 



The Vice-President : " These two objections 

 to counting the vote of Texas having been 

 made, the Senate will now withdraw to their 

 Chamber." 



The Senate accordingly retired from the 

 Hall of the House. 



The Speaker resumed the chair, and called 

 the House to order. 



The Clerk read the following, from the joint 

 convention of the two Houses : 



Mr. Trumbnll objected to the vote of Texan 

 because there is no certificate by the executive 

 authority of that State that the persons who voted 

 for President and Vice-President were appointed as 

 electors of that State as required by the act of Con- 

 gress. 



Mr. Dawes submitted the following resolor 



tion : 



Retolced, That, in the judgment of this House, the 

 vote of Texan should be counted as reported by the 

 tellers. 



The question being taken on the resolution 

 of Mr. Dawes, it was agreed to ; there being 

 yeas 107, nays 22. 



The Speaker: "The Clerk will now report 

 the next objection which comes from the joint 

 convention." 



The Clerk read as follows : 



Mr. Dickey objected to the counting of the elec- 

 toral vote of the State of Texas because four electors, 

 leas than a majority of those elected, undertook to 

 fill the places of other four electors, who had been 

 elected and were absent. 



Mr. Dickey : " I offer the following resolu- 

 tion : " 



Reiohed, That, in the judgment of this House, the 

 electoral vote of the State of Texas for President 

 and Vice-President ought not to be counted, for the 

 reason that four electors, less than a majority of 

 those elected, undertook to fill the places of other 

 four electors, who had been elected and were absent. 



Mr. Banks: "I more to amend the resolu- 

 tion by striking out all after tbo word ' re- 

 solved ' and inserting the following : " 



That a quorum is an arbitrary number, which 

 each State has a right to establish for itself; and, as 

 it does not appear that the choice of electors was in 

 conflict with the law of that State as to a quorum 

 fr the transaction of business, the vote of the 

 n for President and Vice-President should be 

 counted. 



Mr. Banks : " I call for the previous question." 



The previous question was seconded and 



the main question ordered ; and under the op- 

 eration thereof the amendment of Mr. Banks 

 was agreed to, and the resolution as amended 

 adopted. 



At five o'clock and five minutes P. M. the 

 Senate in a body reentered the Hall. 



The Vice-President (having resumed the 

 chair): "Two objections having been made to 

 the counting of the votes of the electors of the 

 State of Texas, the Senate upon the first ob- 

 jection, made by the Senator from Illinois 

 (Mr. Trumbull), resolved as follows:" 



Resolved, That the electoral vote of the State of 

 Texas be counted, notwithstanding the objection 

 raised by Mr. Trumbull. 



" And the House of Representatives resolved 

 as follows : 



Resolved, That, in the judgment of this House, the 

 vote of Texas should be counted as reported by the 

 tellers. 



" On the second objection, by Mr. Dickey, 

 the Senate resolved as follows : 



Resolved, That the objection raised by Mr. Dickey 

 to counting the electoral vote of the State of Texas 

 be and the same is overruled. 



" And the House of Representatives resolved 

 as follows : 



Resolved, That a quorum is an arbitrary number, 

 which each State has the right to establish for itself, 

 and, as it does not appear that the choice of electors 

 was in conflict with the law of Texas as to a quorum 

 for the transaction of business, the vote of the elec- 

 tors for President and Vice-President be counted. 



" So (the two Houses having concurred) the 

 electoral vote of Texas, under the twenty- 

 second joint rule, will be counted." 



The Vice-President: "The Chair in present- 

 ing the electoral vote of the State of Arkansas 

 states it was received by him by mail on the 

 llth of December, 1872, and by messenger at 

 the Department of State, and in the absence 

 of the Vice- President by the President pro tern- 

 pore of the Senate on the 28th of December, 

 1872. On the 4th or 5th day of February, 

 that is, during the present mouth, a person, 

 claiming to be the messenger commissioned to 

 bring the electoral vote of the State of Arkan- 

 sas, presented himself at the Vice-President's 

 room with a paper, not in the form of law, 

 but addressed to him as President of the Sen- 

 ate, and stated to him what he alleged to be 

 its contents, representing himself to bo com- 

 missioned as messenger to bring the vote. 

 The Vice-President said he would open the 

 paper, as it was addressed to him, bnt he 

 would not receive it even informally. After 

 reading its contents, he found that it did not 

 in any respect comply with the requirements 

 of the law on the subject." 



Senator Rice : " I object to counting the 

 vote of Arkansas, and will reduce my objec- 

 tions to writing." 



Senator Hamlin : " While the Senator from 

 Arkansas is reducing his objections to writing, 

 I propose we proceed to the electoral vote of 

 the State of Louisiana." 



