CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



203 



that merely for illustration. It is signed by 

 somebody who purports to be the Governor 

 of Louisiana. Very well so far. Now, it may 

 be known to every member of both Houses 

 that that particular paper was really gotten 

 up and emanated from an unlawful and revo- 

 lutionary assemblage of men who, only a week 

 before the time when the electors were to 

 meet, had overturned the lawful and consti- 

 tuted government of that State, had possessed 

 themselves of the public archives and the pub- 

 lic seal, installed a man as Governor de facto, 

 as the modern phrase is. There is your cer- 

 tificate. Now this bill says that those votes 

 shall be counted. The difficulty is just as 

 great as, if not greater than, under the existing 

 rule. The rule as it exists declares that noth- 

 ing shall be treated as the true voice of the 

 State unless the representatives of the peo- 

 ple and the representatives of the States, 

 acting separately, shall agree that it is the 

 voice of the State ; and when I say that, I do 

 not mean the voice of the State outside of the 

 law and the Constitution, but upon the papers, 

 following the law as a court do. Now, when 

 you turn it over to the other side, without 

 you say, as this bill does leaving aside the 

 double returns, as I say that whatever does 

 come which appears to be, purports to be, in 

 form, the voice of the people of the State, 

 shall be counted unless both Houses concur in 

 saying that that is not the voice of the State, 

 to my mind the latter alternative is quite as 

 dangerous as, if not more so than, the first. 

 What, in my opinion, the Constitution requires 

 is a law which shall provide, for the time be- 

 ing, a tribunal of some sort, which is a single 

 tribunal, which is bound to decide upon the 

 Constitution and the law whether a particular 

 paper which is opened by the President of the 

 Senate in the presence of the two Houses, and 

 which is then offered to be counted under the 

 Constitution, is the vote which the Constitu- 

 tion speaks of." 



Mr. Morton : " This bill provides that, if an 

 objection is made to an electoral vote, the two 

 Houses shall separate and consider the ques- 

 tion. If it is a forgery out and out, there is 

 no doubt but that it would be objected to. We 

 must consider that both Houses act with some 

 integrity, although they may be swayed by 

 popular passion or by popular feeling to a great 

 extent. If both Houses concur in rejecting the 

 vote, the State is disfranchised. If they do not, 

 then the vote is to be counted. But there is 

 one case that is provided for in this bill, a case 

 where, for example, there are two rival gov- 

 ernments in a State or where there are two 

 sets of electors, both certified to in the same 

 form, where there may be an actual contro- 

 versy, as there has been in some of the States, 

 and two sets of returns are sent here. How 

 will you settle that question ? This bill pro- 

 vides that when that question comes up it shall 

 be referred to the two Houses, and that return 

 which shall be the genuine return according 



to the votes of both Houses shall be counted. 

 You cannot adopt any other rule than that, in 

 my opinion." 



Mr. Wright, of Iowa, said : "I understand 

 that where there is more than one return, as 

 is provided in the second section of this bill, 

 and the two Houses are unable to decide which 

 is the true return, then the implication is 

 that the vote of the State is not to be counted. 

 That, I understand the Senator to say, is left 

 to implication entirely. The section does not 

 state what shall be the effect if the two Houses 

 are unable to agree. It says that the return 

 from such State shall be counted which the 

 two Houses, acting separately, shall decide to 

 be the true return. But suppose that they are 

 unable to agree upon either, then what is to be 

 the result? I understand, by implication of 

 course, the vote is to be rejected ; but I submit 

 to the Senator whether that ought not to be 

 put in such language as that it should not be 

 left to implication." 



Mr. Morton : "I would have no objection to 

 an amendment making that certain, but I think 

 that is the implication." 



The Presiding Officer (Mr. Carpenter in the 

 chair) : " The amendment will be reported." 



The Chief Clerk : " It is proposed to amend 

 the bill in line 7, section 2, after the word 

 4 return,' by inserting the word 'only,' and 

 after the word ' shall ' inserting ' each ; ' so as to 

 read : ' And that return only from such State 

 shall be counted which the two Houses, acting 

 separately, shall each decide to be the true and 

 valid return.' " 



The amendment was agreed to. 



Mr. Eaton, of Connecticut, said : " It is not 

 in the power of this Congress to pass this law. 

 It is a void law if passed. For three-quarters 

 of a century the good people who represented 

 their fellow-citizens here were satisfied with 

 the Constitution of the United States ; and let 

 me read the Constitution to see whether there 

 is any necessity for the bill. It is well to read 

 it. It will not harm anybody to hear it. Arti- 

 cle XII. of the amendments provides : 



The electors shall meet in their respective States, 

 and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President. 

 one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of 

 the same State with themselves ; they shall name in 

 their ballots the person voted for as President, and 

 in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-Presi- 

 dent, and they shall make distinct lists of all per- 

 sons voted for as President, and of all persons voted 

 for as Vice-President, and of the number of votes 

 for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and 

 transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the 

 United States, directed to the President of the Sen- 

 ate. The President of the Senate shall, in presence 

 of the Senate and House of Eepresentatives, open all 

 the certificates, and the votes shall then be counted 



" I have no trouble about whom the count is 

 to be by, though there has seemed to be some 

 little trouble on that subject 



the person having the greatest number of votes for 

 President shall be the President, if such number be 

 a majority of the whole number of electors ap- 

 pointed; and if no person have such majority, then 



