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FLORIDA. 



Secretary of State in a book to be kept for that 

 purpose, and the Secretary of State shall cause a 

 certified copy of such certificate to be published 

 once in one or more newspapers printed at the seat 

 of government. 



The Board of State Canvassers consisted of 

 Samuel B. McLin, Secretary of State ; Clayton 

 A. Cowgill, Controller; and William Archer 

 Cocke, Attorney-General. Mr. McLin is a 

 native of Tennessee, forty-three years of age, 

 a lawyer, and the editor of the Tallahassee 

 Sentinel, and has lived in Florida since 1855. 

 He was formerly a Whig. For a time during 

 the war he was in the Confederate service, and 

 after its close acted with the Democrats. 

 In 1872 he supported the Republican candi- 

 dates, and the next year was appointed Secre- 

 tary of State by Governor Hart. Dr. Cow- 

 gill was born in Dover, Del., in 1826, and was 

 trained to the practice of medicine. During 

 tne war he was a surgeon in the army, and 

 settled in Florida in 1867. He soon took an 

 active part in politics as a Republican, and was 

 appointed Controller in 1873. Judge Cocke 

 is a native of Virginia, and was practising 

 law in Richmond when the war broke out. 

 He went to Florida in 1863, and practised his 

 profession at Monticello. He was appointed 

 Judge of the Second Circuit in 1868, and At- 

 torney General in 1873. He is the author of 

 a " Constitutional History of the United 

 States " and other works. Although a mem- 

 ber of the Republican administration of the 

 State, he is a Democrat, and supported the 

 nominees of that party during the campaign 

 of this year. 



It being understood that Governor Stearns 

 claimed the right under an old law to canvass 

 the votes for presidential electors, the chair- 

 man of the Democratic State Executive Com- 

 mittee addressed the following request to the 

 Board of. Canvassers on the 17th of November : 



To the Honorable Samuel B. McLin. Secretary of State, 

 C. A. Cowgill, Controller of Public Accounts, Wil- 

 liam Arclwr Cocke, Attorney-General. 

 GENTLEMEN: "We request you, as the Board of 

 State Canvassers, to proceed to canvass the returns 

 of the several counties wherein an election took 

 place for electors of President and Vice-President, 

 on November 7, 1876, so far as the same may have 

 been received. We desire to be informed of the 

 time and place, so that the fraud may be shown 

 which exists in some of them. As this proof may 

 require some time for its accurate determination, it 

 is, in our judgment, of the first importance that you 

 assign an early day, that the Executive, in accord- 

 ance with section 136 of the Eevised Statutes of the 

 United States, may be enabled on December 6th to 

 deliver to each elector chosen the certificate which 

 enables him to act as an elector of this State on 

 Wednesday, December 7, 1876, as required by sec- 

 tion 135 of the Re/ised Statute. 



Yours, very truly, 



S. PASCO, 



Chairman of State Executive Committee of Con- 

 servative-Democratic party of Florida. 



W. D. BLOXHAM. 



On the 20th of November, R. B. Hilton, 

 Robert Bullock, James E. Yons:e, and Wilkin- 

 son Call, the Democratic candidates for elec- 



tors, petitioned Judge P. W. White, of the Cir- 

 cuit Court of the Second Judicial Circuit, in 

 and for the county of Leon, for an injunction 

 restraining Governor Stearns, and a mandamus 

 requiring the canvassers to proceed with their 

 duty. In their bill of complaint the petitioners 

 made the following allegations : 



1. The first allegation is, that an election was 

 held in the State of Florida on the 7th day of No- 

 vember, A. D. 1876, for presidential electors, and 

 that your oralors did receive votes for said office 

 and are themselves qualified to hold the office, and 

 interested in having true and lawful returns made of 

 said election. 



2. That in the act of the Legislature, approved Feb- 

 ruary 27, 1872 [title given], the returns for presiden- 

 tial electors are required to be canvassed only and 

 alone by the Board of State Canvassers, and they 

 have the exclusive duty, functions, and jurisdiction 

 to determine who shall have been elected presidential 

 electors. 



3. That the Governor (Stearns) is vested with no 

 jurisdiction to canvass said returns, but only to give 

 a certificate of election to said electors on or before 

 the first Wednesday of December. 



4. That no certificate can be made out except 

 upon a prior determination of the Board of State 

 Canvnssers. 



5. That Governor Stearns pretends that he can, 

 and proposes to, issue said certificate, independently 

 of the Board of State Canvassers, winch pretension 

 is wholly without warrant of law. 



6. That the Secretary of State has not issued any 

 notice to those forming the Board of Canvassers, 

 that the duty of canvassing may be commenced, 

 notwithstanding that the returns of " most of the 

 counties" have been received, and your orators 

 charge that said inaction will postpone said canvass 

 to a time when it shall be impossible to have a de- 

 liberate investigation of said returns, and a true dec- 

 laration. 



7. That said action by the Executive will, if con- 

 summated, be wholly illegal, and will injuriously 

 impair the right of your orators as candidates for 

 the office of presidential electors. 



The bill closes with the usual prayer for an- 

 swer, and for the writ of injunction upon Gov- 

 ernor Stearns enjoining him from making out, 

 signing, sealing, and delivering any certificates 

 to presidential electors except in pursuance of 

 the action of the Board of State Canvassers 

 under the act of February 27, 1872. 



An alternative writ of mandamus was issued 

 on the 21st of November. This- recited the 

 claim of the petitioners that certain returns 

 already received were forged and fraudulent, 

 and differed from the returns made at the 

 county canvass, and that the Secretary of State 

 refused to convene the Board of Canvassers 

 after being requested so to do, and proceeded 

 as follows : 



And the said petitioners further showed that on 

 Wednesday, December 7, A. D. 1876, in accordance 

 with section 135 of the Eevised Statutes of th e United 

 States, the electors of this State are required to meet 

 and give their votes ; and said petitioners believe, as 

 each return of each county must be canvassed by 

 said Board of Canvassers before they can make and 

 sian a certificate of the whole number of votes given, 

 that said duty cannot be performed fully and com- 

 pletely in time to enable the electors chosen to have 

 their certificntes of election in accordance with law, 

 unless said Board of State Canvassers shall be con- 



