702 



RHODE ISLAND. 



Rtsolved, That " the government of the people, by 

 the people, and for the people," to establish which 

 the lamented Lincoln fell a martyr, and members of 

 this party sacrificed life and treasure, shall continue 

 to be the mission of the Republican party ; and that 

 until peace and good order shall prevail in every 

 section of the land, and the free exercise of speech 

 and the enjoyment of equal rights shall be secured 

 to every citizen, the mission of the party shall not 

 end. 



Jtesolved, That in all future calls for conventions 

 by the State Central Committee, they are hereby re- 

 quested to drop the name of National Union Kepub- 

 lican, and substitute the name of Republican, there- 

 by placing the party in this State in line with the 

 Republican party of the country. 



At the election in November, the whole 

 number of votes cast for presidential electors 

 was 26,627, of which the Republican candi- 

 dates received 15,787, the Democratic can- 

 didates 10,712, the Prohibition ticket 68, and 

 the Greenback ticket 60. The Republican plu- 

 rality over the Democratic vote was therefore 

 5,075, and the majority 4,947. Benjamin T. 

 Eames and Latimer W. Ballou, Republicans, 

 were elected as Representatives in Congress 

 from the two districts of the State. All three 

 of the proposed amendments to the constitu- 

 tion were defeated, three-fifths of all the votes 

 cast being necessary to ratify them. The vote 

 stood : For the amendment to Article V., relat- 

 ing to foreign-born soldiers and sailors, 9,187, 

 against it 9,418 ; for the amendment to Article 

 VI., modifying the property qualification for 

 the suffrage, 10,700, against it 11,432 ; for the 

 amendment to Article VII., relating to a gen- 

 eral corporation law, 11,038, against it 10,956. 



Question having been raised as to the valid- 

 ity of the election of George H. Corliss for 

 presidential elector, on the ground that he was 

 one of the United States Centennial Commis- 

 sioners when chosen, Governor Lippitt, on the 

 23d of November, submitted to the judges of 

 the Supreme Court for their decision the fol- 

 lowing questions, prepared by the Attorney- 

 General : 



1. Is the office of commissioner of the United 

 States Centennial Commission such an office of trust 

 or profit under the United States as to disqualify him 

 for the office of elector of President and V ice-Presi- 

 dent of the United States ? 



2. If so. does such a candidate for the office of 

 elector, who receives a plurality of the legal votes 

 given and declines said office, create such a vacancy 

 as is provided for in section 7, chapter 11, of the 

 General Statutes ? 



3. If not, is the disqualification removed by the 

 resignation of said office of " trust or profit ? " 



4. If not, does the disqualification result in the 

 election of a candidate next in vote, or in a failure 

 to elect? 



5. If, by reason of the disqualification of the can- 

 didate who received a plurality of the votes given, 

 there was no election, can the General Assembly in 

 grand committee elect an elector ? 



An opinion, signed by four of the five judges, 

 was transmitted to the Governor on the 28th 

 of November. In answer to the first question, 

 they gave it as their opinion that a Centennial 

 Commissioner held an office of trust under the 

 United States, which disqualified him for the 



RITSCHL, FRIEDRICH. 



office of elector. In answer to the second ques- 

 tion, it was declared that a vacancy could not 

 be created by declining the office, for a person 

 could not decline an office until elected to it, 

 and, if not eligible, he could not be elected. 

 In answer to the third question, the judges 

 said : 



3. We think the disqualification is not removed by 

 the resignation of the office of trust, unless the office 

 is resigned before the election. The language of the 

 Constitution is that no person " holding an office of 

 trust or profit under the United States shall be ap- 

 pointed an elector." Under our law, General Stat- 

 utes, chapter 11, sections 1 and 2, the election by 

 the people constitutes the appointment. The duty 

 of the Governor is to u examine and count the votes, 

 and give notice to the electors of their election." 

 He merely ascertains he does not complete the 

 appointment. A resignation, therefore, after the 

 election is too late to be effectual. 



The opinion was then given that " the dis- 

 qualification does not result in the election of 

 the candidate next in vote, but a failure to 

 elect." Finally, the laws of the State provide 

 that in case of a failure to elect, the Governor 

 shall convene the Legislature at once " for the 

 choice of electors to fill such vacancy by an 

 election in grand committee." This, in the 

 opinion of the judges, covered the existing 

 emergency, and there was a vacancy which 

 should be filled by the General Assembly con- 

 vened for the purpose. Judge Stinees dis- 

 sented from the views of the other judges on 

 the first question, and gave a separate opinion, 

 maintaining that Mr. Corliss was not disquali- 

 fied from acting as an elector by reason of be- 

 ing a United States Centennial Commissioner. 

 He contended that that was not an office of 

 profit or trust within the meaning of the Con- 

 stitution. On the other points he agreed with 

 the majority of the judges. 



The Governor summoned the Legislature to 

 a special session on the 1st of December, and 

 submitted to it the opinion of the judges of the 

 Supreme Court. It proceeded immediately to 

 elect William S. Slater in grand committee as 

 an elector to fill the vacancy, and then ad- 

 journed to the 9th of January, 1877. 



The work of compiling the statistics of the 

 census taken in 1875 has been carried on dur- 

 ing the year, and the aggregates of the four 

 divisions into which they are classified are as 

 follows : Population of the State, 258,239 ; value 

 of farm and forest products for the year 1875, 

 $5,028,329 ; value of the products of the fish- 

 eries and shore-farms, $1,337,087; value of 

 the products of manufactures, $126,659,875. 

 The value of the products of some of the most 

 important of the manufactures of the State is 

 as follows : Cotton - manufactures, $22,430,- 

 860; woolen-manufactures, $17,463,240; print- 

 works, $16,497,100; iron-manufactures, $10,- 

 666,491 ; jewelry and silver-ware, $7,077,651. 



RITSCHL, FRIEDRICH, one of the foremost 

 classical scholars of the nineteenth century, born 

 April 6, 1806; died November 9, 1876. He 

 became Privatdocent at the University of Halle 



