608 



NEW HAMPSHIKE. 



that no vacancy shall occur in her representation by 

 a failure to elect, and also secure the latest expression 

 of the public will in the choice of her Senators aud 

 accomplish all the purposes of the act of Congress. 

 The rule adopted in the case of Blodgett and .Nor- 

 wood (Senate Keport No. 10, Forty-second Congress, 

 second session) covers the questions involved in the 

 bill before the Committee, and may be considered the 

 settled rule of the Senate. 



At the time of the passage of the act of 1866 the 

 State of New Hampshire could comply with its pro- 

 visions without leaving any vacancy in the Senate. 

 But by a recent amendment of her'Constitution, as 

 we have seen, the Legislature which is to be chosen 

 in November will not meet until June, 1879, which 

 will be after the commencement of the term for which 

 the Senator is to be chosen. Thispresents the ques- 

 tion whether an act of Congress nxing the time of 

 the election of a Senator is unconstitutional if, under 

 its provisions, the election of a Senator may not take 

 place until shortly after the commencement of the 

 official term for which he is elected. 



If it is, then an act of Congress or of a State Legis- 

 lature fixing the time for the election of Represent- 

 atives in Congress after the constitutional term be- 

 gins is for like reasons void. But it is settled by a 

 frequent and unbroken practice existing since the 

 foundation of the Government, that when public con- 

 venience seems to the Legislature of a State or to 

 Congress to require such arrangement, the election 

 of Representatives in Congress may lawfully be fixed 

 for a day shortly after the term begins. This has 

 been true in recent years of California, of Connecti- 

 cut, and of New Hampshire herself. Their elections 

 took place in March or April after the 4th of March, 

 when the law fixed the commencement of the official 

 term on the 4th day of March. They had been so 

 fixed sometimes to avoid the necessity of two gen- 

 eral elections in the State interested, and sometimes 

 to avoid elections at an inconvenient season of the 

 year. If these public considerations were sufficient 

 to justify delaying the choice of the entire delega- 

 tion of the State in the House of Representatives for 

 a brief period after the official term commenced, the 

 consideration of the inconvenience of making a spe- 

 cial provision of the Constitution of New Hamp- 

 shire, or requiring a special session of her Legisla- 

 ture, or of altering the general law of the United 

 States to meet a special case, is entitled to equal 

 weight. 



If the act of Congress was constitutional when en- 

 ncted, of which there is no doubt, the action of New 

 Hampshire making it impossible for her to obey 

 it can not make it unconstitutional or render anything 

 but obedience to it lawful or valid. We think, there- 

 fore, that an election in strict pursuance of the act 

 of Congress of 1866 which shall take place in 1879 

 will be valid, and that there is no provision of law 

 which warrants an election by the present Legisla- 

 ture of the State. 



For these reasons your Committee report adverse- 

 ly to this bill, and recommend that it be indefinitely 

 postponed. 



The June session of 1878 in New Hampshire 

 was closed on August 17th. 



The new organic law of New Hampshire 

 having changed the general State elections and 

 constitutional term of State offices from an- 

 to biennial, and the time of holding elec- 

 lons from March to November, and ordered 

 K of such biennial elections to be held 

 November, 1878, the political parties of the 

 ? met in convention to nominate their re- 

 spective candidates for State officers. 



1 he Greenback or National party assembled 

 at Manchester on the 5th of September, 362 

 delegates being in attendance, and nominated 



the following State ticket : For Governor, War- 

 ren G. Brown, of Whitefield; for Railroad 

 Commissioners, Nathaniel Wiggin, of Green- 

 land, Charles S. Eastman, of Concord, and 

 Charles M. Weeks, of Haverill. The following 

 platform was adopted : 



Whereas, The unfortunate state of the country's 

 affairs has been brought about by class legielation 

 dictated by bankers and bondholders, through the 

 limiting of the legal-tender quality of greenbacks, 

 the transforming of currency bonds into coin bonds, 

 the demonetization of the silver dollar, the exemp- 

 tion of Government bonds from taxation, and the 

 contraction of currency through proposed forced re- 

 sumption: therefore, 



Resolved, That we demand the repeal of the na- 

 tional-bank act. We demand the issue by the Gen- 

 eral Government of a full legal-tender paper money. 

 We demand the prompt payment of all outstanding 

 bonds at maturity; the immediate repeal of the Re- 

 sumption act ; equal and just taxation of all individ- 

 ual and corporate property ; a thoroughly honest and 

 economical administration of public affairs ; that the 

 salaries of the officers of the Government, State and 

 Federal, be BO fixed that their remuneration shall be 

 affair equivalent for services rendered ; that no sub- 

 sidies be granted by the General Government to in- 

 dividuals or corporations; that the public lands be 

 reserved for the benefit of actual settlers ; and that 

 a modification be made to the ironclad tramp law 

 enacted at the last session of the Legislature. 



For State Councilors and Congressmen, the 

 Greenback party subsequently nominated their 

 candidates by district conventions as follows : 

 For Councilors District No. 1, Oliver L. Gid- 

 dings ; No. 2, Arthur Deering ; No. 3, Andrew 

 0. Wallace; No. 4, Henry H. Darling; No. 5, 

 C h arles F. Stone. For Congressmen District 

 No. 1, Lafayette Chessly ; No. 2, Cyrus A. 

 Sulloway ; No. 3, James W. Johnson. 



The Republicans held their State Conven- 

 tion at Concord on September 10th, the dele- 

 gates present numbering 715. The following 

 nominations were made : For Governor, Natt 

 Head, of Hooksett ; for Railroad Commission- 

 ers, Granville P. Conn, of Concord, David E. 

 Willard, of Orford, and James E. French, of 

 Moultonborough. The following platform was 

 adopted : 



Whereas, The Republican party can point with 

 pride and confidence to its record in war and to its 

 legislation in peace, as the enduring monuments of 

 its patriotism and statesmanship, and claim them 

 as the pledges of its unequaled and undhninished 

 capacity for future service, and the grounds of pop- 

 ular countenance and support ; and 



Whereas, The country has reached a period de- 

 manding the largest experience, wisdom, and cour- 

 age in the conduct of national and State affairs, and 

 can not afford to commit its destinies to the keeping 

 ot a party that for twenty years has shown itself in- 

 capable and unworthy of the great trusts and inter- 

 ests of the State and nation : therefore, 



.Resolved, 1. That we will give to the present Ad- 

 ministration our cordial support in all just measures 

 tending to purify and elevate the public service, to 

 secure and perpetuate inter-State amity and confi- 

 dence, to guard and maintain the political rights 

 of individuals and classes, to preserve the plighted 

 faith, and to perpetuate the honor and prosperity 

 of the nation, and we heartily commend that man- 

 agement of the finances under which the last frag- 

 ment of the premium on gold is disappearing, the 

 borrowing rate steadily diminishing, and the" long 



