CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



after the contests which it provides for were 

 all titled. The time intervening between the 

 rK-i-tion and the meeting of the electors may 

 IK- t;iken up hy legal proceedings to determine 

 the title of a sufficient number of electors to 

 control the presidential office. And ought an 

 issuo of that kind one ao full of danger to the 

 w In >lo country, involving its peace and happi- 

 ness, and it may be the liberty of every man 

 within it ho confided to some local magistrate 

 who never had an idea above what was neces- 

 sary to settle matters of petty jurisdiction? 

 While the Constitution very wisely has left the 

 mode of selecting electors to the States, and is 

 not particular as to how this power is exercised, 

 still it has taken the precaution to guard the 

 interests of the whole Union in two most im- 

 portant particulars connected with such elec- 

 tions. These are, that all the electors must bo 

 appointed on the same day, and that they must 

 cast their votes for President and Vice-Presi- 

 dent on the same day. 



" Whatever you may do here, you must not 

 and can not leave open any important question 

 entering into the appointment of electors after 

 the second Tuesday in October. The .people 

 of the whole Union have an interest in this 

 matter even greater than any which can belong 

 to any State ; for a contest over a single vote 

 in Florida or Oregon, as we well know, might 

 lead to the agitation of the whole country, and 

 endanger the very foundations of the Govern- 

 ment. Have we not had some experience of 

 what is likely to result in every case of a close 

 election, when under any system of laws the 

 power of electing a President is placed in the 

 hands of a few men, or an insignificant tribu- 

 nal? When during the last election it was as- 

 certained that the fate of the Presidency de- 

 pended upon the decision of two persons un- 

 known beyond the neighborhood in which they 

 lived, and that they carried in their pockets 

 the fortunes of the two great parties of the 

 country, did not these men and the State to 

 which they belonged rise to a height of inter- 

 est and importance never before dreamt of by 

 any one ? Can we ever forget the patriotic 

 pilgrimages of those ' visiting statesmen,' who, 

 laying aside for a time the ease and comforts 

 which surrounded them, rushed into Florida 

 and Louisiana to fawn and cringe before the 

 new-born majesty of McLin and Wells ? Is any 

 one weak enough to imagine that, if it should 

 again happen that the fate of the Presidency 

 depended upon the decision of a local court of 

 any kind, a controversy like that could be car- 

 ried on like other contests? Do we not know 

 that in proportion to the magnitude of the in- 

 terests involved, the hopes and fears excited 

 by the event, such a tribunal would rise to 

 the highest pitch of importance and power? 

 Would you expect to see the two great parties 

 of the Union, forty millions of people, stand 

 quietly by and await with calmness and com- 

 posure the result of such a proceeding? Fig- 

 ure to your mind the picture of two local par- 



ties, with Smith's Form Book on one corner of 

 their table and a defaced copy of the Holy Bi- 

 ble on the other, sitting in a spare room of a 

 country grocery and hearing with studied pa- 

 tience the great question whom they should 

 make President of the United States. 



" Sir, I once witnessed something like this, 

 and I pray to God I shall never behold any- 

 thing like it again. I saw two men carried by 

 accident to the highest pitch of this great pow- 

 er. I saw the fortunes and destinies of this 

 whole people for a time in the keeping of a re- 

 turning board hi a single State. I saw them 

 surrounded by parasites and flatterers from 

 every quarter of the land. I saw how 'the 

 stormy wave of the multitude retired at their 

 approach.' I witnessed, with sorrow and hu- 

 miliation and apprehension for the country, the 

 congregation of a large part of the army of the 

 United States to do the bidding of these men, 

 and. to put down the strong indignation of the 

 people. After seeing all this, I am well satis- 

 fied that nothing could be more unwise or un- 

 safe than to give the sanction of Congressional 

 legislation to a mode of settling electoral con- 

 tests which has been tried and found wanting. 

 There is nothing in this bill which leads us to 

 conclude that any different processes will be 

 resorted to, in some of the States at least, to 

 determine the Presidency than were resorted 

 to in 1876. The character of the tribunal is 

 not designated ; there is nothing definite ; it is 

 left absolutely to the decision of the States, 

 and it was boldly claimed in 1876 that, when a 

 State decided through a returning board that 

 one set of electors was elected, the tribunal 

 here must acquiesce. That is the principle of 

 this bill. I must confess that the fourth sec- 

 tion of this bill is not at all satisfactory to me. 

 Under this bill any returning board could per- 

 petrate as much fraud as it pleased and certify 

 it here, and there would be no power to look 

 into it. 



" I am aware that the late Electoral Com- 

 mission based its conclusions upon the conclu- 

 sive character of the State returns. But did 

 this concession to State power and sovereign- 

 ty, did this following the shadow and disre- 

 garding the substance, satisfy the people of 

 the States concerned, or a majority of the 

 voters of the United States ? 



" But suppose the States do not adopt the 

 suggestion of Congress as contained in this 

 bill, where is your power to enforce it? You 

 say in the fourth section that the States may 

 enact laws looking to the adjustment of all 

 controversies growing out of the election of 

 presidential electors in the State ; but you can 

 not enforce that. You admit upon the face of 

 your bill that you have no power to enforce 

 it, that it is a mere suggestion from this Gov- 

 ernment to the States, that they ought to pass 

 a law providing for the adjustment of all elec- 

 toral controversies. Suppose the laws of the 

 States remain as they now are after the pas- 

 sage of this bill (and it is very likely that they 



