CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



179 



talking about the mere technical law for per- 

 forming this great function is the place where 

 the President of the Senate officially and right- 

 fully always is. 



"The only argument that was ever sug- 

 gested against that has been simply the argu- 

 ment of physical convenience ; that, as the 

 chambers of the Capitol used to be (after the 

 earlier days when it was done here), the hall 

 of the House of Representatives being larger, 

 it was physically more convenient to have it 

 done there, and so it was for a great many 

 years. But the hall of the Senate is now 

 large enough to leave no physical obstacle to 

 the convenient dispatch of that business here ; 

 and, therefore, I claim and I urge upon Sen- 

 ators the propriety of causing this great act to 

 be done in the place where on every theory 

 and upon every principle of security and wise 

 procedure it ought to be done. If at some 

 future day there should arise a disturbance 

 and a trouble, and the President of the Senate 

 and the tellers appointed by the Senate, if 

 there should be any, on such an occasion, 

 moving this eighth of a mile into the other 

 House, should be despoiled of these documents, 

 it would be a very serious thing. If on sorno 

 such occasion also it should happen that a dis- 

 agreement, a disturbance, a tumult should 

 arise in the hall of the House of Representa- 

 tives, as there has been not a very serious 

 one, but as there has been on the occasions of 

 the counting of votes in a case like this, where 

 there was no doubt in any man's mind as to 

 what the result was, producing a scene of tu- 

 mult and confusion where nothing could be 

 done except for the President of the Senate to 

 say without taking the opinion of the Senate 

 about it at all that the Senate would now with- 

 draw and march out that would be very in- 

 convenient. 



" If any such scene should occur hereafter, 

 as I pray there never will, if anybody is to 

 withdraw I am not now trying to impress 

 anybody with my ideas about the power let 

 the withdrawal take place so as to leave the 

 President of the Senate and these public docu- 

 ments in the place where they belong ; do not 

 require the person whom the Constitution says, 

 as such person, shall open these votes, to move 

 an eighth of a mile, or any other distance from 

 his proper place, in order that whatever may 

 constitutionally be done on that occasion, or 

 succeeding it, may go on. 



" I appeal to Senators, therefore, to vote for 

 this amendment which I offer, to make this 

 place, now when there is no question, the place 

 for the opening and the counting of these votes. 

 As I said before, the only argument that was 

 ever made for another place, that of mere 

 physical convenience, has no weight, inasmuch 

 as this chamber is large enough for every 

 member of the Senate, and every member of 

 the other House, to be comfortably accommo- 

 dated." 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio : " Mr. President, for 



seventy-odd years, if my memory is not at fault, 

 the votes of the electors of President and 

 Vice-President have been counted in the hall 

 of the House of Representatives; and on no 

 occasion has any Senator, either going to or 

 returning from that hall, been in any way mo- 

 lested or insulted. I am not for changing a 

 practice sanctioned by such long usage, and 

 especially am I not in favor of introducing a 

 subject about which the two Houses may dis- 

 agree, when on this day week, only seven days 

 from this time, it will be our duty to attend 

 the counting of these votes. I hope the mo- 

 tion of the Senator from Vermont will be 

 voted down." 



Mr. Hill, of Georgia: " I rise now simply to 

 say one or two things in relation to the vote of 

 my own State. I have seen it intimated, and 

 more than intimated, in several quarters, that 

 the failure on the part of the electors of Geor- 

 gia to cast their vote on the day fixed by the 

 law of Congress arose from a disposition in 

 that State to regard the law of the State on 

 this subject as of higher authority than the law 

 of Congress. I wish to say here that that is 

 not true. There was no intention or idea on 

 the part of anybody in Georgia, in authority 

 or out of authority, to disregard the law of 

 Congress on this subject, or doubt that the law 

 of Congress fixing the day for the vote by the 

 electors was the supreme law. There has 

 never been any law in Georgia in conflict with 

 the law of Congress, or intended to be in con- 

 flict with the law of Congress, on that subject. 



" Without going into the particular history 

 to explain how it happened (a fact which we 

 all know but do not yet know officially) that the 

 electors of Georgia did vote one week after the 

 day fixed by the law of Congress, I simply say 

 that there was simply a failure to know the 

 fact that the first Wednesday in December, 

 1880, came before the first Monday in Decem- 

 ber. The failure to know that simple fact of 

 the almanac caused the whole trouble, and 

 there was no desire or intent on the part of 

 anybody to hold that the State law was su- 

 preme over the Federal law on this subject, no 

 desire to disregard the Federal law. Indeed, 

 the whole intent was to comply with the law 

 of Congress and vote on the day that the elect- 

 ors in all the other States voted. It was just 

 one of those accidents that may happen any- 

 where or at any time." 



The Presiding Officer [Mr. Anthony in the 

 chair] : " The question is on the amendment 

 of the Senator from Vermont " [Mr. Edmunds]. 



The result was announced yeas 22, nays 36. 



So the amendment to the amendment was 

 rejected. 



Mr. Eaton, of Connecticut : " I do not in- 

 tend to discuss the question at any length, but 

 I have a word to say. I can not support a res- 

 olution upon this subject which leaves one 

 very important question in doubt, and that is 

 the question whether the President of the Sen- 

 ate has the right to count the votes for Presi- 



