CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



155 



them ; it does not intend to decide one of 

 them, except one single one : that is, it puts 

 an end to the pretension that the President of 

 the Senate is the sole judge who is to deter- 

 mine whether States are in the Union, and 

 whether this hody of men or that body of men 

 are the electors of President or Vice- President 

 of the United States. 



" Mr. President, what are the advantages of 

 this bill? I can only enumerate them ; I can- 

 not dilate upon them. In the first place, it 

 does just what I have said : it puts an end to 

 the pretension that the President of the Senate 

 is the sole judge. In the second place, it re- 

 quires him to produce everything purporting 

 to be a return ; for if it did not require him to 

 do that, it would in effect leave him to be the 

 sole judge, by keeping one return in his pocket 

 and producing the other only. In the third 

 place, it requires him to produce the returns in 

 the alphabetical order of the States. 



" I do not mean it to be understood, from 

 anything I am saying here, that I have the 

 slightest idea that the present occupant of the 

 chair would do any unfair thing not the 

 slightest in the world. It is from no want of 

 confidence in him that these provisions are 

 put in the bill, but it is because they are right, 

 and will be of good example. In fact, they 

 are taken from the bill of the Senator from 

 Indiana, which passed the Senate at the last 

 session, long before it was known there would 

 be any such contest as now exists in reference 

 to the election of President. That had, there- 

 fore, sir, not the slightest reference to you. 



" It requires him to produce the returns in 

 the alphabetical order of the States a very 

 proper provision, and that ought long ago to 

 have been adopted ; for otherwise, if this 

 country should be and the Senate should be 

 cursed with an unscrupulous President, if he 

 had the discretion to produce the returns just 

 in such order as he saw fit, he might give a 

 manifest advantage to one side or to the other. 



" In the fourth place, it gives time for the 

 consideration of objections ; and in respect to 

 that, I beg leave to say that I wholly dissent 

 from the remarks of the Senator from New 

 Jersey the other day, and from those of my 

 colleague, too, who drew an inference as to 

 the meaning of the Constitution from the want 

 of time to consider these objections. This bill 

 does give time to consider them, and to con- 

 sider them with a reasonable degree of cer- 

 tainty and intelligence. 



" In the next place, it provides for the meet- 

 ing of the two Houses in a given place, and 

 prevents any conflict between them as to the 

 place of meeting. 



" Sixthly. Ascending from these smaller 

 matters, it provides for a tribunal as fair and 

 competent as could be devised. If any man 

 can find a fairer tribunal consistent with the 

 Constitution, I beg him to propose it. But no 

 snch proposition has yet been made. 



" In the next place, it secures a regular and 



orderly mode of procedure; and next, it se- 

 cures a decision, and thereby avoids a resort 

 to violence. At the same time, it' leaves the 

 circumstances of the election open to future 

 and legitimate criticism. In the mean time, it 

 tends to bring peace and prosperity to the 

 country, and to strengthen and preserve our 

 republican institutions. 



" These, sir, are the advantages of this bill, 

 and they can scarcely be overestimated. I shall 

 indulge in no rhetoric upon them. If the bare 

 statement of them does not impress every 

 Senator, it would be vain in me to attempt to 

 do it by elocution. Then, sir, if this bill is ad- 

 vantageous, the only remaining question is, Is 

 it constitutional ? 



" Upon that subject let it be granted that 

 the Constitution contemplates that the votes 

 shall be counted by the two Houses which is 

 certainly my understanding of the Constitu- 

 tion ; yet it must be admitted that no mode 

 of procedure is prescribed. That is left to the 

 law-making power. The case, in its present 

 condition, comes within the express provision 

 of the concluding paragraph of section 8 of Ar- 

 ticle I. of the Constitution the familiar para- 

 graph, that Congress shall have power to make 

 all laws necessary and proper, etc. Congress 

 may, according to its best judgment, prescribe 

 the mode ; and this bill does nothing more. 



" But it has been asked, May the concur- 

 rence of both Houses be required to admit or 

 to reject a vote ? Certainly, if the two Houses 

 are to count, there must be some rule on this 

 subject. It cannot be that the concurrence cf 

 the two Houses is required to accept, and that 

 the concurrence of the two Houses is not re- 

 quired to reject. Those propositions cannot 

 very well stand together. It must be that 

 there is some rule which necessity requires to 

 be adopted ; and who is to prescribe that rule ? 

 Who can prescribe it but the law-making 

 power? The Constitution has devolved a 

 duty here, just as we devolve a duty on two 

 judges who hold our Circuit Court. The court 

 is held by two judges. "What do we do in the 

 case of the Circuit Court ? The circuit judge 

 and the district judge constitute the court. 

 "What do we do in such a case, but prescribe a 

 rule of decision ? and that rule is that, where 

 they differ in opinion, the opinion of the cir- 

 cuit judge shall prevail." 



Mr. Eaton, of Connecticut, said : " Under 

 the Constitution the electoral vote of the coun- 

 try has been counted once in four years since 

 1789 nearly a century. Then, sir, there must 

 have been, somewhere, a well-defined power. 

 "Where is that power? Either, first, in the 

 President of the Senate ; or, second, in the 

 House of Representatives; or, third, in the 

 two Houses, acting either jointly or concur- 

 rently. 



" A great deal has been said here I am not 

 going to read books to-night to show that 

 the President of the Senate has not th power, 

 under the Constitution, to scrutinize, investi- 



