

CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (ELECTORAL COMMISSION). 



172 



dents were not, upon the said 6th day of December, 

 or at any other time, entitled to assume or exercise 

 any of the powers and functions of such electors or 

 elector ; but that they were, upon the said day and 

 date, mere usurpers." 



The President : " We are hearing the state- 

 ment of one side now." 



Mr. Representative Field: ''The whole rec- 

 ord is certified and exemplified in due form. 



" I will go on with the reading : 



And it is further considered and adjudged that the 

 ssid relators, Robert Bullock, Robert B. Hilton, Wil- 

 kinson Call, and James E. Yonge 



" These are the Tilden electors 



all and singular, were at said election duly elected, 

 chosen, and appointed electors of President and 

 Vice-President of the United States, and were on the 

 said 6th day of December, 1876, entitled to be de- 

 clared elected, chosen, and appointed as such elec- 

 tors, and to have and receive certificates thereof and 

 upon the said day and date, and at all times since, 

 to exercise and perform all and singular the powers 

 and duties of such electors, and to have and enjoy 

 the pay and emoluments thereof. It is further ad- 

 judged that respondents pay to relators the costs 

 of the action. 



"So much for the action of the judicial de- 

 partment of Florida. Everything was done, I 

 take it upon me to say, which it was possible 

 to do, so that I am warranted in asserting that, 

 if there be any way known to the law by which 

 in such a case a defrauded State can right itself 

 through the courts of the State, that way has 

 been taken. 



" In the mean time the Hayes electors had 

 voted and sent their lists of votes to the Presi- 

 dent of the Senate, with the certificate of 

 Stearns to their appointment. 



" There was no canvass or certificate of the 

 State canvassers to their appointment, other 

 than that first made, which the Supreme Court 

 had ordered to be rectified on the application 

 of Mr. Drew, and the rectification of which, 

 therefore, could go no further than the canvass 

 of the Governor's vote. The same rectification, 

 applied to the electoral votes, would of course 

 give the majority to the Tilden electors ; but to 

 avoid the appearance of this, the canvassers pre- 

 tended to alter the vote first given by them to 

 Baker County, and reduce it to the two pre- 

 cincts mentioned in the third and false return 

 of the county canvassers. This attempt was 

 rebuked by the Supreme Court, in an order 

 directing the State canvassers to confine their 

 action under the mandamus to the votes for 

 Governor; so that there really appears upon 

 the records of the State canvassers no sem- 

 blance of any authority for Stearns's certificate 

 other than the first canvass, which the Supreme 

 Court branded as illegal and false. 



" Now look at what the Legislature of Florida 

 has done. The Legislature is the department 

 of the Florida government which could alone 

 direct how the^wiwer devolved by the Federal 

 Constitution could be performed. This Legis- 

 lature has passed two acts, to which I call your 

 attention. In view of the fact that the Su- 



preme Court had made the decision which I 

 have mentioned, the Legislature passed 



An act to provide for a canvass according to the 

 laws of the State of Florida, as interpreted by the 

 Supreme Court, of the votes for electors of President 

 and Vice-President cast at the election held Novem- 

 ber 7, 1876. 



" The law was approved January 17th. It pro- 

 vides that the Secretary of State, Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, and the Comptroller of Public Accounts, 

 or any of them, together with any other mem- 

 ber of the Cabinet who may be designated by 

 them, shall meet forthwith at the office of the 

 Secretary of State, pursuant to a notice to be 

 given by the Secretary of State, and proceed to 

 recanvass the votes. They did meet and re- 

 canvass pursuant to that law, and they certified 

 the result according to the fact, giving the ma- 

 jority to the Tilden electors. The second law 

 declared that the Tilden electors, naming them, 

 were elected on the 7th day of November, and 

 that they had voted, and directed that the same 

 electors should meet ; that the Governor should 

 give them a certificate of their election, pur- 

 suant to the recanvass ; and that they should 

 make out duplicate lists of the votes, and trans- 

 mit them to the President of the Senate at 

 Washington ; and the proceedings under that 

 law make up the third return which has been 

 read." 



Mr. Commissioner Bradley : " What was the 

 second return? " 



Mr. Representative Field : " The second re- 

 turn to the President of the Senate was the 

 return of the Tilden electors. 



u The first return was made by the Hayes elec- 

 tors, and sent with the certificate of Stearns as 

 Governor. The second return contains the cer- 

 tificates of the Tilden electors without the cer- 

 tificate of the Governor, but with a certificate 

 of the Attorney-General, the only dissenting 

 member of the Board of State Canvassers, cer- 

 tifying that they were elected. Then, the third 

 return contains the action of the State authori- 

 ties subsequently to the two first, for the pur- 

 pose of ratifying and confirming, so far as it 

 was possible for the State authorities to do it, 

 the second return ; and they therefore not only 

 passed a law for the recanvass of the votes, 

 which recanvass took place and resulted in a 

 certificate of the election of the Tilden electors, 

 but they passed another act reciting that the 

 election had been in favor of the Tilden elec- 

 tors, and that the Tilden electors had met and 

 voted on the 6th of December, but without a 

 certificate of the Governor, and directing the 

 Governor of the State to forward a supple- 

 mentary certificate for its confirmation ; and 

 directing, moreover, for abundant caution, that 

 there should be new lists made out and a new 

 certificate by these electors, who were to be re- 

 assembled for the purpose, the certificates all 

 to be forwarded to the President of the Senate, 

 as they would have been but for the conspiracy 

 in November. Those papers make the third 

 return. 



