CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (ELECTORAL COMMISSION). 



201 



posing of the questions submitted to us on their 

 merits. It cannot be attained by a resort to 

 technical subtleties and ingenious devices to 

 avoid looking at the evidence. It is our duty 

 to ascertain, if possible, the truth, and decide 

 who were in fact duly appointed electors in 

 Florida not merely who had received certifi- 

 cates of such appointment. That State has 

 spoken to us through her courts, through her 

 Legislature, and through her Executive, and 

 has told us in no ambiguous terms what was 

 her will and whom she had appointed to ex- 

 press it. If we shut our ears to her utterances, 

 and, closing our eyes to the evidence, decide 

 this case upon the mere inspection of the cer- 

 tificates of the Governor and canvassing board, 

 we shall abdicate our powers, defeat the de- 

 mands of justice, and disappoint the just ex- 

 pectations of the people. The country may 

 submit to the result, but it will never cease to 

 regard our action as unjust in itself, and as 

 calculated to sap the foundations of public 

 morality." 



Mr. Commissioner Strong said: "My con- 

 clusions, then, are, that neither Congress nor 

 this commission has authority under the Con- 

 stitution to recanvass the vote of Florida for 

 State electors ; that the first determination of 

 the State canvassing board was conclusive, un- 

 til it was reversed by State authority; that, 

 while it remained unreversed, it conferred upon 

 the persons declared by it to have been chosen 

 electors rightful authority to cast the vote of 

 the State ; and that, the act which those elec- 

 tors were appointed to do having been done, it 

 was not in the power even of the State after- 

 ward to undo the act and call in question the 

 authority by which it was done. It follows, in 

 my judgment, that the evidence now offered is 

 impertinent to any question we can decide, and, 

 therefore, that it ought not to be admitted." 



Mr. Commissioner Bradley said : " My con- 

 clusion is that the validity of the first certifi- 

 cate cannot be controverted by evidence of the 

 proceedings had in the courts of Florida by 

 quo warranto, and that said evidence should 

 not be received." 



Mr. Justice Clifford said: "Due service of 

 process in the quo warranto suit was made at 

 the earliest possible moment, and it is not even 

 suggested that any greater diligence could have 

 been employed in bringing the litigation to a 

 close. Prompt investigation was made by the 

 new board of State canvassers, and the Legis- 

 lature enacted the statute declaring that the 

 Tilden electors were duly chosen and appointed 

 the next day after the decree was entered in 

 the quo warranto suit. Neither the public nor 

 the citizens have any power to defeat the 

 machinations of fraud, perjury, and forgery, if 

 the measures adopted for that purpose in this 

 case are held to be ineffectual and insufficient. 



"For these reasons I am of the opinion that 

 the evidence offered should be admitted, and 

 that the other side should be permitted to give 

 evidence in reply." 



The hour of three o'clock having arrived, 

 being the time designated by an order of the 

 commission at which the question on the mat- 

 ter pending should be submitted, 



Mr. Commissioner Miller moved the follow- 

 ing order : 



Ordered, That no evidence will be received or con- 

 sidered by the commission which was not submitted 

 to the joint convention of the two Houses by the 

 President of the Senate with the different certificates, 

 except such as relates to the eligibility of F. C. 

 Humphries, one of the electors. 



The question being on its adoption, it was de- 

 termined in the affirmative: Yeas, 8; Nays, 7. 



Those who voted in the affirmative are : 

 Messrs. Bradley, Edmunds, Frelinghuysen, Gar- 

 field, Hoar, Miller, Morton, and Strong. 



Those who voted in the negative are : Messrs. 

 Abbott, Bayard, Clifford, Field, Hunton, Payne, 

 and Thurman. 



So the motion of Mr. Commissioner Miller 

 was agreed to. 



Mr. Commissioner Abbott moved the follow- 

 ing: 



Ordered, That in the case of Florida the commis- 

 sion will receive evidence relating to the eligibility 

 of Frederick C. Humphries, one of the persons 

 named in Certificate No. 1, as elector. 



The question being on its adoption, it was 

 determined in the affirmative : Yeas, 8 ; Nays, 7. 



Those who voted in the affirmative are: 

 Messrs. Abbott, Bayard, Bradley, Clifford, 

 Field, Hunton, Payne, and Thurman. 



Those who voted in the negative are : Messrs. 

 Edmunds, Frelinghuysen, Garfield, Hoar, Mil- 

 ler, Morton, and Strong. 



So the motion of Mr. Commissioner Abbott 

 was agreed to. 



FRIDAY, February 9, 1877. 



The commission met at ten o'clock A. M. 

 pursuant to adjournment, all the members be- 

 ing present. 



Mr. Commissioner Edmunds offered the fol- 

 lowing resolution : 



Resolved. That the following be adopted as the de- 

 cision of the commission in the cose of Florida: 



ELECTORAL COMMISSION, ) 

 WASHINGTON, D. C., February 9, A. D. 1877. J. 

 To the President of the Senate of the United States ? 

 presiding in the meeting of the two Houses ot 

 Congress, under the act of Congress entitled " An 

 act to provide for and regulate the counting of the 

 votes for President and V ice-President, and the 

 decision of questions arising thereon, for the term 

 commencing March 4, A. D. 1877," approved Jan- 

 uary 29, A. D. 1877. 



The Electoral Commission mentioned in said act, 

 having received certain certificates and papers pur- 

 porting to be certificates, and papers accompanying 

 the same, of the electoral votes from the State of 

 Florida, and the objections thereto submitted to it 

 under said act, now report that it has duly con- 

 sidered the same, pursuant to said act, nnd has de- 

 cided, and does hereby decide, that the votes of 

 Frederick C. Humphries, Charles H. Pearce, W illium 

 H. H olden, and Thomas W. Long, named in the 

 certificate of M. L. Stearns, Governor of said State, 

 which votes are certified by said persons, as appears 



