202 



CONGKESS, UNITED STATES (ELECTORAL COMMISSION). 



bv the certificate submitted to the commission, as 

 aforesaid, and marked " Number One " by said com- 

 mission, and herewith returned, are the votes pro- 

 vided for by the Constitution of the United States, 

 and that the sumo are lawfully to be counted as 

 therein certified, namely : Four (4) votes for Ruther- 

 ford B. Hayes, of the State of Ohio, for President, 

 and four (4) votes for William A. Wheeler, of the 

 State of New- York, for V ice-President. 



The commission also has decided, and hereby 

 decides and reports, that the four persons first be- 

 fore named wore duly appointed electors in and by 

 said State of Florida. 



The brief ground of this decision is, that it appears 

 upon such evidence as by the Constitution and the 

 law named in said act of Congress is competent and 

 pertinent to the consideration of the subject, that 

 ttie before-mentioned electors appear to have been 

 lawfully elected sucli electors of President and Vice- 

 President of the United States, for the term begin- 

 ning March 4, 1877, of the State of Florida, and that 

 they voted as such at the time and in the manner 

 provided for by the Constitution of the United States 

 and the law. 



The commission has also decided, and does here- 

 by decide and report, that, as a consequence of the 

 foregoing, and upon the grounds before stated, nei- 

 ther of the papers purporting to be certificates of the 

 electoral votes of said State of Florida, numbered 

 Two (2) and Three (3) by the commission, and here- 

 with returned, are the certificates or the votes pro- 

 vided for by the Constitution of the United States, 

 and that they ought not to be counted as such. 

 Done at Washington the day and year first above 



written. 



Mr. Commissioner Hunton offered the fol- 

 lowing as a substitute : 



That the electors named in Certificate No. 2, to 

 wit, Wilkinson Call, J. E. Yonge, Robert Bullock, 

 and Robert B. Hilton, are the four persons who were 

 duly appointed electors by the State of Florida on 

 the 7th day of Novembar, 1876, and that their votes 

 as certified in such certificate are the votes provided 

 for by the Constitution of the United States. 



The question being on the adoption of the 

 substitute, it was decided in the negative : 

 Yeas, 7; Nays, 8. 



Those who voted in the affirmative were : 

 Messrs. Abbott. Bayard, Clifford, Field, Hun- 

 ton, Payne, and Thurman 7. 



Those who voted in the negative were: 

 Messrs. Bradlev, Edmunds, Frelinghuysen, Gar- 

 field, Hoar, Miller, Morton, and Strong 8. 



Thereupon the resolution offered by Mr. 

 Commissioner Edmunds was withdrawn. 



Mr. Commissioner Garfield offered the fol- 

 lowing resolutions : 



Unsolved, That the four persons, to wit, Frederick 

 C. Humphries, Charles H. Pearce, William A. Hoi- 

 den, and Thomas W. Long, were duly appointed elec- 

 tors of President and Vice-President for the State of 

 Florida, and that the votes cast by the aforesaid four 

 persons are the votes provided for by the Constitu- 

 tion of the United States. 



Resolved, That Mr. Edmunds, Mr. Bradley, and Mr. 

 Miller, be appointed a committee to draft a report of 

 the action of the commission, as required by law, 



The question being on the adoption of the 

 first resolution, it \vas decided in the affirma- 

 tive: Yeas, 8; Nays7~Tj\ 



Those who voted in the affirmative were: 

 Messrs. Bradley, Edmunds, Frelinghuysen, 

 Garfield, Hoar, Miller, Morton, and Strong 8. 



Those who voted in the negative were: 

 Messrs. Abbott, Bayard, Clifford, Field, Hun- 

 ton, Payne, and Thurman 7. 



The question being on the adoption of the 

 second resolution offered by Mr. Commissioner 

 Garfield, it was decided in the affirmative. 



Mr. Commissioner Edmunds (at six o'clock 

 and five minutes p. M.) moved that the com- 

 mission take a recess for one hour. 



The motion was agreed to, and a recess was 

 accordingly taken until seven o'clock and five 

 minutes P. M. 



The recess having expired, the commission 

 resumed its session for deliberation. 



Mr. Commissioner Edmunds, on behalf of 

 the committee appointed to prepare a report of 

 the commission in the matter of the electoral 

 vote of the State of Florida, offered the fol- 

 lowing order : 



Ordered, That the following be adopted as the 

 final decision and report in the matters submitted to 

 the commission as to the electoral vote of the State 

 of Florida: 



ELECTOKAL COMMISSION, ) 

 WASHINGTON, T>. (J., February 9, A. D. 1877. J 

 To the President of the Senate of the United States, 

 presiding in the meeting of the two Houses of 

 Congress, under the act of Congress entitled "An 

 act to provide for and regulate the counting of the 

 votes tor President and Vice-Presidcnt, 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, and has de- 

 cided, and does hereby decide, that the votes of 

 Frederick C. Humphries, Charles H. Pearce, William 

 H. Holden, 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 

 by the certificate submitted to the commission, as 

 aforesaid, and marked " Number One" by said com- 

 mission, and herewith returned, are the votes pro- 

 vided for by the Constitution of the United States, 

 and that the same are lawfully to be counted as 

 therein certified, namely : Four (4) votes for Kuther- 

 ford B. Hayes, of the State of Ohio, for President, 

 and four (4) votes for William A. Wheeler, of the 

 State of New York, for Vice-President. The com- 

 mission also has decided, and hereby decides and 

 reports, that the four persons first before named 

 were duly appointed electors in and by said State 

 of Florida. 



The ground of this decision, stated briefly, as re- 

 quired by said act, is as follows : 



That it is not competent under the Constitution 

 and the law, as it existed at the date of the passage 

 of said act, to go into evidence allundt on the papers- 

 opened by the President of the Senate in the pres- 

 ence of the two Houses to prove that other persons 

 than those regularly certified to by the Governor of 

 the State of Florida, in and according to the deter- 

 mination and declaration of their appointment 07 

 the Board of State Canvassers of said State prior to 

 the time required for the performance of their duties, 

 had been appointed electors, or by counter-proof to 

 show that they had not, and that all proceedings of 

 the courts or acts of the Legislature, or of the Ex- 

 ecutive of Florida, subsequent to the casting of the 

 votes of the electors on the prescribed day, are ina-'l- 

 missible for any such purpose. 



