CONGRESS, UNITED STATES (ELECTORAL COMMISSION). 



203 



As to the objection made to the eligibility of Mr. 

 Humphries, the commission is of opinion that, with- 

 out reference to the question of the effect of the 

 vote of an ineligible elector, the evidence does not 

 show that he held the office of shipping commis- 

 sioner on the day when the electors were appointed. 



The commission has also decided, and does hereby 

 decide and report, that, as a consequence of the fore- 

 going, and upon the grounds before stated, neither 

 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 of 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. 



The question being on the adoption of the 

 report of the commission, it was decided in 

 the affirmative: Yeas, 8; Nays, 7. 



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. 



So the report of the commission was adopt- 

 ed ; and said decision and report was there- 

 upon signed by the members agreeing therein, 

 as follows : 



SAMUEL F. MILLER, 



W. STRONG. 



JOSEPH P. BRADLEY, 



GEORGE F. EDMUNDS, ! Commis- 



O. P. MORTON, f sioners. 



FRED. T. FRELINGHUYSEN, 



JAMES A. GARFIELD, 



GEORGE F. HOAR, 



On February 10th the following note was 

 sent to the Senate and House : 



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

 SIB: I am directed bv the Electoral Commission 

 to inform the Senate, that it has considered and de- 

 cided upon the matters submitted to it under the 

 act of Congress concerning the same, touching the 

 electoral votes from the State of Florida, and here- 

 with, by direction of said commission, I transmit to 

 you the said decision in writing, signed by the mem- 

 bers agreeing therein, to be read at the meeting of 

 the two Houses, according to said act. All the cer- 

 tificates and papers sent to the commission by the 

 President of the Senate are herewith returned. 

 NATHAN CLIFFORD, 



President of the Commission. 

 Hon. THOMAS W. FERRY, 



President of the Senate. 



COUNTING THE VOTES. 



At one o'clock on the same day the two 

 Houses reassembled to hear and coincide, or 

 otherwise, with the decision of the Electoral 

 Commission. 



The Secretary of the Senate read the decis- 

 ion above mentioned. 



The Presiding Officer: "Are there objec- 

 tions to this decision? " 



Mr. Field : " I submit an objection to the 

 decision and report just read." 



The Presiding Officer : " The member from 

 New York (Mr. Field) submits an objection to 

 the decision, which will be read by the Clerk 

 of the House." 



Mr. Adams, Clerk of the House, read as fol- 

 lows: 



An objection ia interposed by the undersigned 

 Senators and Representatives to the decision made 

 by the commission constituted by the act entitled 

 " An act to provide for and regulate the counting of 

 the vote for President and Vice- President, and the 

 decision of questions arising thereon, for the term 

 commencing March 4, A. D. 1877," as to the true and 

 lawful electoral vote of Florida, upon the following 

 grounds : 



1. For that the decision determines that the vote 

 cast by Charles H. Pearce, Frederick C. Hum- 

 phries, William H. Holden, and Thomas W. Long, 

 as electors of President and V ice-President of the 

 United States in and for or on behalf of the State of 

 Florida, is the true and lawful electoral vote of said 

 StatCj when, in truth and in fact, the vote cast by 

 Wilkinson Call, James E. Yonge, Robert B. Hilton, 

 and Robert Bullock, is the true and lawful vote of 

 said State. 



2. For that said commission refused to receive 

 competent and material evidence tending to prove 

 that Charles H. Pearce, Frederick C. Humphries, 

 William H. Holden, and Thomas W. Long, were 

 not appointed electors in the manner prescribed by 

 the Legislature of the State of Florida, but were 

 designated as electors by the returning board of 

 said State corruptly and fraudulently, in disregard 

 of law, and with the intent to defeat the will of 

 the people expressed in the choice of Wilkin- 

 son Call, James E. Yonge, Robert B. Hilton, and 

 Robert, Bullock, who were legally and regularly op- 

 pointed electors by the State of Florida, in the man- 

 ner directed by the Legislature thereof. 



8. For that the decision aforesaid was founded 

 upon the resolution and order of said commission 

 previously made, as follows : 



" Ordered. That no evidence will be received or 

 considered by the commission which was not sub- 

 mitted to the joint convention of the two Houses by 

 the President of the Senate, with the different cer- 

 tificates, except such as relates to the eligibility 

 of F. C. Humphries, one of the electors." 



4. For that said decision excludes all the evidence 

 taken by the two Houses of Congress and by the 

 committees of each House concerning the frauds, 

 errors, and irregularities committed by the persons 

 whose certificates are taken as proof of the due cp- 

 pointment of electors. 



5. For that said decision excludes all evidence 



tending to prove that the certificate of Stearns, 



Governor, as also that of the Board of State Can- 

 vassers, was procured or given in pursuance of a 

 fraudulent and corrupt conspiracy to cheat the State 

 of Florida out of its rightful choice of electors, and 

 to substitute therefor those who had not been chosen 

 or appointed electors by said State in the manner 

 directed by the Legislature thereof. 



6. For that said commission refused to recognize 

 the right of the courts of the State of Florida to re- 

 view and reverse the judgment of the returning 

 board or Board of State Canvassers, rendered through 

 fraud and without jurisdiction, and rejected and re- 

 fused to consider the action of said courts after their 

 decision that Charles H. Pearce, Frederick C. Hum- 

 phries, William H. Holden, and Thomas W. Long, 

 were not entitled to cast the electoral vote of Flor- 

 ida; which said decision was rendered by a court 

 of said State in a case lawfully brought before said 

 court, which court had jurisdiction over the subject- 

 matter thereof, and whose jurisdiction over the said 

 Charles H. Pearce, Frederick C. Humphries, Wil- 

 liam H. Holden, and Thomas W. Long, had attached 

 before any act was done by them as electors. 



7. For that said decision excludes all evidence 

 tending to prove that the State of Florida, by all the 

 departments of its government, legislative, execu- 

 tive, and judicial, has repudiated as fraudulent and 



