CONGKESS, UNITED STATES (ELECTORAL COMMISSION). 



219 



4. E. A. Cronin was elected a presidential elector 

 for the State of Oregon, and, in accordance with law 

 as such, cast a legal vote as an elector for Samuel J. 

 Tilden for President and Thomas A. Hendricks for 

 Vice-President, and the vote so cast should bo 

 counted. 



JAMES K. KELLY, "1 



WM. PINCKNEY WHYTE, 



HENRY COOPER, Lfl, t 



J. E. McDONALD, f Senators. 



T. M. NORWOOD, 



FRANK HEREFORD, J 



LA FAYETTE LANE, 1 



E. F. POPPLETON, 



G. A. JENKS, 



JOHN L. VANCE, of Ohio, ! Represen- 



J. W. THROCKMORTON, f tatives. 



SCOTT \VIKE. 



P. D. WIGGINTON, 



J. K. LUTTRELL, j 



The Presiding Officer : " Are there further 

 objections to the decision of the commission ? 

 (After a pause.) There being none, the Senate 

 will withdraw to its Chamber, that the Houses 

 separately may consider and determine the 

 objection." 



The objections to the decision of the Com- 

 mission were not sustained by the concurrent 

 action of the two Houses. The decision, there- 

 fore, was sustained, and the three votes of Ore- 

 gon were cast for Hayes and Wheeler. 



The certificates of Pennsylvania were next 

 opened, and an objection was made to one of 

 the electoral votes. The objection was not 

 sustained by the concurrent action of the two 

 Houses, and the twenty-nine votes of the State 

 were given to Hayes and Wheeler. 



The certificate of Rhode Island was next ob- 

 jected to, but the objection was not sustained, 

 and the four votes of the State were given for 

 Hayes and Wheeler. 



The certificates of South Carolina were next 

 opened, and objections were made and referred 

 to the Electoral Commission. 



On February 28th the two Houses reassem- 

 bled to hear the decision of the commission, 

 which was in writing, and signed by the mem- 

 bers agreeing thereto, as follows: 



ELECTORAL COMMISSION, I 

 WASHINGTON, D. C., February 27, A. D. 1877. J 

 To the President of the Senate of the United States, 

 presiding in the meeting of the two Houses of Con- 

 gress, under the act of Congress entitled u An act 

 to provide for and regulate the counting of the 

 votes for President and Vice-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 for the State of South 

 Carolina, and the objections thereto submitted to it 

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

 ered the same pursuant to said act, and has by a ma- 

 jority of votes decided, and does hereby decide, that 

 the votes of C. C. Bowen, J. Winsmitn, Thomas B. 

 Johnston, Timothy Hurley, W. B. Nash, Wilson 

 Cook, and W. F. Myers, named in the certificate ot 

 D. H. Chamberlain, Governor of said State, which 

 votea are certified by said persons, as appears by the 

 certificate submitted to the commission as aforesaid, 



and marked " Number One (1) N. C." 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 : 



Seven (7) votes for Rutherford B. Hayes, of the 

 State of Ohio, for President ; and 



Seven (7) votes for William A. Wheeler, of the 

 State of New York, for Vice-President. 



Tbe commission has by a majority of votes also 

 decided, and does hereby decide and report, that the 

 seven persons first above named were duly appointed 

 electors in and by the State of South Carolina. 



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 

 the before-mentioned electors appear to have been 

 lawfully appointed such electors of President and 

 Vice-President of the United States for the term be- 

 ginning March 4, A. D. 1877, of the State of South 

 Carolina, 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. 



And the commission, as further ground for their 

 decision, are of the opinion that the failure of the 

 Legislature to provide a system for the registration 

 of persons entitled to vote does not render nugatory 

 all elections held under laws otherwise sufficient, 

 though it may be the duty of the Legislature to en- 

 act such a law. If it were otherwise, all government 

 in that State is a usurpation, its officers without au- 

 thority, and the social compact in that State is at 

 an end. 



That this commission must take notice that there 

 is a government in South Carolina republican in 

 form, since its constitution provides for such a gov- 

 ernment; and it is and was on the day of appointing 

 electors so recognized by the Executive, and by both 

 branches of the legislative department of the Gov- 

 ernment of the United States. 



That, so far as this commission can take notice of 

 the presence of the soldiers of the United States in 

 the State of South Carolina during the election, it 

 appears that they were placed there by the President 

 of the United States to suppress insurrection, at the 

 request of the proper authorities of the Stale. 



And we are also of opinion that, from the papers 

 before us, it appears that the Governor and Secretary 

 of State have certified, under the seal of the State, 

 that the electors whose vote we have decided to be the 

 lawful electoral vote of the State were duly appointed 

 electors ; which certificate, both by presumption of 

 law and by the certificate of the rival claimants of 

 the electoral office-was based upon the action of the 

 State canvassers. There exists no power in this com- 

 mission, and there exists none in the two Houses of 

 Congress, in counting the electoral vote, to inquire 

 into the circumstances under which the primary vote 

 for electors was given. The power of the Congress 

 of the United States in its legislative capacity to in- 

 quire into the matters alleged, and to act upon the 

 information so obtained, is a very different one from 

 its power in the matter of counting the electoial 

 vote. The votes to be counted are those presented 

 by the State, and, when ascertained and presented 

 by the proper authorities of the State, they must by 

 counted. 



The commission has also decided, and does hereby 

 decide by a majority of votes, and reports that, as a 

 consequence of the foregoing and upon the grounds 

 before stated, the paper purporting to be a certificate 

 of the electoral vote of said State of South Carolina, 

 signed by Theodore G. Barker, S. McGowan, John 

 W. Harrington, John Isaac Ingram, William Wal- 

 lace, John B. Irwin, and Robert Aldrich, marked 

 " No. 2 N. C." by the commission and herewith re- 

 turned, is not the certificate of the votes provided 

 for by the Constitution of the United States, and 

 that they ought not to be counted as such. 



