Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 February 1877 — President Grant's Message Approving the Electoral Count Bill. [ARTICLE]

President Grant's Message Approving the Electoral Count Bill.

WASHraoTOM. Jan. 29. The following is die teit 6t tnl President’s Message conceminggthe Electoral bill: To the Senate of the United States: I folio# the example heretofore occasionally presented of comtnuni ch ting In lb lß mode my approval of the.act to prayid* for and regulate the counting oftha votes for President and Vice-President and the decision of the questions arising thereon, because of my appreciation of the Imminent peril to the institutions of the'eountry fromWiltyh, In my judgment, the act afford* wise and Constitutional moans of escape. For the first time in the history ofjour country, under the Constitution as it now is, a dispute exists with regard to the result of the election of the Chief Magistrate of the Nation. It Is understood that upon the disposition of the disputes touching the'Electoral vote* cast at the . late election by Obe. or more of the States depends the question whether one or the other of the candidates for the Presidency is the lawful Chief Magistrate. The importance of haying clearly ascertained, by procedure tegulated by law, which of the two citizens has been'e&cted, and of having the right to this. high. j)ffi\e recognized and cheerfully agreed to by all the people of the Republic, ca estimated, and leads me to express to Congress and to the Nation my great satisfaction at the adoption pf a measure that affords an orderly means of a decision of the gravely exciting questions. While the history of our country, in its earlier periods, shows that the President of the Senate ha* counted the votes and, da. elated their standing, our wholeihistory shows that in no instance of doubt or dispute has he exercised the power of deciding, and that the two houses of Congress h a V e disposed of all such doubts and dlspqt&, although In no instance hitherto have they been such that their decision could essentially have effected the result. For, the first time, then, the Government of the United States is now brought to meet the question as one vital to the result,and this under conditions not the best calculated,to produce an agreement or to induce calm feeling in the several branches of the Government.-ar among the people Of the country, J.U a case where, as noV. the result '■ is involved, It is the highest duty .of the law-making power to provide in advance a Constitutional, orderly and just method of executing the Constitution in this most interesting and critical clause of its provisions. The doing so, so far from being a compromise of right, is an enforcement of the right and an execution of the powers conferred by the Constitution on Congress. I think that this orderly method has been secured by the bill, which, appealing to the Constitution and law as a guide in ascertaining the rights, provides means of deciding questions of single returns through the direct action of Congress, and in respect' to double retails by* tribunal of inquiry whose decisions stand unless both bouses of Congress shall concur in determining otherwise, thus securing a definite disposition of all quea-. tious of dispute in whatever aspect they mav arise, with or without this law. As all of the States have voted, and a* a tie vote is impossible, it must be that one of two candidates has been elected, and ’it would be deplorable to witness an irregular controversy as to which of the two should receive or which should continue to hold office. In all periods of history controversies have arisen as to the succession or choice of chiefs of States, and no party or citizen loving their country and its free institutions pan sacrifice too much of mere feeling lii preserving, through the upright course of law, their country from the smallest danger to its peace on such an and it cannot be impressed too firmly in the hearts of all people that true liberty and real progress can exist only through a cheerful adherence to Constitutional law. The bill purports to provide -only fpr the settlement of questions arising from the decent elections. The fact that such question* can arise demonstrate* the necessity, which I cannot doubt long be supplied, of permanent general legislation, to m*et cases which have not been contemplated in the Constitution or the laws of the country. The bill may not be perfect, and Its provisions may not be such as Would be best applicable to all future occasions, but it is calculated to meet the present condition of questions and of the country. The country is agitated. It needs and it deSfrq* pepce and quiet and harmony between all parties »®d all stations. Its industries arp arrested, labor unemployed, capital Idle, and enterprise paralyzed, by reason of the doUbt and anxiety attending the uncertainty of a double Claim to the Chief Magistracy of .the Nation., It wants to be assured that the resortbf the election will be accepted without resistance from the supporters of the disappointed candidate, and that it* highest officer shall not hold hl* place with a questioned tlUe Of right. Believing that the bill will swmre these ends, I give it my signature.

U. S. FRANT.

Executive Mansion, Jan. 29,1877.