The Presidential Title

Ilie report which Mr. Hartridge submitted to the lower house of Congrees in behalf of the majority of the Judiciary Committeo, declariug that the Presklent's title is unassailable - and which was adopted by a vote of 231 to 14 - is as follows : The Committeo ou the Judiciary, to whom was referred House bilí No. - , añd the resolutious of the Legislatura of the State of MarjlanJ, directiug judicial proceodings to give effect to the electoral vote of that State in the last electkm of President and Vico President of the United States, report bad; eaid bill and resclutions, with a reeommendation that tbe bill do nol pass. Your cominittee are of the opinión that Congress has 110 power under the constitution to confer upon the Supreme Court of the United States the original jurigdiction sought for it by this bUJ. The only clauee of the constitution which could be plaiu-ibly invoked to enable Congress to provide the legal ïnacbinery for the litigation proposed is that wbieh gives the Supreme Court original juritdiction in the " cases" or contróversies be tween a State and the citizensof anothcr State. The committeo are of opinión that this expreision "cases" and " controversie" was not intended, by the framors of the constüution, to embrace an original proceeding by a State in the Supremo Court of theUnited States to oust auy mcumbent from a politioal office filled by tho declaration and decisión of the two hou , es of Congresá, clothed with the con&titutional power to count tho electoral votes, and decided as a final tribunal unon tho election of President and Vice Prosident. The Forty-fourth Congress eelected a com mission to count tho votes for Presidont and Vice President, referving to itself the rigbt to ratify or reject euch count in the way prese! ibed in the act creating i-nch commísian. By the joint aetion of the two heusesit ratified the count made by the cominisskm, and thus iu;i-:i: it thc expressiou of it own jadgment. All the departments of the Federal Government, all the State government in their relations to Federal authority, foreign nations. tho pcople of the Uuitcd States, all the material interests and industries of the OOuntry have acqaiesced in, and actod in accordance with, thu prononncod finding of tha Congroii. Iu the opinión of this committee the present Coiigress has no power to undo the work of lts predeceseor in counting the electoral vote, or to confer upon any judicial tribunal the i right to pass npon, and perhaps set a&ide. the aetion of that predecessor in referonce to a i purely political iueetion, the decisión of which in confided by the constitution in Congross. But, apart from these fundamental objections to the bill under consideration. there are features and provisious in it which are entirely impracticable. Your eommitteO can flnd no warrant of authority to summon the Chief Juetices of the Supreme Courts of tho several States to sit at Washington as a jury to try auy case, however grave and weighty may be it3 nature. The right to summon muet carry wiih it the power to enforce obedience to the mandate, and the committee can eee no means by which the judicial oflicers of a State eau be compelled to assume tho functious of jnrcré in the Supreme Court of the United States. There are other objections to Ihe practical working of the bill under consideration, to which wo do not think it necessary to refer. It may be truo that the State of Maryland bas been, in the late election for President and Viee President, depri ved of her ju3t and full right in deolaring who were legally chosen, I y reason of frauds perpetrated by Iïeturning Boards in some of the States. It may also be true that these fraudulent acta were countenanced or encouraged or participated in by some who now enjoy high offices a the fruil. f siich fraude. It is duo to tho present goneration of the people of this country and their posterity, aud to tho principies on which our Government is founded, that all evidencc tendiug to eaablidh the fact of such frauduleut practice should be calmly, caref nlly and vigoroualy examiiied. But your (or.mittte are of opiüion that the consequence of snch examinatíon, if it áiscloses guilt upon the part of any in high official potition, sbould not be aneffort tu Bit -.Hide the judgirent of a former Congreiss as to the electiOD of a President and Vice President, but should be contiued to the puuiahment by legal and coustitutional means of the offenders, aud to ihe preservation and perpttuation of the evidences of their guilt, eo that tho Americau people may bu protected fn ni a rteurreuce of the crime. Three Hepubiican members of the committee, Mr. Frye, Mr. CoDger, and Mr. Lapham, add the following: We agree to the foregoing report, so f ar as it tateli reastous for the resolution adopted by the committee, but dissent from the concluding portion, a not pertinent to the inquiry beforo us, aud as giving an implied sauction to the propriety of tho pending investigation, ordcied by the majority of tho House of KopresentativoH, to which we were and are oppoaed.