WHO SHOULD COUNT THEM,
WHAT SHOULD BE COUNTED, AND
THE REMEDY FOR A WRONG COUNT.
The electoral votes of 1876 have been cast. The certificates are now
in Washington, or on their way thither, to be kept by the President of
the Senate until their seals are broken in February. The certificates
and the votes of thirty-four of the States are undisputed. The
remaining four are debatable, and questions respecting them have
arisen, upon the decision of which depends the election of the
incoming President. These questions are: Who are to count the votes;
what votes are to be counted; and what is the remedy for a wrong
count? I hope not to be charged with presumption if, in fulfilling my
duty as a citizen, I do what I can toward the answering of these
questions aright; and, though I happen to contribute nothing toward
satisfactory answers, I shall be excused for making the effort.
The questions themselves have no relation to the relative merits of
the two candidates. Like other voters, I expressed my own preference
on the morning of the election. That duty is discharged; another duty
supervenes, which is, to take care that my vote is counted and allowed
its due place in the summary of the votes. Otherwise the voting
performance becomes ridiculous, and the voter deserves to be laughed
at for his pains. His duty--to cast his vote according to his
conscience--was clear; it is no less his duty to make the vote felt,
along with other like votes, according to the laws.
The whole duty of a citizen is not ended when his vote is delivered;
there remains the obligation to watch it until it is duly weighed, in
adjusting the preponderance of the general choice. Whatever may be the
ultimate result of the count, whether his candidate will have lost or
won, is of no importance compared with the maintenance of justice and
the supremacy of law over the preferences and passions of men.
It concerns the honor of the nation that fraud shall not prevail or
have a chance of prevailing. If a fraudulent count is possible, it is
of little consequence how my vote or the votes of others be cast; for
the supreme will is not that of the honest voter, but of the dishonest
counter; and, when fraud succeeds, or is commonly thought to have
succeeded, the public conscience, shocked at first, becomes weakened
by acquiescence; and vice, found to be profitable, soon comes to be
triumphant. It is of immeasurable importance, therefore, that we
should not only compose the differences that, unfortunately, have
arisen, but compose them upon a basis right in itself and appearing to
be right also.