When the following resolution, offered by Mr. Morton, was unanimously adopted: tem for the registration of persons entitled | tion of the United States, and that they 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 government, and it is, and was on the day of appointing electors, so recognized by the Executive, and by both branches of the legislative departments of the Government of the United States. mission are due to Commissioner Clifford Resolved, That the thanks of the comfor the ability, impartiality, and urbanity with which he has presided over its deliberations. The members of the commission were authorized to file, and have printed with its proceedings, the remarks made by them during its consultations, and removed from its private sessions the injunction of secrecy. In the House the squad of Democratic That so far as the commission can take filibusters attempted delay through their notice of the presence of the soldiers of the discreditable tactics, but were signally deUnited States in the State of South Caro-feated. Mr. Springer's motion for a recess lina 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 State. But we are also of opinion that under the papers before us it appears that the Governor and Secretary of State having certified under the seal of the State that the electors whose votes we have decided to be the lawful electoral votes of the State were duly appointed electors, which certificates, 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 commission, as 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 inquire 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 electoral votes. The votes to be counted are those presented by the States, and when ascertained and presented by the proper authorities of the States they must be counted. The commission has also decided, by a majority of votes, and does hereby direct and report, that as a cause of the foregoing and upon the grounds before stated, the paper purporting to be the electoral vote of said State of South Carolina, signed by Theodore R. Barker, S. McGowan, John W. Harrington, John Isaac Ingram, William Wallace, John B. Erwin, Robert Aldrich, marked "No. 2, S. C.," by the commission, and herewith returned, is not the certificate of the votes provided for by the Constitu was rejected by a vote of yeas 92 to nays 170. Under the rulings of Speaker Randall their points of order and appeals-all for the purpose of delay-were soon disposed of. The Clerk read the decision of the Electoral Commission and the objections in the joint meeting of the two houses respecting the votes of South Carolina. when Mr. Philips, of Missouri, asked that the testimony in the case be read, Mr. Wood, of New York, objected, because the evidence comprised twelve hundred pages, and the reading, at the rate of ten pages per hour, would consume over five days; hence the object of calling for the reading was to defeat the count. The Speaker submitted the question to the House, and it refused, by a vote of 87 yeas to 175 nays, to have the testimony read. After the two hours debate under the electoral law had been exhausted, upon a resolution sustaining the objections, a call was made for the question, but an amendment of Mr. Walling, of Ohio, and the tactics of the filibusters were interposed, and they succeeded in forcing the following agreement: "The amendment to be withdrawn, and the House to come to a direct vote upon the original resolution as amended by Mr. Walling, of Ohio; the Senate then to be invited to meet the House for the purpose of continuing the count; and when the State of Vermont shall be reached, and the two houses shall separate, then the House to take a recess until to-morrow at 10 o'clock." COUNTING OF THE ELECTORAL VOTE. The resolution sustaining the objections | tions in joint meeting to the count of Solwas then adopted. In the Senate a resolution sustaining the mont. That the filibusters at once opposed lace's vote in the electoral college of Verdecision of the commission was adopted. The two houses reassembled in joint manded that the bogus electoral certificate by all manner of motions. They demeeting. The separate action of the two from Vermont presented by Mr. Hewitt be houses was read and the count continued. returned to the House by the President of The votes of South Carolina, Tennessee, the Senate, who they insisted had carried and Texas were counted; when objection it away, and retained it in his custody; that was made to the count of the votes of Ver- it be opened by him in the joint meeting, mont by Senator Merrimon and Representa- and that if it contain a dual certificate of tives Springer and Hamilton on the ground votes that the case of Vermont be referred that dual returns had been sent to the to the Electoral Commission. All these President of the Senate from the State. demands were successively voted down by President Ferry stated that he had received a decisive majority of the House. Then but one return from the State. Mr. Hewitt calls of the House by divisions, by tellers, offered a duplicate of the return. The President declined to re-sider these and to lay them on the table by second and by yeas and nays, motions to reconceive it. The law forbade his receiving yeas and nays, and motions to take reany such paper after the first Thurs- cesses and the like; rising to frivolous day in February. Illinois, produced an indecent scene by his of privilege, of "higher" privilege than Mr. Springer, of points of orders without point, of questions violent and unparliamentary conduct, and the President Ferry was compelled, again and wildest confusion and indecent uproar; "highest privilege-all amid the again, to direct him to take his seat. members rising and standing, some garruOther objections, signed by Senator Bar-lously attempting spread-eagle bombast, num and Representatives Poppleton, McMahon, and others were filed, to the effect that Henry S. Sollace, a Hayes elector of the State of Vermont at the date of the last Presidential election, was ineligible as an elector, &c., but that the vote of Amos Aldrich, (Cronin, No. 2,) the Democratic elector who received the highest vote at the election, should be counted. Here Mr. Springer attempted a renewal of his indecent conduct by demanding that the case of Vermont-it having dual returns -be referred to the Electoral Commission. The President of the Senate stated that he had received but the one set of returns, which had been read, and as there were no further objections he and the Senate withdrew. The House then took a recess, as per agreement. In the Senate, after a brief debate, a resolution was unanimously adopted declaring that the vote of Sollace should be counted, when the Senate took a recess until the following morning. In the House on Thursday, (March 1st,) the recess having expired, an attempt was made to consider and dispose of the objec others shouting in the effort to make themselves heard, and others gesticulating furiously, in all of which the galleries and lobby participated. Again and again were attempts and appeals of the Speaker the lobbies and cloak-rooms cleared. All and orderly members of the body to preserve the decorum of the House were tion. openly defied. The scene baffles descrip- . Engaged in it most prominently Caulfield and Springer, of Illinois; Beebe, were Poppleton and Walling, of Ohio; of New York; O'Brien, of Maryland; and Mills, of Texas-Beebe actually mounting a desk and ranting like a crazy harlequin House reached the main question. The in a mountebank show. At length the mously adopted a resolution declaring that Senate had on the previous evening unanithe vote of Sollace should be counted. The House now voted that it should not be counted. The The joint meeting reassembled. mont, Virginia, and West Virginia were count was resumed. The votes of Vercounted. count of Daniel L. Downs, a Hayes elector Objections were made to the for Wisconsin, on the ground of ineligibil- the Senate, after receiving the result from legedity, he having been, it was alleged, at the the tellers, announced that Rutherford B. Hayes having received 185 votes, a majority of all the votes cast, is duly elected President of the United States, and William A. Wheeler, having received 185 votes, a majority of all the votes cast, is duly elected Vice President of the United States, for four years from the 4th of March, 1877. He ad cr tody date of his appointment, an examining surgeon for the Pension Office. The two houses separated. The Senate promptly decided that Downs' vote ought to be counted. In the House filibustering, indecent confusion and uproar again long prevailed. Mr. Mills, of Texas, moved a long series of "whereases," declaring that Tilden had been elected by the people, and denouncing the canvassing officers and Governors of Louisiana and Florida as guilty of corruption and fraud, and the Electoral Commission of duplicity and bad faith, declaring that Hayes had not been duly and legally elected, and ending with the following: Resolved by the House of Representatives, That said House will proceed immediately, in obedience to the Constitution, to choose a President. Manifestly, a majority of the House was in favor of its a loption, but after a struggle it was beaten by the point that it was not in order, or germane to the objections under consideration, and the question upon Downs' vote was reached, and the House resolved that it should not be counted. The joint meeting reassembled. The separate resolutions of the two houses were read and the count concluded. The five votes of Wisconsin were counted for Hayes and Wheeler, and the President of So the mighty struggle ended, and fortunately for the country, in the triumph of justice and right. During the later scenes of the disgraceful proceedings in the House, on Friday morning, Mr. Blackburn, of Kentucky, in his ill-suppressed malice, called its attention "to the fact that Friday had been ushered in-Friday, 'hangman's day'-a fit day to witness the consummation of the villainy of this procedure." Mr. Williams, of Wisconsin, responded. He said: "This is not only Friday, but hangman's day; and there could be no more fitting time than just past the hour of midnight— 'When churchyards yarn, and Hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world'— that this bogus, pretentious, bastard brat of political reform, which for the last twelve months has affronted the eyes of God and men, should be strangled to death, gibbeted higher than Haman !" And so it was. THE INAUGURATION OF RUTHERFORD B. HAYES. By proclamation President Grant summoned, as is usual in such cases, an extra meeting of the Senate, to convene on Monday, March 5th, at 12 noon, to attend the inauguration of President elect R. B. Hayes, and of Vice President elect William A. Wheeler. The arrangements for this occasion have been made known to the country through the public press. Attended by an immense concourse of the most distinguished and prominent persons in official life, with a large number of ladies, and of visitors from all parts of the country, the members of the diplomatic corps, the judges of the Supreme Court, the outgoing Cabinet, and many other notables, the Senate convened at the hour designated. It was then organized by administering the oath to Vice President Wheeler and to the incoming Senators in the presence of the august assembly. The body then repaired to the stand prepared, in the usual place, on the east front of the Capitol, where, after all was arranged, the President elect received the oath of office at the hands of the Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, and there, before a surging sea of upturned faces, delivered his inaugu ral address. This done, he was subsequently conveyed in the midst of a mighty The time for preparation was exceedingly short. The city was thronged with strangers, and in the midst of the strongest and most bitter current of party and political excitement that ever swayed the nation, the proceedings of the day were accomplished without disorder, and as becomes the dignity of a great people and the fame of the great Republic-esto perpetua. preme importance," as it certainly is, and defines it as "the permanent pacification of the country upon such principles and by such measures as will secure the complete protection of all its citizens in the free enjoyment of all their constitutional rights." This view of the case will be heartily indorsed by every good citizen throughout the country, as will also the declaration that "the evils which afflict the Southern States can only be removed or remedied by the united and harmonious efforts of both races, actuated by motives of mutual sympathy and regard." He points to the neces The inaugural address of President Hayes is a plain, manly statement of the condition of the country, and of what is required insity of the material development of the order to secure the desired end. It is in harmony with what was said in his letter of acceptance. He gives the Southern question great prominence as a subject "of su-ings of justice, peace, and union." South, urges reform in the civil service, and closes with an earnest appeal in a united effort "to secure to our country the bless ་ THE WORK OF THE FORTY-FOURTH CONGRESS. THE ELECTORAL COUNT. THE APPROPRIATIONS. upon a different theory, which was that The matter of President-making has nothing could be done after the count pretty thoroughly absorbed the time and begun, aside from the proceedings of the attention of Congress during the present count itself, except by unanimous consent. session. The history of this most marvel- After a week or ten days of obstruction to ous and unprecedented state of things is the ordinary and necessary business of so thoroughly and accurately given in this Congress, produced by this ruling, it was number as to preclude the necessity of found necessary to change it and take the further notice in this place. One very sin- theory adopted by the President of the gular result may, however, be mentioned. Senate. In the Senate Hon. T. W. Ferry, President of the Senate, ruled that the electoralcount day begun on Thursday, February 1st, and that it continues until the completion of the count, which must be before the 4th of March; and, further, that the legislative day can only transpire during the time that the Electoral Commission is sitting upon a case which has been referred to it under the recent law. At all other times no business has been in order but proceeding with the electoral count. the Electoral Commission has been in sesAs sion a considerable portion of the time since February 1st, this ruling, which is undoubtedly correct, has permitted the business of the Senate to proceed with less delay than at first might be supposed. In the House Mr. Speaker Randall started out The regular appropriation bills have this year been allowed to pass without much scrutiny or contest, the Democrats in the of fixing them, as there has been no time House having pretty much their own way for long discussions over these bills. REPORTS OF INVESTIGATIONS. the commencement of the session to exThe various committees constituted at fraud and intimidation in the late Presiamine into the existence and extent of dential election, have either fully or nearly completed their labors, and some of the reports have been already made or made in part. An immense mass of evidence has been taken, and the want of time and the general confusion will prevent this Congress from ever being able in any proper manner to digest it, and it must be turned over to the archives of the Capitol, to furnish food for the curious and the philosophical, or to aid the future historian in his researches in regard to the actual condition of these eventful times. CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION. for such treatment under the laws and in MR. JAMES B. EADS. This gentleman, having succeeded with An interesting memorial touching the THE DISTRICT TAX BILL. This bill has been pending some time in the Senate, but was finally passed by that body. Its provisions are rather onerous PACIFIC RAILROAD. In the Senate a long discussion has been in progress on a bill reported to amend the former legislation in regard to the Pacific railroad companies and the matters necessary to be adjusted between them and the Government of the United States. But no conclusion has been reached thereon. THE RECUSANT WITNESSES. Governor Wells and General Anderson, members of the Returning Board of the State of Louisiana, have been held in contempt by the Democratic House and placed in close confinement in the basement of the Capitol for not producing papers and documents over which they have now no control, and which they have no right to produce if they possessed them. The oppression of the House has been in this instance arbitrary and severe, and has called forth an indignant protest from a large portion of the press of the country. It is an evil, however, which will, in a few days, come to an end; and if there is any redress the whole may be accepted as the fairest COMPLETION OF THE COUNT. On the morning of March 2d, at about 4 o'clock, Congress having been in session all night, and that on the heel of one of the most exciting days ever known in the Capitol, the two houses having met for the last time in joint convention, the vote of Wisconsin, the last of the thirty-eight States of the Union, was counted for Hayes and Wheeler. The tellers summed up the count, and Mr. Allison, one of the Senate tellers, announced the vote to stand as follows: Whole number of votes of the electoral college, 369; for Hayes and Wheeler, 185; for Tilden and Hendricks, 184. Then, in the presence of a large concourse of people and of the two houses of Congress, and in the midst of circumstances that were truly dramatic, the President of the Senate, Hon. T. W. Ferry, in the usual form declared the result of the election. He then dissolved the joint convention, and |