een sent
to Washington, purporting to give the result of the election. The
question will probably arise, at the meeting of the two Houses, in
this manner: Two certificates are required, one signed by the
electors, pursuant to the Constitution, certifying their own votes;
and the other signed by or under the direction of the Governor of the
State, pursuant to act of Congress, certifying the appointment of the
electors. Both certificates are sent to the President of the Senate,
in one envelope. It may indeed happen that two envelopes come from the
same State, each containing two certificates of rival governors, and
rival electors. If there is but one envelope, one of the certificates
which should be there may be omitted, or may be imperfect. In all
these cases, it is manifestly incumbent upon the two Houses to receive
or reject, in the exercise of their judgment. But if one envelope
only is presented, containing the two certificates, both in due form,
and objection is nevertheless made that the certificate of the
appointment of electors is false, can the objection be entertained?
There are those who affirm that it cannot. They reason in this wise:
The States are to appoint the electors, and may therefore certify such
as they please. But is not that a _non sequitur_? The States may
appoint whom they please, in such manner as their Legislatures have
directed, but an appointment and a certificate are different things.
The latter is, at the very best, only evidence of the former. The fact
to be determined is the appointment; the certificate is produced as
evidence; it may be controvertible or incontrovertible, as the law may
have provided, but there is nothing in the nature of a certificate
which forbids inquiry into its verity; it is not a revelation from
above; it is a paper made by men, fallible always, and sometimes
dishonest as well as fallible; and, if honest, often deceived. It is
made generally in secret and _ex parte_, without hearing both sides,
without oral testimony, without cross-examination. Of such evidence it
may be safely affirmed, that it is never made final and conclusive
without positive law to that express effect.

Now, it may be competent for the Legislature of a State, under its own
constitution, to determine how far one of its own records shall be
conclusive between its own citizens. It may enact, that the
certificate of a judge of a court of record, of a sheriff, a county
commissioner, a board of tax