ly nothing in the Constitution of the United States which makes
it so, as there is no act of Congress to that effect.

A certificate of a board of returning officers has nothing to liken it
to a judicial record of contentions between parties. The proceeding is
_ex parte_; or, if there be parties, the other States of the Union are
not represented, however much their rights may be affected; the
evidence is in part at least by one-sided affidavits; the judges may
be interested and partial. What such a board has about it to inspire
confidence or command respect, it is hard to perceive. If there be any
presumption in its favor, or in favor of the justice of its
judgments, the presumption is as far from indisputable as a disputable
presumption can ever be.

To recapitulate, we may formulate the question in this manner: _Whom
has the State appointed to vote in its behalf for President?_ The
manner of appointment is the vote of the people, for the Legislature
has so directed. Who, then, are appointed by the people? To state the
question is nearly equivalent to stating what evidence is admissible;
for the question is not, who received the certificate, but who
received the votes; and any evidence showing what votes were cast and
for whom is pertinent and must therefore be admissible, unless
excluded by positive law. The law by which this question is to be
decided is not State, but Federal. If it were otherwise, the State
officers might evade the Constitution altogether, for this ordains
that the appointment shall be by the State, and in such manner as its
Legislature directs; but if the State certificate is conclusive of the
fact, the State authorities may altogether refuse obedience to the
constitution and laws, and save themselves from the consequences by
certifying that they have obeyed them. And they may in like manner
defraud us of our rights, making resistance impossible, by certifying
that they have not defrauded. Indeed, they might make shorter work of
it, and _omit the election altogether, writing the certificate in its
stead_.

If the Governor of Massachusetts were to certify the election of the
Tilden electors, and their votes were to be sent to Washington,
instead of those which the Hayes electors have just given in the face
of the world, must the Tilden votes be counted? Must this nation bow
down before a falsehood? To ask the question is to answer it. There is
no law to require it; there can be none until America