Mr. DAWES. Mr. Speaker, I knowitis not necessary to remind the House that this is an important question submitted to them v. the rit ofamcmber to a seat upon this floor and o a constitnency to the Representative of their choice; but still, so frequently have these cases of late come before the House that sometimes I think it is disposed to dispatch them as a matter of business rather than to weigh and pass upon them as u judicial question. Thereareother questions ofajudicial c iaracter that the Constitution provides shall be submitted to this body, but the constitution of the House, ofcourse, underlies, not only all those, but all other matters to be decided here. Therefore the House will excuse me for reminding, perhaps tiring, them with repeating the details of these cases, which attract no no.ice outside of this Chamber. So little attention is sometimes given to them here that I am sorry to say we are in danger of dispatching them as matters of business when we ought to consider them more carefully than any other subject which comes before us. Perhaps there may be some danger, too, especially ina House constituted politically as this is, with a large preponderating majority upon one side, of disposing of the case in a manner which the judgment of sobermen out side of this House would not commend. It has been the object of the committee, so. far as the lot of humanity will permit, to free itself from all bias so as to be able to present this report, as they hope they have done others hereto ore which have received the sanction of the House, solely as a matter of fact, in regard to the votes cast in the 8th congressional district of NewYork, and to ascertain, so far as was possible, what was the honest voice of that district in the election here contested. If the committee, in presenting the views on one side or the other, can have the attention of the House candidly and carefully to the real state of the facts connected with this case, I think the conclusion to which the House shall come will be satisfactory to the committee. This contest concerns the representation of the 8th congressional district of NewYork. It is one of the so culled up toWn districts of newYork city, being composed of the 18 th, 20th, and 21st wards. The district extends clear across the city from the East river to the Hudson. It embraces therefore, as eve one acquainted with the character of NewYorkcity knows, every variety of the inhabitants of that greatcity. tembraces representatives of the Old World of all characters. pursuits, and conditions of life. T hat vast city, the greatest on the continent, huddled together in very narrow limits, casts a vote greater than is cast by many whole States. All these votes have to be cast within the limits of a single day, between sun rise and sunset cast by people living in all conditions, from the hovel to the palace. It has been, as every one knows who is familiar with the history of NewYork, a matter of general comlaint, so much so that the Legislature has adrcssed itself to the subject, that it has been next to impossible, or at least very difficult, to secure a true and honest expression of the voters in the several districts of the city, owing to the number of votes cast by those who have no legal right to votc. Every variety of device has been resorted to and adopted to circumvent the object sought by the egislature in securing an honest election. At times every barrier has been broken down by the tumult that has been raised around the polls, not such as is to be charged specially against the people of the city of NewYork alone, but such as is necessarily connected with the assembling and crowding together of such a body of men, all striving to cast their votes within the limited time prescribed by law. With these remarks I desire to give some idea of the difficulty of holding it fair election in the city of NewYork and this is why certain laws have been enacted in the State of NewYork applicable to elections. Before calling attention to those laws, I will state that at this election, which was held a year ago last November, there were in this district 3 candidates in the field, who received the entire vote, I believe, cast at the polls. The vote, as returned by those named as officers at the several precincts, was as follows: For the sitting member. For the contestant. For Mr. Thomas J. Barn. Showing a plnrality for the sitting member, according to this return, of 148 votes. The contest has been confined to 4 precincts or voting districts, namely, the 13th of the 18th ward, the 15th of the 18th ward, the 3rd of the 21st ward, and the 7th of the 21st ward. I propose at this time simply to state the resullfs at which the committee arrived, and the grounds upon which they based those results, leaving the case open for such considerations as may be submitted by others, reserving the right to answer such ar unients, if any there be, which bear against the conclusions of the committee. The committee were of the opinion that the contestant failed to sustain his case in 2 of these districts, and did sustain it in the other two; that as to the 13th district. of the 18th ward, and the 3rd district of the tivent1st word, the evidence did not sustain the ul egations of the contestant so conclusively as to satisfy the committee, and therefore they were of the opinion that he had failed to make out his allegations touching them; but that as to the 15th district of the 18th ward, and the 7th district of die 21st ward, the committee were of the opinion that the evidence sustained the allegations, ” and they have reported accordingly. I desire to call the attention of the House to the grounds upon which the committee have concluded touching those 2 districts, assuming thatinasmuch as the committee Were unan imous as to the other 2 districts, the House will not care to have me go over the evidence upon which they came to a conclusion adverse to the contestant as regards those districts. I ask the House to tax their patience as well as they may while I state the evidence upon which the committee arrived at the conclusion that the allegations were sustained in regard to the other 2 districts. In speaking a momentago of the etiortsu orithe part of the Legislature of the State of NewYork to secure an honest ballot in the city of NewYork, I had reference particularly to a law which came underthe consideration of the committee, and the non-compliance with which by the officers of the election of the 15th district of the 18th ward, led directly. in the opinion of the committee, to the admission of fraudu lent votes into thatballot box to an amotmt that rendered it necessary, under decision: of this House heretofore, to reject entirely the vote cast in that district. In order to ascertain be forehand who were entitled to vote upon the“ day of election in the city of NewYork, and because of the utter impossibility of the in spectors of election determining that judicial qpestion with any fairness or correctness upon the day of election itself, the Legislaure of New lork have created a tribuna, a judicial tribunal, for that purpose, and have provided that the supervisors of the county of hcwYork shall appoint each year for each election district in the whole city 3 men, to be called 8 board of registry for the district. They also provided that the duty which this board is to perform is to register the name, street, and number, before the election day, of every voter in the city. In order that they might be cognizant of their duties, and able to determine who in each election district is an elector, as well as in order better to guard against cheating or devices to circumvent them, the law wisely provides that those 3 inspectors of reistry shall be residents in and voters in the election district for which they are appointed, so that they may bring to the discharge of their duties a general familiarity with the district, and with its residents, and the qualifications of its voters. I am under the necessity of asking the attention of the House to every one of these provisions, for I shall submit that in the case before the House every one of them was violated. They provide, further, that this board shall hold a session for 2 days, or rather for one day, with permission to extend it to 2 da s; provided he number of votes cast at the ast previous election exceeded the number reis tered 400. In the case before the Houset at gave them 2 days. The law provides that those 2 days shall be the thir Tuesday before the election and the Wednesday followin it. It provides, further, that they shall hold these meetings in the place designated for holding the election, for the purpose of letting ever body in the district know where to go for all the purposes connected with this registry. The filw further provides that in making out this registry they shall, in the 1st instance, take from the poll list of the last annual election, which is for that purpose deposited with the county clerk, all such names as a pear to them to be voters in the district. hey are then to hold a court and appoint a clerk if they need one; and the law goes so far as to prescribe the particular oath that that clerk shall take to secure his fidelity in a record which he is to make, which becomes subsequently of vital importance to the carrying out ofan honest ballot. They were to hold this court for 2 days, and before them anyone was to appear who desired to have his name registere as a voter, and to make such proof as would satisf the board that he was a voter. They were t on to make 4 copies of the register thus prepared. to be certied by this clerk to be correct, or by the board of registry, I am not certain whic; nor is it material. One of these copies they were to post up in this place designated for holding the election. So i rat during that time, nearly 3 weeks before the day of election, anyone in the district having the slightest interest to know whether he was registered as a voter, or whether anybody else was registered as a voter who in his opinion was not a voter, could repair to this place, known to the law and to the residents of the district, and read for himself and copy for his own use, if he desired. this list thus posted up. That was considered a great safeguard, because it opened this reister for 2 weeks to the inspection of the whole district. Then this board was to meet on the Tuesday next ireceding the election, 2 weeks after their 1st meeting, for the purpose of c.rrecting this register: that is, y striking obj the ll l name of every person who was then and there before this court proved not to be a oter, and by adding thereto the name of evrry person who was proved to be a voter. Then heywere to furnish, copies of this register so corrected to the inspectors of election who wt re to preside at the election. These inspector: were required by law to perform certain speci iic duties, ministerial in alrespects but one. That one was this: when any person came to tile oll to deposit his ballot, and it was found that his name was not upon the register, he could be registered specially by producing sufficient proof; his own affidavrt of his right to vote, the reasons why his name had not been before registered, and also the testimony of a house holder in the district to corroborate his statement and by pursuing this course, a man whose name was not upon the register could secure the reception of his ballot and its de posit in the ballot box. Then the law prescribed, in so man words, that the inspectors of election ShOlIll receive no vote whatever that did not comply with these provisions, that is to say, of any person who was not upon the register before teday of election, or was not put upon the register on the day of election upon this special proof. Now, with this tedious explanation of the law, Ibeg leave now to submit to the House what was the proof in relation to the 15th district of the 18th ward of the city of NewYork. That was a new district, set off from the 12th district of that ward, subsequent to the last election. Before thal election in question it had been a part of the 12th district. In July, previous to the election, the city authorities set off the 15th district from the 12th district, by metes and bounds. But no place for holding the election in No vember was designated by the common council, as required by law, at that time, nor at any subsequent time until the 8d day of November.