"I feel the importance of giving every constitutional support to the General Government; and I also am convinced that the existence and well-being of that Government depends upon preventing a confusion of the authority of it with that of the States separately. But that Government applies itself to the people of the United States in their natural, individual capacity, and cannot exert any force upon, or by any means control the officers of the State Governments as such. Therefore, when an Act of Congress uses compulsory words with regard to any act to be done by the Supreme Executive of this commonwealth, I shall not feel myself obliged to obey them, because I am not, in my official capacity, amenable to that Government. "My duty as governor will most certainly oblige me to see that proper and efficient certificates are made of the appointment of electors of President and Vice-President; and perhaps the mode suggested in the Act above mentioned may be found to be the most proper. If you, gentlemen, have any mode to propose with respect to the conduct of this business, I shall pay every attention to it. "Gentlemen, I do not address you at this time from a disposition to regard the proceedings of the General Government with a jealous eye, nor do I suppose that Congress could intend that clause in their Act as a compulsory provision; but I wish to prevent any measure to proceed through inattention which may be drawn into precedents hereafter to the injury of the people, or to give a constructive power where the Federal Constitution has not expressly given it."1 NOTE E. CURATIVE ACTS. 1. Thomson vs. Lee County, 3 Wallace, p. 327. A statute submitted the question of bonding a town to a vote of the municipality. After bonds had been issued, defects in the voting were alleged, and the Legislature passed a Curative Act legalizing the issue. 1 Columbian Centinel, Nov. 10, 1792. The language of the statute of 1792 is, "The Executive authority of each State shall cause three lists," etc.; that of the Revised Statutes, Section 136, is, - "It shall be the duty of the Executive of each State to cause three lists," etc. - Held, that the Act was valid. Opinion of the Court: "If the Legislature could authorize this ratification, the bonds are valid, notwithstanding the submission of the question to the vote of the people or the manner of taking the vote may have been informal and irregular. This Act of Confirmation, very soon after its passage, underwent an examination in the courts of Iowa, and it was held that the Legislature possessed the power to pass it, and that the bonds were valid and binding (6 Iowa, p. 391). ... If the Legislature possessed the power to authorize the Act to be done, it could, by a Retrospective Act, cure the evils which existed, because the power thus conferred had been irregularly executed" (p. 331). 2. St. Joseph vs. Rogers, 16 Wallace, p. 644. ... Opinion of the Court: "Argument to show that defective subscriptions of the kind may in all cases be ratified when the Legislature could have originally conferred the power is certainly unnecessary, as the question is authoritatively settled by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the State [of Illinois] and of this Court in repeated instances (15 Ill., p. 203; 34 ib., p. 405; 3 Wallace, p. 327; 9 ib., p. 477; 8 Peters, p. 111; 24 How., p. 295). . . . "Mistakes and irregularities are of frequent occurrence in municipal elections, and the State legislatures have often had occasion to pass laws to obviate such difficulties. Such laws, when they do not impair any contract or injuriously affect the rights of third persons, are never regarded as objectionable, and certainly are within the competency of the legislative authority" (pp. 663, 664). 3. Cooley, "Constitutional Limitations," p. 137: "A retrospective statute curing defects in legal proceedings where they are in their nature irregularities only, and do not extend to matters of jurisdiction, is not void on constitutional grounds unless expressly forbidden. Of this class are the statutes to cure . . . irregularities in the votes, or other action by municipal corporations, or the like, where a statutory power has failed of due and regular execution through the carelessness of officers or other cause (1 Penn. Stat., p. 218; 17 ib., p. 524; 26 Iowa, p. 497; 49 Maine, p. 346; 69 Penn., p. 328; 4 Vroom, p. 350)." LVIII. AT the election of 1876, when Mr. Tilden was a candidate for the Presidency, Lucius Robinson was elected to succeed him as Governor of the State of New York. The inauguration of the new Governor took place on the 1st of January, 1877. In accordance with usage, the Governor Elect entered the Assembly Chamber at twelve o'clock, leaning upon the arm of his predecessor, accompanied by most of the State officers and the Governor's staff. They took up their positions opposite each other in front of the Speaker's desk, where, as soon as silence could be obtained, Mr. Tilden addressed Governor Robinson as follows. SPEECH AT THE INAUGURATION OF GOVERNOR ROBINSON. MR. ROBINSON,―The people of the State have given you a distinguished evidence of their confidence in choosing you for their chief magistrate by a vote so unexampled. In that testimony I cordially concur, without assuming to add to its value. It is to me a great satisfaction to surrender the chief official trust of this commonwealth to one whose valuable co-operation I have experienced, and whose career furnishes such assurance of his purpose to prosecute the work to which I have consecrated two years of official service and three previous years of my private life. To recall the government of this State to the pure condition in which a generation ago you and I knew it; to remove the fungus-growths which in evil times had overspread its administration and legislation; to lighten the intolerable burdens upon the people; to improve institutions and laws; systematically to call into the civil service, whether by appointment or election, men of higher ideals of official life, of better training and more general culture, thus utilizing a class inferior in the arts of political competition, but superior in capacities for public usefulness, these are noble objects. They had to be pursued through stormy conflicts with selfish interests and fixed habits. Our support was an unfaltering trust in the people, if the prospect of real reform could be made visible; our inspiration was a belief that nothing worth saving could be lost if only our work did not fail. The scrutiny of all candid men may safely be challenged as to what has been already accomplished. Wasteful and corrupt systems destroyed, State taxation reduced one half, new remedies for official malversation enacted, the management of the public works and prisons reorganized, and commissions preliminary to other reforms instituted, - these are valuable results; but there are others even more important. The standard of official conduct has been elevated; and with it the ideas, motives, and influences which surround official life as with an atmosphere. The public suspicion of legislative venality is disappearing, and the lobbies are disbanded. The chief executive and administrative trusts of the State have been committed to gentlemen who are eminent not only for personal probity, but also for capacity and high ideals of official duty. A genuine reform in the civil service has thus been realized which could not be the product of any mere legislation without the effective co-operation of the men conducting the actual administration. I have traced these results, approved by the people at the last two elections in this State, because they encourage the aspirations of the community for a better government, and tend to inspire a noble ambition in all rising men to compete for honors and power by appealing to the best moral forces of human society. As an example, these results are infinitely important. I congratulate you, sir, that, at such a time and with such favoring auspices you enter upon an administration which, I believe, will be fruitful of public benefit and of honors to yourself. |