23 DECEMBER 1876, Page 2

The American Senate has agreed to a resolution appointing a

joint committee of the Senate and the House of Representatives to frame a measure for settling the Presidential difficulty. We do not see that the House has concurred, but if it has, the joint committee has ample time before March to propose a Bill which shall settle what votes the President of the Senate, Mr. Ferry, shall count, and what reject. The quarrel is gradually narrowing itself down to that, the general opinion being that the candidate whom the officer in question shall declare to have most votes, will, as usual, be President, and will be installed in the White House, even though the result should be the secession of large bodies of Republicans to the Democratic side. A large number of lawyers seem to be of opinion that, failing legislation ad hoc, Mr. Ferry must count all votes, however fraudulently ob- tained, sent to him by the legal returning-officers of each State, and that his declaration of the poll is legally final, and must be obeyed by the Executive. The fact that he happens to be a Republican has nothing to do with the matter. He is not a judge, but only an officer with a definite and very limited ministerial function.