Franklin Repository

The second meeting of the return judges will take place on Friday next, when the army vote returned to the Prothonotaries will be added to the home vote, and the certificate of election awarded thereon. It is probable that the return from the 77th Pennsylvania regiment will not be received in time for the meeting of the judges on Friday, and it cannot be available thereafter to give Mr. M'Conaughy the certificate.

We assume therefore that Mr. Duncan will be given the certificate of election as our Senator, which will make him prima facia Senator elect and entitle him to be qualified and take the seat when the legislature meets. No amount of majority returned against him to the Prothonotaries after Friday next would avail to change Mr. Duncan's right to be sworn at the organization of the Senate, but all such votes, however informally cast or at whatever period returned to the Prothonotary, if they are returns of polls honestly conducted, will be accepted and the seat ultimately given to the candidate who has received a majority of the legal votes.

We are assured that not less than fifty deserters voted in this Senatorial district, and of that number, not five, most likely not one, voted for Mr. M'Conaughy. The Union men with one accord asked that the laws be enforced as they are, without inviting every election officer to determine their constitutionality and there was every inducement for such men to vote the Democratic ticket. We do not speak advisedly of the votes cast in the different districts of that class, but we do not err in fixing the aggregate number at fifty, while Mr. Duncan's majority will not be over twenty, if it is even so much. Under such circumstances Mr. McConaughy will owe it to the Union men of the district and to the violated laws, as well as to himself, to contest the seat on the ground that his competitor has an apparent majority made up of men who have forfeited their citizenship by their perfidy to their country in its hour of trial. Whether additional army returns shall elect Mr. M'Conaughy or not after the certificate is awarded, we hope to see this issue put squarely to the Senate and the fact established that skulking conscripts controlled the election in the district. It will be well for the present and future elections to know that such men returned from their hiding places after our institutions have been saved in spite of their treachery, and now seek to attain by their votes what their cowardice failed to accomplish. The same rule will apply to the case of Col. Rowe, who will, we trust, proceed in court and test the question there.

Contested seats in the Senate are determined by a committee of seven, we believe, drawn by the clerk. The names of all the Senators but the member whose seat is contested and the speaker are written on slips of paper, carefully folded and placed in a box. They are then drawn out one at a time, the ticket opened and the name read out, when either party can challenge peremptorily until a given number remain--13 we believe. The contestants with their counsel then retire and strike off one name alternatively until the requisite number remain. They constitute the committee, and their report is final and cannot be reversed by the Senate.

ONE year ago the Democratic candidates for Congress and Judge in this district, and the candidates on the same ticket for Assembly in the Bedford district, were all defeated by clear majorities by the soldier vote; but Messrs. Coffroth, Meyers & Co. resolved to accomplish by fraud what they could not attain by a fair vote, and they persuaded the Democratic return judges of Bedford, Fulton and Adams, in violation of the express terms of the law, to reject just enough of the army vote to give them apparent majorities. The House of Representatives summarily throttled the fraud, admitted the Union members, and left the Democratic candidates to contest, which they very prudently declined to do, as they were unwilling to have their frauds officially exposed. Coffroth, however, who never knows when a farce is played out, still imagines that he has some chance for crawling into Congress, but he will shortly be a wiser and probably a sadder man. The people have for the first time since this fraud was attempted, had an opportunity to vindicate themselves, and they have done it most effectually. Adams has elected a Union member by 16 majority, and Bedford, Fulton, and Somerset gave the following official vote for members:

The Union members are thus elected by over 800 majority on the home vote, and not a Democrat is returned to the legislature from this Congressional district. Do the Bedford Gazette and Coffroth understand that sort of thunder?

No. XXXIV.] Harrisburg, October 23, 1865

The result of the late election has turned various political tables and crushed many political hopes. The large majority of 20,000 for the Union candidates in a comparatively unimportant contest, leaves the Democracy hopeless. It settles the next Governor and the next United States Senator against them. They were even more confident than the Union men of success in the contest just closed. They believed their organization to be much better than ours, and I doubt not that it was as good, and they had scarcely a doubt of success; but their strong Democratic counties failed them utterly and they cannot now calculate with any certainty that next year will improve their condition. They condemn the "quiet campaign," and charge Mr. Wallace with failure on that account; but had they made an active canvas they would have been beaten ten thousand more. The truth is apparent that they lost the State because of the earnest, profound convictions of the people that they have been wrong throughout the war and cannot be right now.

The decisive majority secured in the Senate for the Union men this year renders it certain beyond all contingency that there will be a Union legislature in 1867. Even allowing Duncan his seat in the Senate stands 20 Union to 13 Democrats, leaving a majority of 7. But it is confidently expressed that Mr. M'Conaughy will get his seat. If the army vote fails to elect him, a contest would doubtless eject Mr. Duncan, as it is well known that in certain portions of the district, particularly in Adams, many deserters voted for Mr. Duncan; and in the face of the act of Congress the Senate would not allow such votes to prevail. With Mr. M'Conaughy admitted, the Senate will stand 21 to 12--making the Union majority 9. Next year the Union men are certain to gain one in place of Hopkins in Washington and Beaver, and none of the other districts can be considered doubtful, so that the Senate of 1867 will, according to all rational calculations, stand 22 to 11, leaving the Democrats in a minority of 11. If they should carry the State by 40,000 for Governor, they could not overcome that majority in the House; but all signs of the times must prove deceptive if the House does not have from 20 to 30 Union majority also.

The next Senator will therefore certainly be a Union man, and already the contest is becoming animated. There will be not less than a score of candidates and much bitterness will mingle in the struggle. Gen. Cameron has labored untiringly since his retirement from the cabinet for the position, and will exhaust his energies to attain it. He has just emerged from a contest at home with victory on his banner, and feels he can now devote his energies to other sections. Philadelphia will present not less than two candidates, both of whom are, next to being for themselves, against Cameron. I refer to Col. Wm. B. Thomas and Hon. Wm. D. Kelly. Judge Kelly is especially bitter against Cameron and will deal some heavy blows in the progress of the struggle. Gov. Curtin is widely spoken of, but I do not know that he regards himself as a candidate. Certain it is that he has not devoted his efforts to control the election of members of the legislature favorable to himself. Hon. Thaddeus Stevens is named, but I do not regard it as probable that he will enter the list of competitors. Hon. G. A. Grow will probably be a formidable candidate as the whole North would adhere to him with great fidelity. The West will, of course, have a small crop of candidates also; but as Cowan has the position now, it is likely that the Senator will be yielded to the East. A decided majority of the new Senators chosen this fall are squarely hostile to Gen. Cameron, and the Chester, Lancaster, Bedford and Beaver districts will pretty certainly elect Senators next fall who will not prefer him. He has, however, earnest friends in Hall, Haines and Nichols, who will probably be re-elected, and Ridgeway will likely support him if Philadelphia cannot carry one of her candidates through. Unless the House shall be made strongly for Cameron--much more so than it is this year--he cannot be the nominee of the Union caucus; but just who may be is a question that is most difficult of solution.

Naturally enough the overwhelming Union victory just achieved has brought out a large crop of candidates for Governor. Gen. Morehead, of Allegheny, Col. Jordan of Bedford, Gen. Geary and Hon. Jno. Covode, of Westmoreland, Hon. W. W. Ketcham, of Luzerne, have been known candidates for some months, and the established supremacy of the Union party will make their friends increase their energies. In addition to these, I bear the names of Hon. Thos. M. Howe and Hon. Jno. P. Penny, of Allegheny, General Lemuel Todd, of Cumberland, Mayor M'Michael, of Philadelphia, Gen. Hartrantt, and Gen. Hancock, of Montgomery, Hon. G. A. Grow, of Susquehanna, Senator Lowery, of Erie, Hon. Geo. V. Lawrence, of Washington, Hon. John Cessna, of Bedford, and others whose names I do not now recall. The name of the chief editor of the REPOSITORY has also been pretty freely used in connection with the nomination; but as his own columns peremptorily decline him, I presume that I am bound to obey and strike his name from the list. Of the new names suggested, that of Mr. Cessna has the most vitality; and it is probable that there will be a powerful concentration in his favor. He has made a most gallant fight for the country since the day the war was commenced, and has never blotted his record by faltering under any circumstances; and the consummate skill and energy with which he won victory for the party in the late contest, gives him a prestige that courses to fortune with a strong tide. If a military man must be taken, Gen. Hancock would doubtless bear off the prize if he is willing to accept it; but a brevet Maj. General in the regular army would hesitate long before exchanging a life office in the line of his profession and in which he had won all his fame, for the uncertain fortunes of political life.

Gov. Curtin has just signalized his devotion to the soldiers again by appointing Col. Clark to the position of Master Warden of Philadelphia, in place of Mr. Wayne deceased, and by installing a wounded private as messenger in place of Mr. Miles deceased. Enduring as the monumental marble which attests our heroism and sacrifices on so many sanguinary fields, will be the grateful remembrance of Gov. Curtin's tireless efforts in behalf of our brave soldiery, by them and their posterity.
HORACE