Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1845-02-22
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tone Of the following article in the ~. orleans
Courier" of the 10Th instant, the Democrats DEFY,
instead oil dreading, the bold and reckless cnarSe'
"PLAouEMrNgs.-Th Wings. honest souls! at
feet great alarm at the number oil Democrauc
votes given in the parish OF Plaquemines al .ne
late Presidential election, and they charge an
those votes TO fraud. Wherever throughout Inc
Union there was a majority against them, iney
ascribe il 10 the same cause. In New I oiK tneie
was fraud, according to these Sood W hissIh
Virginia there was fraud-in pennsylvania thele
was immense fraud-in the parish OF Flaque-
mines. where the people have always been nearly
unanimous against them, of course there was d.
| abolical. internal, unheard of fraud The wings
have Instituted an inquiry into the proceedings
Of that parish by Committee Of the House oil
REPRESENTATIVES: but we know not what progress
has been made in the investigation. we trust II
will be strict, reaching, thorough, although we
are hardly permitted to hope thatit VIII De iair.-
No frauds will be detected, we are certain, on Inc
part Of the officers who conducted Inc eieclioh.-
| Some spurious votes may have been giyen-not
more than are usually struggled in all the cleo;
tons in parishes OF The same popuation-not hall
so many as are openly and without objection re-
| ceiyed by the inspectors of every election in the
Second Municipality. The Wing majority there,
so far as the majority extends, is entirely compos-
ed OF illegal votes-votes of persons who are not
possessed OF the residence required by the Con-
stitution All the Democratic votes received III
the parish OF PlaquemneS were given by men
who are bona fde residents OF the State accord
inc 10 the Constitution, and owners of property
aMany atrocious frauds on the elective fran
chise we're practised by The Wings at the late
presidential election, which We have no time or
space here TO enumerate. We mention only that
in the parish OF Calcasicu, where the Judge re-
ec,ed for alleged informally, returns from seve-
raj precincts in which the vote was almost unani-
mouSly Democratic, although those returns were
much more correct and legal than nine-tenths
ofthe returns which were received from wing
precincts in other parishes-and lncomParaoiy
more legal than many returns which have been
received BY our Wing parish Judge from the
wards of the second Municipality. We have
looked al the rejected returns from the parish OF
| Calcasieu, and we saw several returns from Inc
second Municipaity-and in our opinion, IT the
returns from Calcasieu ought TO have been reJcc-
led, those from the second Municipality ought 10
have been burnt by the common hansman.
awe trust, as we said before the Wing COM
mittee will make searching and thorough IN
yesrgation in the Plaquemine election, provided
they make fair and impartial report OF the facts,
and provided they do justice 10 Judge Gilbert
Leonard, who has been so basely tradnced, and
so followed up with the misrepresentation and
calumnies of the Wings, that we have been in
duced to suspect that his destruction is the princi
pal, ifnot the only object they are aiming at-we
say again, Go Or lfyou can find any thing in
his conduct incorrect, irregular, illegal, any thing
unworthy Of an honorab bic man, high-minded
citizen, an honest Judge, then we surrender him
TO the mercy of his enemies. But mind, there
must be no false or doubtful testimOny-no pre-
yaricalon-no collision between winesses-no
well-iounded suspicion OF perjury-no such evil
depce as that which was received without the
slightest objection by the Clay Club Committee,
who took down and blazoned abroad the teslimo-
nv of one or two men, who admitted they had
perpetrated most atrocious frauds at the election
and vet their evidence was received as that vi
good and true men.
"Judge Leonard had nothing to do with the su-
perintendence of The lale election. Being can
didate for Eeclor, he was bound by law and
usage to conde 10 the senior justice of the peace
in the parish, the duty OF experimenting the cleo
tion-and he complied with the law. Hehad no
more to do with the election than any other pr-
yate citizen. We have been informed by Wing
gentlemen who were present, that the Judge stu
diously kept aloof from the polls-allhouSh as
candidate he invited his friends to attend, which
he had a rightlodo.
"Ia conclusion, are say, no frauds mcrc committed
at Lc iaie election in PLaqncmincs-aO more at
least than arc airaY committed al elections az
lrhich similar proportion Of roles IS girel-and
Of those conimitted in Plaqltemincs NE Ways haa
lieir FIJI share and more.
eve say secondly, that if frauds were COM
mitted they cannot be imputed TO Judge Leonard,
because he bore no part in The conducting OF the
election"