The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-01-04

State Legislature, by reason of tho de-
NAL to any citizen or citizens who shall
offer to vote of tho right to vote, ON ac-
count Of race, color or previous condl-
tion OF servitude, his right to hold and
enjoy such Office and tho clnoluments
thereof shall not be impaired by s,lcl,
denial"
Now, by tho very terms OF this Ian
guage, tho claimant of office under this
act, within tho limits stated
md for the reason specified, must be
actually deprived of tho office to which
he claims to have been elected. This
must be fact not possible, not antici-
pated or feared, but accomplished; and
plainly no such fact can exist until the
votes have boon officially canvassed
and the result declared by the legal
authority charged with this duty
Nlanifestly, until the case has reached
this point, at tho very least, the case
does not exist "a tho ono which the Sec
ton recites, and, hence, furnishes no
occasion for judicial relief. Reading
the language of the statute, and COM
pairing it with the facts az they existed
at the timo when Judge Durcll acted,
we can come to no other conclusion
than that he is justly chargcablc with
Il gross usurpation of power. When he
issued his orders there was no case of
which he could take legal cognizance.
The votes had II OF bccn canv.,ssed; no.
body had been declared elected; no
body was installed in office, as the re-
suit OF the election and canvass; and,
hence, neither Kellogg nor McEncry,
the opposing candidates., could claim
that he was deprived Of tho right to
hold Office for the reason named in the
Enforcement act. Judge DurelI, sitting
Oh tho bench as tho impartial minister
of law, could not, in conformity with
tho express language OF tho law, enter
tain tho question brought before him
until the result Of the election had boon
officially determined. Tho Enforce
mcnt act gavo him no authority to
stretch his judicial arm over tho board
of State canvassers, to ascertain what
would be tho result Of their canvass,
to displace tho board and cs-
tablish another, and then enforce these
by Federal power. This
is precisely what he did, as it seems to
us without any authority of law.
There was, moreover, no necessity
for these summary and strange pro-
cecdings to guard the legal rights OF
Kellogg, provided no had any to be
guarded. Tho official canvass, by tho
authority provided by State law,
would not bc conclusive as against
* kellogg, since, if tho cnnvnsscrs had
declared McEncry elected, and il hc
had been Installed in Office, IA tho
il was perfectly compe-
tent for tho former, hy II suit of1uo
aca'r'tu,to, brought in State court or
district or circuit court of tho United
States, to test tho question whether tho
canvass was according to law and tho
finding according to fact. The En-
forccmcnt net gave Kellogg this rcmc-
dy, and his right 10 usc it could not
part Of the canvassing board. Why
did not Judge Durcll wait till tho mat
ter in controversy had reached the
stage that would have rendered il prop
crly. subject to judicial cognizancc?
The only reason which the facts sug-
gcst il that he sat on tho bench not as
an impartial judge, but rather ~ 1t pol
itician, n partisan, indeed, II conspira-
tor, allied with a certain class Of mon,
and with them planning to do Il cor
tain thing-cIaiming n jurisdiction
which the law did not give him, and
enforcing 1t by Federal power against
the rights of tho state ofLOuisiana.
We are as far as possible from hav-
ing any sympathy with Warmoth or
his gang Of plundcrcrs. We believe
them capable OF almost any wrong;
yet if Judge DurcIl's action under the
twenty-third section Of the Enforce
ncnt act be correct, then Congress
should lose no time in modifying the
section or totally rcpcaliug it. The
KcIIogg-Durcit board ofcanvassers was
practically appointed by this usurping