New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-01-02
The Great Political Contest.

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7. Times.
The Great Political Contest.
A Plain Statement Of the ISSUES Involved.
Such gross misrepresentation has been so
widely disseminated with reference to the
legal aspect of the great case Of Kellogg VS..
Warmoth, that we feel it to be our duty, alike
to the public and Judge Durell, to state the
case briefly and simply.
Senator Kellogg filed a bill in equity in the
United States Circuit Court, which alleged
that thousands of colored voters had been,
on account of race and color, deprived of
registration and Of the right to vote, and that
thousands of other Colored voters who had
been allowed to vote, were about to be de-
prived Of all the practical effect Of voting by
a contemplated suppression Of their votes in
the count on account Of race and color in
this way: that Governor Warmoth finding
the legal Board Of Returning Officers de-
termined to compile and aggregate the votes
fairly, had improvised violently and without
any authority of law another board, who
were about, by unfair compilation, to give
effect to this deprivation and this suppress
sion, and thereby prevent the complainant
from being declared elected to the office of
Governor Of this State. The bill sought to
Warmoth from spoiation, and to preserve
the evidence Of complainant's election, so
that it might be used by him in a suit at law
to test, the title to the Office to which he
claimed to have been elected; and the bill
further sought to restrain Warmoth and his
new board from thus depriving voters who
had been refused registration and the right
to vote, and whose votes were thus about to
be suppressed, of their clear constitutional
and statutory rights.
Judge Durell, after listening for more than
a week to the fullest arguments pro and con,
decided that the court had jurisdiction of the
cause, and that the board which was created
strictly in accordance with the statute was
| the legal board, and that the board which
had sought to GUST this board, and which
rested solely upon the arbitrary edct of
Warmoth, should be restrained.
! The jurisdiction of the court was virtually
conceded by the defendants pleading, and,
we think, was felt to be undoubted by the
great majority Of the members of the bar who
| heard the discussion. It rests upon the IF
tecnth amendment to the Constitution of the
| United States, which declares that no State
shall abridge tho right of any person TO vote
on account of race, color, or previous condi
| ton, and the two statutes of 1870, which en-
| force this amendment. These statutes pro-
vide substantially that all persons, without
regard to race, ETC., shall be allowed to vote
in all State and local elections that when
ever registration and the subsequent casting
| of vote Is refused on account of race, that
the vote shall be held in law as having been
cast; that tho candidate shall not be deprived
of his election on account of any such refusal !;
and that the Circuit courts shall have juris-
diction of all cases in law Or equity arising
under these acts.
| That under these acts Of Congress, and
with bill containing these allegations, cor
roborated by the atfidavits of some five thous
and of the actual voters whose registration
and votes had been refused, the court could
do nothing else than take jurisdiction of the
cause, we think plain beyond controversy.
The other point passed upon, as TO the le-
gality of the so-caled Heron Board, has in
} cidentally been passed upon by the Supreme
Court of this State, and their decision is in
perfect harmony with that of Judge Durell.
We wish to notice one other feature of this
case, viz: the order Of Judge Durel, direct
ing the marshal to take and hold the Me-
channels Institute. In defiance and contempt
+, of the restraining order of Judge Durell,
Warmoth issued a proclamation declaring
, certain persons to constitute q Legislature
and directing them to assemble in this build.
, ing, there to defeat the whole object Of com
plainant's bill When this public contempt
!, Of authority Of the Circuit Court came to
= Judge Durell's knowledge, he ordered the
y marshal to take and hold that building to
: the exclusion of this body thuS summoned
that n chancellor he had this authority
O an authority which would have allowed the
g cor:t to sequester every particle of property
n Of the defendants thus flagrantly, publicly
p I'd continuously in contempt-we do no
h think can be doubted; that it was an orde
). which was just, judlcious, and in tho interes
9 of the public peace is equally clear.
/ This is an epltome Of the whole case. WI
u submit that the action of the court was i,
!. every step not only right, strictly in accord
If ance with law, but was imperatively de
Il manded in the interest Of private and publi
- justice. The attempt to pervert the histor
- Of this case must in the end recoil terribl
q upon its authors. or as little avail is tn
>. abuse now attempted to be hcapcd upon thi
"a learned judge, chiefly by the New Orlean
Times, which journal, up to the time OF tn
If rendition of his decision, praised alike hi
- ability lid his business. We know him t.
"A be Republican from deep conviction, an
IL to be in full sympathy with the simple jus ic
81 which Is borne at last-how late!-by thi
20 amendment and these statutes to an unfol
w tunate and prescribed race. But we do nc
~, think he was moved hairs breadth by an
i, considerations except to administer the Law
w It was a most glaring case. 1t came betor
=, :, most inhexible judge. Neither sycophantit
or fawning, nor acrimonious abuse, nor threat
"a of ASSASSINATION have at all moved him. Ii
~ has with us now, and, as the facts and Ia
10 of the case come to be known, will, throug
-, :, out the country, have the sympathy and az
o. miration of all good people.-Ne:0 Crlea
N. National Republican.
m
nd 5ewisIl and Christian Marriage
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