New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-02-05
THE CERTIFIED ELECTION RETURNS.

THE CERTIFIED ELECTION RETURNS
Whatever objections may be urged
against the returns of u election as Ger.
tilted to by the board Of returning officers,
il will be borne in mind that they are the
only evidences Of the election that nave
yet been exhibited. The original ballots
were taken charge of 10y the State super
visors. who counted them. or pretended
to do 50, but that is the last we hear o.
them. The reports OF the results IN the
various parishes were never ezhiOi'eu ~
them to the returning officers, ana 50 1"i
&c common yumor can be relied upon
were passed from hand to hanu' oN",
they finally disappeared in the fashion o.
the gold that was sent into the ooni0u-
eracy by the old Bank OF LOUISIANA
will he remembered that the yankees
from nbom This gold was to be hid, sue
ceeded in surviving. but 1t ruined the
bank, and seriously injured the character
Of the directors. The parallel holds good
with the returns. They are said to be out
Of the State, but exactly where or IN "ha'
state of preservation no man knows. 1helE
value as evidence for any purpose except
TO show that their c~ustodians betrayed
their trls: and violated the law. is COM
pletely gone. The certificates furnished
by the United States supervisors. which
were intended by law merely as corrobo-
rating evidence. remain, therefore. as the
the sole testimony upon which to predi'
cate 4 conclusion as to the result OF the
election. The returning officers waited
with patience for the supervisors to per
form their duty until two days before the
time appointed by the Governor for the
meeting Of the Legislature, and long after
the timefixed by Law for the publication
of tho/election returns. They were COM
PEELED to declare upon such evidence as
the United States inspectors furnished, or
let the whole case go by default. Some OF
the inspectors were prevented by the State
supervisors from taking transcripts Of the
votes taken from the polls where they
were stationed, and in such cases wit
nesses were summoned and exam
ined orally by the board. If any
party has reason to be dissatisfied
because these returns were not full and
perfect, it is the Republican, against
whose interest the State officers were
working. The fusionists are estopped
from setting up objections, because 1t was
in obedience to their committees and
rings and candidates that Governor War
moth and his supervisors and clerks set at
defiance all the laws Of the State and OF
Congress, and undertook 10 CONT in can
didates solely with regard to their political
status, and especially in case Of members
Of the General assembly with reference
to their preferences for the United States
Senate. The contract was something 70
this effect: Warmoth was TO give the tu-
siOnists all their State officers. and a
Legislature in theiy interests in al! mat
tiers except the Senatorial question. And
as the voters OF the State ~repudiated this
compact by at least twenty thousand ma
iority against it. the necessity Tor keeping
the actual result from coming 70 light was
imperative. Hence. no officer authorized
to count the votes ever saw the returns
after they passed o1t Of the hands OF the
supervisors. And it is notorious that the
reports. as made az first 20 the Governor.
would not bear q careful comparison with
the ballots as they zeposed III the boxes
afte- the pretended count. The three
trunks full of calculated returns" which
We aye told are IN Washington, may be
the papers il the las; Georgia election for
all We know 20 the contrary. ~ al
events they are not evidence il our ease.
and it is q misapplication OF terms to call
them the Louisiana election returns.
While we admi. tina: the returns upon
which the result o: our election was de.
cIared are necessarily imperfect. we insist
they are the only legal evidence that can
possibly be produced. If a f~usionist
raises q question against them he should
be met with the reply that his party is to
blame for all their defects, and toy the
necessity Of relying upon them at ALL