New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-11-15
The Returning Board.


viz: Messrs. Wells. Casanave and Kenner,
on motion Of the latter named gentlemen. a
recess was taken to haif-past twelve o'clock.
At that time. punctually. the beard was
! called 70 order. and al! the members were
! presen: but General Longstreet. 4 COM
munication from Governor Kellogg was
received and read. recommending a recon
struction OF the board 60 as to give :he
Democratic party representation upon ii.
! 1t was ordered to be filed. The following
! letter. from General Longstreet, rendering
| his resignation Us member Of the Return
| ing Board. was read and accepted:
NOVEMBER II. 1874.
| Hon. J. NJ. Wells, President Of :he Returning
SIH-t'inding myself in such condition
! that I ain physically unable to attend the
| meetings Of your board. / must ask you to
| accep. my resignation and designate some
other person to ac: in my place.
Very respectfully.
JAMES LONGSrREEr.
The secretary OF the board was instructed
to address q letter to Governor Kellogg in.
forming him Of general Longstree:'s sesig.
nation.
! The Conservative. Democratic committee
then presented the following protest. which
was read and ordered to be filed:
| To the Hors. J. Madison Wells James LoDgstreet.
Thomas {. Anderson. Felix Casanav. and Rob
ert j. kenner. Returning Board OF the State OF
Louisiana:
GENrLEMES-The undersigned, acting as
a committee to attend the canvass of the
votes cast in the election of 1874. in behalf
of the Conservative-DemOcr State Cen.
trail Committee, by whom they were ap.
pointed. beg leave to respectfully present
the following protest for and in behalf OF
the Conservative-D Democratic party OF the
State of Louisiana:
!. That BY the act under which the board
claims to act, the said board is vested with
powers judicial in their character and is in
constitution of the State of Louisiana,
which provides that mo judicial powers
except as committing magistrates in
criminal cases. shall be conferred on
any officers other than those mentioned in
this title title 4, Judiciary Department.,
except such as may be necessary in towns
and Cities and article %. title IA, provides
that the judicial power shall be vested in
supreme court, in district courts, in parish
courts, in justices Of the peace.
,. That if the constitutionality OF the
law were established beyond a doubt.
we again protest against the manner
III which the present acting board Is
constituted. The act No. SO Of 1873, sec.
ton two, provides that five persons, to be
elected by the Senate from all political par.
ties, shall be the returning officers for all
elections in the State" This requisite has
not been complied with, as none Of the
gentlemen composing the board, 20 far as
we know, have claimed to be Conservative.
Democrats within the past two years. while
all of them have disclaimed such cOnnec.
ton.
Under this protest we appear before you.
especially reservlng to any candidate his
right to be especially represented, ii he SO
desires, before your board, as. indeed, we
have no authority to waive the legal rights
of any individual candidate.
We, therefore, respectfully request that
this protest be received and spread upon
the minutes of the board.
Governor Wells desired to correct that
part Of the protest relating to the political
complexion of the board. At the time he
was appointed a member Of it he said he
was Liberal Republican and attended the
Cincinnati Convention that nominated Mr..
Greeley for the Presidency. He continued
to support that movement until he found it
was being manipulated to the benefit Of the
Democratic party, and then he transferred
his support to President Grant.
On motion of Mr.. Kenner the board then
proceeded to canvass the returns. General
Anderson proposed to commence the work
by canvsssing the returns of the first con.
gressional district and continue in that
order until the returns Of the entire State
were canvassed. Governor Wells thought
it would be better to canvass the city re-
turns first, and after some discussion the
board determined to take that course.
Messrs. Whitaker, Zacharie, Fuselier and
Cavanac, Of the Democratic Conservative
committee, and Messrs Ray and Stamps.
Of the Republican committee, were pres
ent, and took part in the proceedings.
The canvass commenced with an in.
vestigstien of the returns OF poll No. Of
the first ward.
Errors and irformalities being discovered
in these returns, Mr. Ray read from the
thirteenth section Of the election law, and
said that unless the forms of the law were
with it was the duty of the Re-
turning Board to reject the returns The
Jaw was framed for the purpose of prevent
ing frauds and securing full and fair
election, and unless it was enforced he
thought these great ends could not be OBJ
tanned.
Messrs Whitaker, Zacherie and Fuselier
argued that it would not be proper to ex
clllde votes that had been honestly cast
simply because commissioners and clerks
Of election had committed errors or failed
to comply with all the forms of the law.
Mr.. Zacharie read from several law authori-
ties to show that the Returning Board could
not legally and Justly exclude returns be-
cause the forms of the law bad not been
with in every particular.
The learned counsel on both sides of this
question agreed that 1t was important that
The board should give ruling in the matter
before proceeding further.
The board agreed to take the subject un.
der advisement and give as early decision
as possible. At the same time it was sug'
gested that counsel might aid in achieving
this end speedily by hunting up authorities
upon the subject and producing them for |
the guidance of the DO ard.
Mr.. Ray thought Democratic counsel had |
already been doing this from the ready |
manner in which they came forward to de. |
lend irregularities and non observance of !
The forms Of the law regulating elections in |
Louisiana.
Opposing counsel seemed to admit that |
hey had not been mapping since they had