The People's vindicator. [volume] (Natchitoches, La.) 1874-1883, 1875-02-06

The Report OF the Sub Commit
tee.
The report Of Messrs. Foster,
ph.lns. and Potter is one of the most
remarkable and important political
document Of recent years. 1t mas
rarely happened that Committee OF
Congress deputed to Investigate any
s,hiect having direct partisan bear
inc has been able to arrive at a IMAM
,,nous conclusion. Party considcr'-
,;ons nave their weight with the
' ",n.t uprisht and patriotic Of men,
amsrvinc them from the line OF i'm
nart;al'ity, sometimes against their
pi",olotions aud without their knowl'
'; 1ms It was natural that a consis-
t t Democrat like Mr.. Potter and a
s.auch Grant Republican like Mr..
Faster or Nj. Phelps should look at
the conduct of the Administration
nar,y in Louisiana with very different
ewes. But whatever their sympathics
rrrdispositions may have been, they
were not long in discovering that to
the story of Louisiana there was only
one side. They invited Kellogg and
his friends to state their own case.
They listened to counsel. They ex-
aminea nearly one hundred witnesses
and heard what will amount when
printed to fifteen hundred pages Of
testimony; aud if common report
sneak truth, the Republican members
did all that honest men could do to
find their party in the right. The re-
sult has been laid before the country,
and We believe no good citizen has
read it without amazement and iDdig-
nation.
For notorious as the rascalities of
Kellogg's Government have always
been, we never knew until now how
utterly without palliation were its
outrages, how complete was its sub
version Of all the principles Of a po-
pular republican administration. The
wrongs committed by the Returning
Board hardly deserve the name Of
frauds, for fraud supposes some IRE
tense Of integrity while the operations
Of this precious company Of scamps
were 20 bold as to be merely y de-
fiauce Of law and justice. The COM
mittee give specimens Of the process
by which they reduced a Conservative
majority Of 20 in tho Legislature to
minority Of 8. The co'nmonest
trick was to throw out returns on
pretense Of Intimidation" of the ne
sroes. In not one instance, after the
most careful inquiry, could the Com
mittee discover that such a state of
Thugs existed. The vote of the
whole parish Of Rapides was reversed
on the affidavit OF the President OF
the Returning Board that intimida.
ton had been practiced at three OF
the polls, this gentleman no having
been in tho parish on the day OF
election, and declining to give any
testimony before the Committee. II
further appeared that his affidavit had
been Struggled into the proceeding
of the Board without the knowledge
Of the Conservative counsel, an,
moreover it appeared, from the in
designations of the Committee, tina
his statement was entirely false. i
one place certain petty local function
aries appointed by Kellogg, and dis
, placed by McEnery, had not returne
to claim their offices after the SUP
preston of the September Insured
lion, merely because the officers wer
rot worth anything f; that was Gale
intimidation and made a pretext fl
rejecting votes. In another case
Federal Commissioner was visited b
procession Of citizens to offer ba
for certain persons under arrest, Al.
he called that a derision If his pro
ceedings which was Calculated t
intimidate the colored voters"
another case, where there was a Cor
servative majority of 1000 a Radio:
Supervisor stole his own returns. l
another case the Supervisor hid hin
self until the time within which IL
returns were required to be deiivere
tn him had passed, and then whe1
they showed a Conservative majo
,ity no refused to receive them !; IN
il the majority was the other way Il
limit Of time was not observed. n
negro could be found who professe
to have been intimidated. No viii
man had any evidence that such
thing bad been done. On the col
trary'the Committee report that Il
violence was on the other side, an
the wholesale military arrests of Cor
servatives tor political offensss ser
ed" Otherwise they believe the r
cent election to have been unusual
free and fair. Respecting the coun
ing Of the vote, they reach the We,
moderate conclusion "TAat the a
tioa of the Returning board on Il
whole was arbitrary, unjust, aud
legal, and that this arbitrary, uniu,
and illegal action alone prevented Il
return Of a majority of Conservati
members to the Lower House." TIL
could not say less than this, and
they had not possessed an enviat
power Of self-control they could har
" have said 60 little.
And what manner of government