New-York tribune., 1876-11-23
LOUISIANA.

Louisiana must have gone Democratic" 1t
is asserted "any other return ia prima tdcie
"proof of fraud.n This is dangerous asser-
ton, for it is calculated to inspire ignorant
men to resist the decision of the only body
which has the legal power to settle the dis
pute. 1t is an assertion contrary to established
facts which we have already set forth. The
census of 1870 showed S6,913 colOrcd males
over 81 years of age and S7,076 whites,
while, as the same census proves, 15,1s6 male
adults were not citizens, and nearly all of
them were whites-natives of France and
other countries, who had refused to be natu-
ralized Moreover, we have quoted the Ian
guage of The Nc,c- Orleans PicdyuHc, an ex
treme Democratic paper, which states that
"for six years there has been a steady
Influx of negroes and "as steady an emf
"gration of white people to Texas and other
localities free from the curse of Radicalism.
Negroes have been converging upon Louisi-
cana, and whites have been radiatng from
ait" Thus the State census of 1873 showed
a cOlored population exceeding the white by
$4,000. Indisputably there was n colored ma
iority of nearly $4,000 voters in 1870, and it
is both notorious and admitted that the change
since that time has been an increase Of coored
and n decrease of white voters. Why should
it be presumed that Louisiana "must have"
gone Democratic
because 'swe are told, "the Congressional
COMMITTEE of 1875, Of which Mr.. Wheeler
"was member, found that the Democrats
chad carried the State in fair election
The statement is incorrect, and it would prove
nothing if it were true Messrs. Hoar, Wheeler,
and their associates reported:
IN view OF these facts, do not hesitate find that
the election Of 1874 neither full free fair; that
in large portions OF the State the Of instruct
ing and pcrsuading the people. OF organizing end con
ducng campaign, could not be carried on by Rcpnb-
cans without danger to their lives, and that many
voters needed to give the Republican party
complete victory prevented from voting at ALL
cocrccd into voting the white man'sucket.
This was the finding of the committee by
which the compromise finally accepted by The
Democrats was proposed. 1t is the latest and
highest official decision in the matter being
sustained, as it was, by Congress. How hap
pens it, then, that the committee decided in
favor of the Democratic candidates. Because,
as the committee fully explain, the Returning
Board had assumed power to throw out returns
concerning which no formal complaint, as re-
auired by the law, had been made, and with
out notice to the opposite party. This, the
committee declared, was an illegal act, and it
was therefore reported that the Democratic
representatives thus deprived of seats had been
legally elected. Hence it is generally, but in
accurately, asserted that the committee ac-
knOwledged that the Democrats had majority
in the whole State On the contrary, the only
matter in dispute was as to the control of the
Legislature and the election of members from
certain parishes. Only one State oflicer--the
Treasurer-was chosen at that election, and the
publican candidate was duly elected was not
reversed by the finding of the committee.
One fact seems to us conclusive. The Dem
Dcrats, by their own count, claimed majority
in the State of only 2,939 in 1874, and vet
in that election they had the active aid of
many leaders who had supported the Liberal
ticket in 1872. Among them were men whose
influence with the colored voter had been very
great 1t was not National, but State cleo
ton, and it was therefore comparatively easy
to influence Republicans who were dissatisfied
with the local government No sensible man
believes that these former Republicans did not
add much more than 2,939 votes to the Dem
ocratic ticket in 1874; but this year. in
Louisiana as elsewhere, the former Liberals
used all their influence for the Repubi-
can electoral ticket. Disputes were settled at
the State Convention, and the Republicans
have not been so thoroughly united in Louisi-
ana for six years as they were at the late cleo