New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-05
THE CRIME OF FALSE SUFFRAGE.

VIt1HCeO, eltnef by violence OI AE"uo' s"s
government by ''consent Of the gov
erned" is at an end. Perhaps the enemies
Of republican government at home and
abroad would not waste many tears If the
experiment should end thus. Perhaps
there are some who accepted amnesty fol
a chance to destroy the tenement from
within, which they could not overthrow
from without. All the friends of the
Union have agreed that such frauds al
were formerly perpetrated by Slidell, 9
New Yorker, in Louisiana, and repeated
by Tweed, Tilden and Tammany, in 1868,
are perilous to the continuance of the
Union. There is leak in the common
ship, and all men who value the Union
are at work to stop it. Congress but 9
few years since passed law to protect the
voter upon the express preamble of the
New York frauds. A large majority o.
both parties voted for it. None knew
which party might need this protection, sc
both united in its passage.
With the sanction Of the law and with
the approval of all friends of the Union,
the United States chief supervisor Of
| election in New York has perfected sys'
tenn by which the honest vote of the
people will be protected against nullity
from the fictitious vote Of the dead. or the
fraudulent vote of the living. This sys.
tenn has been imperfectly initiated by the
United St ties and State election author.
tiles here. We have, therefore, quoted
elsewhere the New York system and
the thorough investigation which has
been organized in that city. 1t will serve
to show that as both parties might
be benefited or injured by fraudulent
votes, both parties have united in its cor
rection.
When our fellow.citizens see that the
present impartial scrutiny of the sus-
picious vote in New Orleans does not
approach IN detail the completeness Of
that which the people Of all parties de-
mand elsewhere, they will cease to ascribe
to partisan interest that which is COM
manded by imperative and patriotic duty.
The Democracy have from the beginning
taken no other part in this scrutiny of
prevention than to protest against it.
We do not choose to say that those who
resent search have usually something to
conceal, but we have right to infer
either q belief that the Democracy will
lose more votes than they will gain by the
scrutiny, or that they do not care if the
government which they can not rule
shall go to destruction. We have been
astonished that any one should object to
the lawful mode by which the non-resi-
dence Of voters has been ascertained.
We may even suppose that circulars we're
sent through the postoffice in New York
as in New Orleans. 1t was a lawful
and regular mode of ascertaining fact
important to the interests Of all who love
the Union and abide by the law. Sup
pose an officer of police should put ten
dollar note into decoy letter, and after
ward identify the note in the hands Of q
person who could have obtained it in no
other way than by violation of the seal?
Democracy would, upon its political logic,
take the side of the mail robber against |
The prosecution. It would insist that JUS
ice had taken an unfair advantage of |
fraud. 1t would denounce the police and |
,ondole with the robber. Such would be
he logical conse quence of condemniDg the
United States commissioner of election |
or employing the agencies Of the law for
executing the purposes of the law.
That the vigilant and impartial action
If the State and Federal authorities has
.futtered the Volsci"-has discounted
he Democracy-is obvious from the tone
# their organ and orators. It is not the
'oker player, with three aces in his boot,
that the game is not fair. It is
ather the burglar who comes armed with
alse keys and chloroform, finding the
amily all awake and watching, and meets
is fraudulent pals pinioned in the hands
+ the police, on their way to prison.
To those who really value the Union
nd prefer its perpetuaiion to the tenn
'orary triumph of party, the election
Avs Of the United States appear great
lessing. The nationality Of the govern
lent on the equal integral value of its
itizens having been established, law
as necessary to. execute this principle.
he value of every vote depends on a
ourd currency Of suffrage. Every citi-
IN feels the value Ct his vote deprecated
= the false issues of counterfeit regis
alton, and it would be as suspicious to
ost personal or party protest against
le detection of counterfeiter of green
acks as against the arrest Of him who
ther manufactures or utters false regis
alton papers. |,
This crime Of false suffrage is species
crimen loscp myestatis, or high treason.
ounterfeiting the currency OF the realm
as made in England equally high treason
it'll an effort to subvert the government,
ough not quite equal in its punishment.
ere, to counterfeit suffrage, far more
ecious than gold, not only defrauds ,
g people, but subverts the government.
is, therefore, high treason, and might I
Ill be SO declared by law. With these 1
nservative views, those who love the q
mon have, without regard to party, de- I
ared that the practice CT false suffrage 9