The New York herald., 1876-11-27

on our troops. The steadiness of the in
fantry, combined with the superior range Of
their guns, make them formidable adver-
saries, and the red men have already learned
to give them wide berth but the absence
of cavalry prevents effective punishment of
the red enemies, yet the moral influence ex-
ercised by the infantry must in the end
convince even the widest Indian that a con-
test with the white man is hopeless, and
must end in submission or determination.
Disgraccful Tnmpering with the Lou
isinna Retarns.
Since the droll adventure of 'honest Jack
Falstaff," SO divertingly represented by the
great dramatist, there has been no escapade
quite so amusing in its wickedness as the
one reported in our columns yesterday from
Louisiana The enormous lies told by the
fat old swiller of sack as to the number of
men in buckram he SO valiantly encountered.
and his secret hacking of his own sword to
give plausibility to his story, did not put
him to greater shame when his nimble
falsehoods were exposed by Prince Hal and
Poins than must be felt by the republicans
of Louisiana at the way they have gotten up
this evidence about the Ku Klux in buck
ram whom they encountered at the polls.
Falstaff's hacking his sword to give color to
his unconscionable lies and his magnifying
the two men in buckram with which
the fat knave began his tale to eleven
before he got through, was not more
ridiculous than the ''bull-dozing" tales
of the Louisiana Falstaffs and their
fabrication of evidence to support them.
There is this difference, however, that
the fnt old sinner In Shakespeare was
caught in trap set by his fun-loving young
companions, whereas the Louisiana knaves
who pretend to have fought SO many Ku
Klux and bull-dozers have themselves set
the trap in which they are SO ridiculously
caught.
The problem how the apple got into the
dumpling, or how the carved wooden image
got into the narrow-mouthed glass bottle
which enclosed it, cannot rival the problem
how protest against an election return,
dated November 25 got into sealed letter
whose postmark shows that it was mailed
November 18. Que didble dlidit IL fdire dams
cstte galsrc? How the devil did the protest
get into the envelope seven days after the
latter was sealed and mailed and five hun
dred miles from the place where the protest
was dated? There can be no doubt at all
how the thing was done, considering that
little hot steam will soften the gum of o
sealed envelope, and that it can be opened
and reclosed as easily as an apple can be put
into dumping. The date of the protest
shows that it was bogus and was surrepti-
tiously prepared and enclosed in New
Orleans.
In this exquisite Falstafian performance
our noted fellow townsman, Mr.. E. w.
Stoughton, supplies the quick turns and
nimble excuses by which vain attempt is
made to parry exposure. But Mr.. Slough
toms readiness of wit cannot help the
thing through. When the members
Of the Returning Board were abashed
and nonplussed the prompt Mr. Stoughton
suggested that it was "a clerical error" No
doubt it was but where and by whom was
the clerical error committed? Mr.. Slough
ton is also said to have suggested that the
protest was prepared and signed in De Soto
on the 25th, the day the return was opened.
But Falstaff was never more promptly re-
futed than Mr.. Stoughton was by Mr.. Cave
mac, who told him that "De Soto is five
hundred miles from New Orleans" show
ing that Mr.. Stoughton is not very
strong in the geography of Louisi-
ana. "A clerical error" no doubt it
was, but clerical error perpetrated by the
forger Of the protest, who in the haste with
which he did his clandestine work unwit-
tingly put the stamp of fraud upon It by
giving the date when it was written, instead
of dating it back to correspond with the
document it accompanied. Such clerical
error would not have been committed in De
Soto seven days previous, but it was the
most natural thing in the world in New
Orleans, where the fraud was perpetrated in
haste and the unconscious writer put down
the actual day of the month.
Senator Sherman is to be commended for
his honest expression of opinion that the
protest was smuggled into the envelope in
New Orleans. HE said that there could be
no question but what the returns had been
tampered with and opened here. Tho evil
dence was conclusive that the Supervisor or
some ono else had opened them and placed
in the package the afiidavits." But, after this
honest avowal, we are puzzled to conceive
how Senator Sherman could have added that
he doubted if it was done with criminal in
done with an honest intent passes compre-
hension. 1t is the duty of all the republi-
cans present from other States to denounce
such frauds and warn the perpetrators that
they will ruin the party if they do not make
an honest count of the votes. If they elect
a President by such knavery they will soon