New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-11-26

seven of tho new act; section twenty-nin'
of the original act is section twenty-si'
of the new act; section thirty Of tn
original act was repealed; section thirty
five of the original act is embodied in sec
tons twenty-nine and one of the new act
sections fifty-one and fifty-two of the OLE
act were embodied in sections 6fty-six
ffty-seven and ifty-eight of the new act
section fifty-three of the old act is section
forty-three of the new act; section fifty
four, altered and amended, is section two
of the new act; section fifty-five of thu
old act is section three of the new act
section fifty-six of the old act ia section
forty-four of the newact. The only material
change made by the new act was the
change in the manner by which these five
returning officers should be selected. The
principal theory of the act of 1872, and
its distinctive features. are identical with
those of the act of 1870. Act No. - Of
1873, and act No. 7 of 1876, amended the
act of 1872 somewhat in relation 10 the
appointment of commissioners Of elec-
ton. The act of 1870 made the commits.
| sioners appointive by the supervisors Of
| registration; the act of 1879 made
them appointive by the police ju-
| RES of the several parishes; and
the acts of 1873 and 1875 again made
them appointive by the supervisors Of
registration.
It will be seen that these five return
ing officers are neither q canvassing
board nor returning board; and there
fore there is no analogy between their
powers and functions and those of cam
wasting boards of other States. These five
officers are the returning officers Of the
State for all elections. There are no re-
turns and can be none, of any election
but the returns which these officers
make. In the eye of the law
they are present at each poll The COM
missioner who receives the vote a2d counts
il, makes his sworn statement to them of
that count. He is simply the intermediary
functionary between the voter and these
officers. who receive and count and re-
turn lis vote. The commissioners make
no returns; they have none Of the judicial
functions which belong to the returning
officers; they simply receive and count the
tickets, and make Q sworn statement of
their count to the returning officers. Their
functions are exclusively clerical and min
isterial. It is the returns of these five off,
Gers, and these alone, which, under the
law, constitute the prind fdcie evidence of
the result of the election. Their power
to inquire into and determine the results
ofviolence and intimidation where alleged,
is not the power of counting out or count
ing in votes, but the power to decide
whether alleged votes are votes or
not; it is the power to examine into cases
where an election has already been
nullifed by acts of violence and so
forth, and if the nullity is proved
according to law, to ascertain and declare
that nullity. These powers do not differ
in their nature and character from those
vested in returning officers by the laws of
other States; they differ only in the ex-
tent to which these powers may be exer-
cised. That extent is enlarged by our
law to meet the peculiar circumstances
and exigencies of our political condition
as have above described it.
l will simply add that the question
with regard to certain parishes of
this State known as the bulldozed
parishes, is not whether their votes
shall be counted out or counted in;
it is whether the tickets deposited in the
ballot boxes in these parishes on the day
1 believe that if q true and impartial his
tory Of the events which have occurred in
any one Of these parishes should be given,
which should include an account of the
secret or open armed political societies;
which should include history of the
murders, whippings, assassinations, burn
ings and other acts Of outrage and vio-
lence, traceable directly to political rea.
sons, and committed for political OBJ
jects; which should also include the
evidence OF the colored people of those
parishes themselves az to attempts made
to force them to Join Democratic clubs
and to vote the Democratic ticket, or to
abstain from voting the Republican ticket;
and which should also include tabular
statement of the census and registration
and previous votes of these parishes, it will
appear conclusively to e1ery candid and
impartial mind, that the occurrences
Of 1868 have been repeated in
these parishes in 1876, and that in
law and in fact there was no election
It most of the polls in these parishes;
md that the ballot boxes, instead of |
votes, contain simply the rec
,rds OF an organized, premeditated and |
deliberate system of violence and init !
such az has no parallel in any |
other State of the Union, excepting those |
states where the difference in population |
md the political lines drawn between the |
populations are similar to those existing
lere.
see in the Chicago Tribune of Novem-
yer IL supposed case stated in Chicago
o illustrate these late elections in Louis.
ana. 1t is as follows:
Let Us zee if we can bring home the ex.
sting state of things in the bulldozed par.
shea OF Louisiana to the comprehension of
ur Democratic readers in this city We
'remlse that the colored men in the South
re AZ nearly unanimously Republican as
be Catht Lie Irish are Democrats. 1t re-
uires fully rs much persuasion to change
} Southern negro into q Democrat as it
would here in Chicago to change Demo-
ratio 1rlshman into Republican. Bridge |
'ort casts about 3l00 Democratic votes and
iUO Republican votes; of the former per-
APPS 5000 are Irish Catholics, and 'ot the
1t or 1913 are Protestants. Suppose on the
morning after the election it had been an.
ounced that Bridgeport had voted as fol-
DIVE: HAYES and the whole Republican
!cket, 1883; Tilden and the Democratic
lcket 3-what would the Times have saidf
low would Perry H. Smith, General Cam
ron and Miles Kehoe have talked? What
pinion would Captain Comet, Tom Foley,
like Evans and Dave Thornton give of the
suses that produced such RESULT The
stonishment of the Republicans of New
lrleans was equally great when thew learn.
that the Overwhelming Republican par
h OF East Feliciana bad been returned
733 for Tilden and 3 for Hayes, when
very maj in Louisiana knows there ia a
republican majority in The. parish of be-
ween 1000 and 1000. Suppose. further
lore, that the Iri.h sixth ward had been re-.
1rn 3oo majority for Hayes, the case would
ave Deen no worse than the return of 800
lomOCratl0 mai0Iifv fennn Mat n. l;n:.. |