The Portland daily press., 1876-11-17

said election by reason of being a candidate for
office shall be allowed a hearing before said re-
turning officers upon making application with
in the time allowed for the forwarding of re-
turns of said election.
Hence if there are any facts requiring the
Judgment of the board upon the validity Of
any electOr or return as affected by such
frauds or violence. it would be a manifest in
reference with state rights and local self-gov-
eminent for persons like ourselves, without Of
fetal rights, to attempt to influence or control
its judicial election. Had corresponding
board in the state of New York in 1868 been
authorized to pass upon the fraudulent returns
of the votes of New York that year and a dele
CATION of citizens OF Louisiana however respec-
table, attempted to influence its judicial action
upon the facts presented to it under the laws of
that state, such an attempt would have been
universally condemned. If the duties of the
canvassng board of Louisiana were merely
ministerial or clerical as in the case of any
officer charged by law with the duty of verify
ing and declaring the result of any election and
investigating with no discretion, as when the
President of the Senate counts and declares the
votes of the electors of the several states in the
election of President and Vice President u nder
the Constitution of the United States, a differ
ent case would be presented. 1t is in our iudg-
ment vital to the preservation of constitution
al liberty that the habit of obedience to the
forms of law should be seduloasly inculcat-
ed and cultivated, and that the resort to extra
constitutional modes Of redress for even actual
grievances should be avoided and condemned
as revolutionary, d:sorganizing and tending to
disorder and anarchy.
10 reduce the whole question, therefore, to
the mere clerical duty of counting the votes
actually cast as proposed by you in distinction
from the votes legally cast and returned, ire
spectve of the question whether they are fraud
ulently or violently cast, or otherwise vitiated
involves a notification of the provisions of the
laws of Louisiana, which have already been adj
Indicated by the Supreme Court, and would be
wholly upjustifable here as we'll as in any 9TH
er state of the Union which had provided laws
to protect the rights of the voters and the puri-
ty of the ballot.
We cannot therefore, concur in yoar propo-
sition for conference on that basis.
Very Respectfully.
John Sherman, Hawley Matthews, Stanley
A. Kasson of Iowa; E. W. Stoughton Of New
York, Irving Ditty of Maryland; j. H. Van
Allen of New York; Eugene Hale of Maine
M. S. Quay of Pennsylvania; Will Cumback
OF Indiana; Edward F. Noyes of Ohio; Job.
Z. Stevenson, John Cullum of Indiana; j
J. w. Chapman of Iowa; W. R. Smith OF
Iowa; Abner Taylor, S. r. Haven, j. M.
Beardsley and G. B. Farwell of Illinois; Sid
ney Clark of Kansas, and j. c. Wilson OF
Kansas.
To the Hon. John M. Palmer, Lewis V. Bogy
Lyman Trumbull, James o. Broadhead. w.
R. Morrison and others, present at the re.
quest of the chairman of the National Dem
ocratic Committee.
The Returning Board in Session.
The state returning board, ex-Gov. J. Mad-
son Wells, q. Cazerone and Lewis M Kenner,
took the oath of office to-day, filed the neces-
sary papers with the Secretary of State. and
to them in the State House. Nothing has
transpired regarding their proceedings Gov.
Kellogg stated this afternoon that the vacancy
in the board had not yet been filled. The
board adjourned to meet Saturday noon.
Gov. Wells, in answer to an inquiry whether
or not reporters and spectators would be ad-
mitted, said it was his wish, and he evide ntly
expressed the sentiment of all the members
that the board should sit with closed doors dur
ing the canvassipg and compiling of returns,
ing a particular matter concerned with the
election, or when some point was to be argued
before the board
He said that neither the Governor nor other
state officers, if his wish was Regarded, would
have free access to the room during the sessions
of the board. If the board wanted legal advice
be said they would call on the attorney general
but at no other time would they be admitted
Both Mr.. Wells and Mr.. Anderson said that
the board was an entirely independent body
and would not be controlled in its action in any
way either for the executive or by other parties.
New ORLEANS, Nov. 16.-The state Demo.
cratic committee made application for repre-
sentation on on the board. They also desired
that their sub committee be allowed to attend
the sittings of board. In reply Gen. Wells
stated that in all cases of contested polls from
any cause they would be notified and the board
would hear arguments from both sides. The
board adjourning till Saturday noon gives rise
to speculation as to the cause of the delay in
beginning their labors. Everybody here ap-
pears to be waiting for definite news from
South Carolina and Florida.