The daily gazette., 1876-11-23
From the Bait. Sun.
Now You See 1t, Now
YOu Don't.

INOw You See 1t, Now
i You Don't.
The ancient art of legerdemain has
never been practiced with more success
than by what's called the returning boards
of the carpet-bag States in the South.
Never was the device of political sIeight
of hand, the deceptive arts of mani lula
tive skill performed with greater dextrity
of illusion. Such has been the case here
tofore, though there issome effort now to
change it. Yet Mr.. Madison Wells, presi-
dent of the Louisiana board, seems deter
mined that the tricks of the past shall not
| be lost art to him. The other members of
| the board-two colored and one white
| appear merely as ssupernumeraries to hin,
the head conjuror, in that game of ''now
you see it and now you don'tsee it'' which
is being perpetuated through the necro-
mantle device of the returning board
Since the days Of the Star Cham Der there
| never was q more arbitrary and odiolIs
instrument for the suppression of the
popular will than these returning boards,
| nor more ingenious organization to de
ceive and defraud the community. When
the President expressed wish that lead
ing men of both parties would go to New
| Orleans and witness count of the vote
| it was credulously imagined that he
| meant what he said, and that through
| them the conjurors would let the whole
country into the secret of all their tricks.
But the late dispatches announce that the
| returning board of Louisiana has deter
| mined to exercise its functions in secret
| whenever it considers it necessary to dis
cuss questions that may arise on any mo-
ton or argument.
With the attention of the whole nation
| to them, and possibly the destiny of the
country and even of republican institu-
| tions in the world dependent upon their
decision, the members of this so-called
republican conclave determine, whenever
| it suits their convenience and ideas
of expediency, to act in darkness and
shut out their doings. or the mode and
influences by which they reach their de-
terminations, from the eyes of great
country. With the other members as his
supernumeraries, it is easily seen how
Mr.. Wells may have results reached to
| his satisfaction. Even in the face of the
proclamation of the President that should
there be any grounds of suspicion of
fraudulent counting on either side, it
should be reported and denounced at
| once, they continue their tricks, like the
ancient magicians, in the depths of TEN
pies, where the witnesses could not have
a close view of their transactions, and foi
the same purpose-of sustaining power
which could only be upheld by trickery.
There is no apology whatever for secrecy
in any part of their proceedings, and the
statute from which they derive their
powers makes no provision for secret
sessions This is the last country in which
secrecy is good policy, to say nothing Of
| the injustice, especially in connection
with Presidential election. 1t is OPP
posed to the whole body of the American
people.
No party can afford to succeed in
great contest, especially in contest as
al f1io t,raaiHanfio1 nlantinn xxrI,a
those opposed to it need only one vote to
| insure their success, by political close
assembly sitting in secret session, even
| for an hour, and composed of men who
never had, officially or personally, the
confidence andsupport of the community
in which they live. The returning board
of Louisiana, as every one knows, is a
lican House Of Representatives in 1876,
unanimously denounced by q committee,
of which the republican candidate for tho
vice-presidency was one, for its injustice
in manipulating the returns of 1874. Has
anything since occurred to make these
political lepers clean? When they deter
mine to do a portion of there present
work in secret, and that no less portion
than the consultation upon and determi-.
nation of issues, are there not good rea-
sons for suspicion of their fairness? Yet
this sinister and discredited concern has
determined TO exercise most important
part of its functions in secret, without
objection by and apparently under the
auspices of the prominent n Northern mem
bers of the republican party who went to
New Orleanslfor the ostensible purpose
of seeing fair play in connection with the
count of the vote.
Men were selected from both sides for
| the purpose of witnessing the proceedings
and count, after the final consent of the
returning board had been given. How
are they to perform their duty strictly and
| to the satisfaction of the country ifthere-
are secret sessions of the board? In addi
| ton to this, there are narrow restrictions
| imposed upon contestants that are not
conducive to fair results, and the local
counsels of the democrats, who have bet
ter knowledge of the returns and would
be more able to detect frauds than strane-
ers, have been excluded from the sessions
Mr.. Sherman and Mr.. Stanley Matthews
are deliberately playing into the hands of
the nefarious returning board, making
themselves claquers to the deceiving
Louisiana conjuror and have made them
selves responsible to the country for the
false pretences by which they are seeking
to accomplish their object. The return
| ing board, in its refusal to fill the vacan-
cy in its numbers because decent re-
spect for public opinion might compelit
to appoint democrat, shows its deter
mination to keep its proceedings in the
dark form all but the members of its own
party. Never before in this or any other
land has the power to select a ruler, and
perhaps to decide permanently its politi-
| cal destinies, been contided to a disrepu-
table and irresponsible assemblage; doing
what may he the most vital portion af its
work in secret and darkness.