Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1877-12-15
NO.. rs

the Retur' ing Board, but the conclusive
effect ofits action; whereas, in truth and
in fact, the court holds the direct contra :
board is merely 1rinia jacie evidence i'll
favor of the person who gets it. How
indeed, could the court have done other
wise, seeing that the statute itself de-
declares, totidehi terbis, that the certth4
cate shall be, not conclusive, but prind
tacie merelyi And here it ought to he
noted that where you profess to set FORTH
the provisioii of the legislative act which
makes the certificate of the board evi.
de nee, tou garble 1t shamefully and alter
it to make it fit your assertion that it is
conclusive by cutting ont the words
which declare it to he only prima tacse.
AFT APotOGIsf FOR FRAUD.
am not sure that you have made these
nisstatements with malice prepense,
But wrong is wrought for want of thought,
AS well as want of heart.
You utter whatever comes i,ppermost
if 1t seems to serve your purpose, without
stopping to consider whether it is right
or wrong. Added to this, you have the
dangerous gift of talking on a subject
you know h6thing about ,jl,st as well nj
ifvou understood it. This combination Of
mental qualities gives you d mstchles.'
skill at laundering.
As expert divers to the bottom fall,
Suoner than those who: cannot swim at alt,
So, by this art of writing without think
ing, .
Yo:i Have a strango alacrity in sinking.
70 D1,1 if1,n nf
al vision prevents you from seeing eithc'
facts or principles as they are seen by
others. You have no doubt that Wells:
Anderson and the two mulattoes, wheli
they corruptly altered and falsfffed the
election returns, "exercised wise dis!
cretfon." The manifest sincerity with
which you make your confession of this.
singular faith marks yon out for the fit
test man that could have been found t.i
serve the Great Fraud by disappearing
the constitution of free State, mutilat,
ing her statutes, and imputing to her
judges absurd decisions which they nev:
er made.
THE FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATES.
But let that pass. We will now as
sumo that the Returning Board was 81
constitutional body vested with all tho
power you claim for it, and also that itf
certificate is conclusive. Does it follow
that its action is binding, if it be fraudu=
lentf No; tribunal with full jufisdiG-
tion has no more power to- commit fraud
than a private citizen. A Judgment Of
tho Supreme Court of the United States
upon a matter clearly within its authorfs
ty is utterly void if tainted with corrup.
tion. No paper of any kind, no officiat
certificate, no deed, no record, can weigl,
a feather in the scale of Justice, if it has
been concocted in willful falsehood or
proct'red by actual deception. Such ii
paper OF record when Produced in owl
dcnce has precisely the same probativc$
force as forgery; neither more nor less'
In saying this, we are backed by the
good sense and Honesty of all mankind,
and by rules cf law that are universally
accepted. Nobody has yet dared to deny
this principle. No Republican counselor
met 1t in argument when the Democrat
ic counsel set it forth none of the eight
when all of the seven present.
ed it. Even you with all your "strange
alacrity in sinking" cannot get down
low enough to contradict it..
Any court, any legislative body.
any commissioner or arbitrator,
who receives a paper known!
TO have been fraudulently made, and
gives it the effect of Il true one. or adopts
it as the foundation Of Judgment, or
allows it to prejudice any opposing right,
commits Il most scanl a Ion q ont 70 ra ,nor,
law and Justice. The principle which
excludes a document tainted with that
kind of iniquityis fundamental, axomat-
&c, and necessary to the safety of alf
rights, public as we'll es' private. It is of
application, impregnable, un-
without variableness, or shad-.
w OF turning. 1t stands now as it has
tood since the beginning of the world.
Whole ;s tho marble, founded as the
rock,
As broad and generaI as the casing air.,
WHAT TIE EIGHT COMMISSIONERS DID.
The Electoral Commission was consti-
uted with authority clearly defined to
determine a certain controverted matter
II fact, to vii: Whether Kellogg and
IFS seven associates had been duly ap-
'oiEted electors by the people of Louisi-
ma or not. To maintain the affirmative
lido Of that Issue the certificate of the
Board was alone relied upon
nc eight commissioners, against tho
olemn protest of their seven brethren,
ccepted that certificate and held it to
good, nay, conclusive, proof of the
'ct averred, although it wac; and they