Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1877-12-15
TIE ELECTORAL FRAUD.
BLACKS REPLY TO MR.E. W.
STOUGHTON.
The Stoughtoh Article in the North
American Review for October
Plainly Dealt With.

| CONTINUED FROM LAST 1ssUE.)
TO the Hon. E. w. Stoug;, ton:
RECOGNIZED BY THE CARPET
| 1t is hardly possible to imagiue any
thing more preposterous than your no.
tion that these laws, which give the pow
| er Of appointment so distinctly and 50
exclusively to the people, do not give it
to them because a Returning Board is
authorized to cOllatc the votes, add them
together, and ascertain what choice the
people have made; that the power to in
spect the record of the election and certi-
fy the result is the power elect; that the
right of the people t" choose their State
officers and Presidential Electors Is only
the power to send up names to the re-
turning officer, who may choose them or
elect them at his pleasure; that when the
people have made one appointment and
the Returning Board another, the latter
is the due appointment, and the former
no appointment at all.
will not trouble you with judicial de-
cisions OH this point, or with arguments
derived from he established canons Of
construction, for they would make no i'm
preston on your mind. But think can
stagger you by citing the authority of
those mighty jurists and statesmen who
until recently, ran the government of
Louisiana so much to your admiration.
All of them, ithout exception and
"without distinction of race, color or
former condition of servitude, conceded
the exclusive right and the unqualified
power of the people to appoint electors of
President and Vice President for their
state. This concession was not only
made in words, it was avowed in every
act they performed, from the beginning
to the end of their domination.
When Kellogg and his associates wan
ted the appointment of electors they
asked the people forit, and they acknowl-
edged in a thousand forms that the peo-
pie alone could give it. The returning
officers themselves never denied the pow
er of the people to choose and appoint
whom they pleased for electors as we'll
as for Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
and other State officers. Their certifi-
Gates, whether false OF true, did not pre-
Ueuu W De pFOpFtO OtyOTe an dpoOluClncLE.
Every one of these papers purported on
its face to be a mere declaration of the
appointment previously made by the peo-
pie. No ca ndidate who obtained one of
them ever undertook to use it except as
evidence of pre-existing righG derived
from popular vote in his favor. The
doctrine that the Returning
Board could create title to an elective
office was never oven broached, unless to
be universally condemned as untenablc. !
1t is a pity that in your long, frequent
and atfectionate intercourse with the ne
groes and carpet-baggeis at New Orleans |
you dig not pick up little knowledge of |
law.
Failing to find any justification in the !
law for those who did this deed, You must /
leave them without an excuse OF find one
in the facts of the case. Your demurrer
is preposterous sham, and you must an
swer over. Was the true vote of Louis
lana counted or not?
THE FACT AS TO LOUISIANA.
The great fundamental fact which un
lerlies all others in regard to Louisiana,