The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-07-11

D6cOm0 Gu6 stronger S6CJlOD,
THE MEANING OF THE PROSECU-
TI0NS.
The indictment of four individuals in
this State for forging election returns
has created strange and significant
sensation throughout the country. In
many quarters 1t has been received as
II it were the first movement OF revo-
luton. II it had been coup d'etat,
to be followed by the overthrow of the
existing government and the installation
Of new administration, the clamor
could not have been greater nor the
discussions more wild and excited.
Not only this; the most far-fetched
theories Of these prosecutions have
been given currency by our own press,
aud these have been seized upon
by the press Of the country, re-
produced, colored and exaggerated, to
the injury of this State and the prob
able embarrassment Of the administra-
ton Of justice. The Times and Plea.
y,tne have taxed their imaginations and
ingenuity to invent fanciful and sensa-
tional origins and theories of the pros
ecution. In one column we are told the
Tilden Democrats and Blaine Republi-
cans have instigated them from New
York and other points in the North
and in the next we learn that Packard
and Pitkin are the bottom Of the whole
business. One paper startles the coun-
try by the information that Stanley
Matthews and John Sherman are also
to be indicted as coadjutors of the
Returning Board, and the other mixes
up Democrats and Republicans, Hayes
and Thurman, and Blaine, Gov.
Nichols, State officers and notes to the
Grand Jury, in one fearful, unintelligi-
BILE and inexplicable mass.
Every theory, in short, possible or i'm
possible, of the indictment Of Wells and
associates is suggested by the Times
and Picayune, and produced and COM
mented upon by the Northern press
hostile to us, save the plain and obvious
one that lies upon the surface OF things
and which may be seen by any man of
common intelligence.
1t is believed throughout the
United States that the members
of the Returning Board committed the
crime Of forgery; that belief in this
community amounts to firm, positive
and unalterable conviction. So universal
and positive is this conviction that no
man could discharge the duties of At
torney General Of Louisiana or District
Attorney Of Orleans, or Of member of
a grand jury, and ignore it, or fail to in
stItuJe a rigid inquiry in6o the racts.
violating his solemn oath Of
office and becoming himself a perjurer.
The interests which were involved in
the matter, In relation to which these
men are believed to have committed
forgery, are Of the highest import to
the people of Louisiana; they concern
the highest and most valued rights Of a
free people, and they concern the good
government and prosperity of the State.
The statute defining the crime and fix.
ing its penalty is clear and unequivo-
cal, and in conformity with that which
exists in every enlightened, law abiding
With these facts open, patent to every
man in the State, and for that matter in
The United States, where is the sense of
going outside Of them to find sensational
Ind absurd reasons for these prosecu.
ions? When 1t Is obvious that the law
,fficers of the government and the
Grand Jury could not fail to prosecute
our men, VIGOROUSLY Of bad character,
or the crime Of forgery without them
elves becoming perjurers, what public
md can the press serve by attributing
o the officers Of the law bad, or politi-
,al, or interested motives for the dis
,harge of their duties? When, assum-
ng that the Attorney General, District
Attorney and the members of the Grand |
Jury were honest men, it was impossible
or them not to prosecute these male
actors, why 60 out Of the record to find
reasons for their action +?
The Northern and Western press will |
axe a more Intelligent view Of this
business if it will discard the wild and |
useless theories Of our contemporaries
md look for themselves at the bottom
acts. The prosecution Of the mem
'ers of the Returning Board is simply
me of the results Of the re-establish-
nent in Louisiana of an honest, vigor-
us, law enforcing government. Under a
government which hangs murderers as
urs does, and a single court Of which,
q one term, convicts upwards of hun
red murderers, house-burners, per-
urers and thieves, four men whom ev-
ry man, woman and child in the State
elieve to be guilty Of a felony, will
ecessarily, in the very nature Of
hinps he vigorously DrOsecIIted |