The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1877-03-09
SPEECH OF HON. Z. JOHN ELLIS.
Especial to the Chicago Times.l

Especial to tho Chicago Times.1
AS it was Louisiana's day, Ellis, o1
that State, controlled the debate. He
| came in when it had gone on for an
! hour Or more and said, with great emo.
ton:
Louisiana, by the voice OF 1O, 900 ma
jority of her people, voted for Samuel
J. TiIden for President, but find to-
day by the voice of this Commission
her electoral vote cast for Quo Hayes.
In arriving at that decision, in over
throwing the will Of the people of Lou
isiana, that commission decided in the
first place that they would not examine
into the unconstitutionalityo of the law
creating this returning board. Inthe
second place, it refused to go into the
question OF fraud, ana in the third
place, having sworn todecide according
TO the constitution Of the United States,
they, the chosen ministers and high
priests of that constitution, sat and
closed their ears against the expressed
voice ana will OF that constitution,
against any proof as to the ineligibility
of two of these electors, we'll known,
undisputed and undoubted. The Re-
turning Board violated the election
law, and no lawyer has ever doubted
it. Nolawyer will ever dispute it. 1t
is a principle of law familiar to eye.y
neophyte in the profession that what
ever is done in opposition to the de-
ciared will of tho people through their
constitution is an absolute nultity.
But again, sir, they refused to hear
any proof Of fraud. Fraud, it oblite-
rates, it vitintes everything. 1t un-
clasps the clutches Of the most skillfully
drawn mortgage act around real estate.
1t vitiates even the sanctity of the mar
riaGe tie, and yet this great govern
ment which WAS able to summon three
millions in its defense, which was able
to shake the world by tho earthquake
Of its agony and struggle for self f-prcser-
walton, must fall hopelessly paralyzed
before the fraud conveyed to it by four
men whose acts are black with crime,
whose souls are scared with perjury
aye, blaclSer than Judas Iscariot, and
whom it were base tlattery to call men.
AS to the eligibility of these electors
under the constitution, these commits
sioners who had sworn to decide accord
ing to the constitution, as said before,
sat there, these high priests, these cho-
son ministers, with the sword which is
held by this House and by the Senate
placed in their hands to guard tho con-
to guard this government
against the illegal vote Of this electoral
college, yet they sat there aud refused
to Hci: the most positive and convinc-
ing testimony of the inciiyihility of two
of these electors.
Sir,the dec,! is done. The crime is ac-
For four years from the
ith of March next the Republican par
ty will hold the shadow of executive |
power. l say the shadow, because the |
substance of usurped power is over and |
.sn never be realized. The immortal |
pencil Of Gus!avc Dore has illustrated !
he legend of the Wandering Jew. You
nave all seen it. In all that dreary !
march Of years he found no rest, no rest
ng place from his crime and its men,
,ries. Whether amid the busy haunts
IF men or in the dim aisies ofthe forest,
whether upon the mountain top or
amid the roar and spray of the ocean
storm, there was ever the memory OF
he crime of Che jew, the pale, suffer
nss face of the ESedeemer, and the accus-
ng voice forever in his ear. So it must
DC with the Republican party and the
Unjust judges Of this commission. The
polls of office will not compensate il.
llhc Spicndors Of the Presidential recep-
ions and Ievecs cannot Danish its pres
nee. The silence and gravity of the
jabinct meetings will not Danish or
lush its accusing voice, and in four
,cars more this great American people,
his wrongcd, outraged people, will
isc in their majesty and will hurl these
drunken guests of the feast from power
and brand with the indci-
BILE brand of iniamy these men who
nave aided, conntenanccd, abctted and
lc!cndcd this nlonstrOus crime.
STRONG ON THIEVES.