Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1877-12-15
TIL K ELECTORAL FRAUD.
BLACKS REPLY TO MR.. E, w.
STOUGHTON.
The S'ough'on Article in the North
American Review for October
Plainly Dealt With.
CONTINUED FROM LAST 1sSUE.)

| CONTINUED FROM LAST 1ssUr.)
TO the Hon. f. w. Stouy;, ton:
| RECOGNIZED BY THE CARpEr-BAGGERs
1t is hardly possible to imagiue any
thing more preposterous than your no.
ton that these laws, which give the pow
er of appointment SO distinctly and SO
exclusively to the people, do not give it
to them because n 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-
~ the result is the pow CT elect; that tho
right of the people to 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-
clslons 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-Presidcnt 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 den is,l 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 or true, did not pre-
tend to be proprio Uigore an appointments. |
Every one of these papers purported on
it's face to be 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 right derived
from popular vote in his favor. The
nonstrons doctrine that the Returning
Board could create title to an elective
,tfice was never oven broached, unless to
be universally condemned as untenablc.
It is pity that in your long, frequent
md affectonate intercourse with the ne
,roes and carpet-basggeis at New Orleans
'ou dig not pick up little knowledge of
law.
Failing to find any justification in the
aw for those who did this deed, You must
cave them without an excuse or find one
n the facts of the case. Your demurrer
a prepostero sham, and you must an
wer over. Was the true vote Of Louis
ana counted or not 7
THE FACT AS TO LOUISIANA.
The great fundamental fact which I'M
erlies all others in regard to Louisiana,