The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-02-10
WHAT gHE Tribunal Will PASS
Upon.

patches. The first Of these. which ap
peared Ia the second edition OF yestef
day evenings DEMOCRAT. contains til
following.
The members Of The Tribunal, OF a. least /
majority of them, do NOT taaatH tl.n rule az y
aanlisRion OF evidence in The fIetiaa case
general rule governing oil nHses wltioh may b
iu,laa Miller aayH the understanding IN III
| Tribunal IL that each case shall be, eohaidere
| aud ruled upon itH merits, INDEPENDENT
| Of the other nasea, an that the thethed Of pro
eeanre WI he ,aads !" apnier - w ee mils
| did not specify further, but / lhtetnteted VIVA
he, said 10, mean That the Tflhunal would no
saa V ese"a s new u, III ta s i
counsel II should appear. TO. the Tribunal tha
| The validity " the certificates could not b'
properly tested without such teHtimonyr
The second dispatch, received severn
hours later, says
when Louisiana Ia reached the Tribunal VII
| apeept testimony touching the unlawful hotiot
of the Returning Beard,
The action of tho Tribunal In de-
clating that. In tho Florida case. they
would receive no testimony outside Of
the record sent UP by tho President ol
the Senate. filed the hearts nf the
people here with the gravest appfe-
hensions. IL Ia true that the record Ia
the Florida case contained. substans
TALLY. very nearly all the testimony
which Mr.. O'Conor aud Judge black dc.
sifed TO introduce. but, IL was supposed
that the ruling with reference to Flofis
da would be applied to Louisiana. and
that testimony vital TO the iBsue would be
excluded thereby. The dispatches or
our correspondent are important In that
they dspel this apprehension, Inform
Ing ne that. leach case before tho Tfibu-
nal will be considered and ruled upon
It's merits. independently OF the other
cases. and that The mode Of procedure
tein ts made 10 conform 10 The legal efia
genetes Of each separate ease"
Under this system there need DO no
fear that the faets In the Louisiana case
will BIO covered up and hustled out OF
sight. The legal exigeneles Of the
Louisiana case, the exigeneiss OF truth
aud justice. require that the oonatitu.
Of the Returning Board, and the
legality and honesty OF Ito operations,
shalt be freely inquired into and pro-
nouneed upon.
This IL about the ground We uRder.
stand that Judge Trumbull proposes to
cover In tho Louisiana case, and
Ii 10 wide enough for all the ends
Of tho fullest justice. We are
satisfied that 1t will be clearly
ahown til ut no such body "a the Louisi-
ana Returning Board can have legiti.
mate existence under the American
theory Of government, under the con
Of tho United States. or under
Tho constitution Of the state of Louiei.
ana. Indeed. we arc sure that when
that extraordinary institution Ia clearly
1t will BIO the judgment Of
Ill sensible and right-thinking men
hat. under tho constitution Of the
United States the people Of no State.
,ven acting through constitutional
would have the right to
establish, M part Of the organic law Of
he State. such an institution IA the
supreme Court Of Louisiana has decided
he Returning Board to be.
The Electoral Tribunal may possibly |
determine the net creating the Return.
ny Board to be constitutional, but. |
shen the powers claimed by tho Nom.
'ers of that board. and actually exer.
ised by it--powers greater than those
+ any judicial tribunal In any conntitu-
ional government on earth: greater
han the powers possessed by tho con-
resses and parliaments Of free peoples
re- reviewed. the decision must he that
he action Of the board In reversing the
lection in this State was not only Il
agrant fraud. but crime Of the great
IT magnitude. The theory, upon
hioh we are told the Tribunal will
lie. opens up this question. and the
,tion Of the Returning Board will be
laced before tho Tribunal precisely In
lis light.
We presume then that. the returns of
10 election. as deposited with the See
'tary Of State. or even, II necessary.
10 certificates Of the Commissioners
Election, will be introduced as testi-
ony to prove what the result OF the
eotion In Louisiana really was; and
lese returns or certificates will prove
syond doubt that the Democratic
ectors were elected by an average ma
rity Of 5000 votes.
Beyond this the Tribunal cannot so.
cannet try the charges Of intimida-
on made against this people by the
epublicans. Those charges constitute
! indictment against half a million
,ople. No such case can be tried by
~ earthly tribunal The testi-
ony could not DO taken in q genera
on. and two generations could not
gest and compare 1t. The trial would
reich out to the crack of doom;
rones would cfumble, empires decay
Id republics pass away before just
I'd impartial verdict could be reached.