Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1877-12-15

in fact, the court holds the direct contra
~, and says that certificate Of til:
board is merely prima jacie evidence il,
favor of the person who gets it. How
indeed, could the court have done other
wise, seeing that the statute itself de-
declares, totidehi terbis, that the certth-
cate shall be, not conclusive, but primo
tacie merely3 And here it ought to be
noted that where you profess to set FORTH
the provisidt of the legislative act whicl'
makes the certificate of the board evil
dence, sou garble 1t shamefully and alter
it to make it fit your assertion that it is
conclusive by cutting out the words
which declare it to be only prima tacte.
AFT APoioalst FUR FRAUD.
am not sure that you have made these
misstatements with malice prepense,
But wrong is wrought for want of thought,
AS well as want Of heart.
You utter whatever comes i,ppermoss
if 1t seems to serve your purpose, wi thont
stopping to consider whether it is right
or wrong. Added to this, you have tho
dangerous gift of talking on a subject
you know h6thtng about just as we'll AZ
ifvou understood it. This combination of
mental qualities gives you a 1nstchles.'
skill at laundering.
As expert divers to the bottom fall, E..
Suoner than those who::cannot swim ut alt,
So, by this art of writing without think
ing, .,...... ,:
Yo:i Have a strange alactity in sinking.
Besides this, the obliquity of your mor=
al vision prevents you from seeing eithc'
facts or principles as they are seen by
others. You have no doubt that Wells.
Anderson and the two mulattoes, whe,i
they corruptly altered and falsfffed the
election returns. "exercised a wise dis!
cretfon." The manifest sincerity with
which you make your confession of this
faith marks yon out for the fit
test man that could have been found t.!
serve the Great Fraud by disappearing
the constitution of a free State, mutilat.
ing her statutes, and imputing to her
judges absurd decisions which they ncv:
er made:
THE FRAUDULENT CERTIFICATES.
But let that pass. We will now as:
sumo that the Returning Board was ii
body vested with all the
power you claim for it, and also that itF
certificate is conclusive. Does it follow
that its action is binding, if it be fraud,i=
lentf No; a tribunal with full jufisdi6i-
ton has no more power to commit fraud
than a private citizen. A Judgment Of
tho Supreme Court of the United States
upon matter clearly within its authori,
ty is utterly void if tainted with corrup.
tiou. No paper of any kind, no officiat
certificate, no deed, no record, can weigh
! feather in the scale ofjustice, if it has
been concocted in willful falsehOod or
prochred by actual deception. Suck ii
paper OF record when Produced in cvi-
lcnce has precisely the same probativG
orce as forgery neither more nor lesa:
In saying this, We are backed by the
good sense and Honesty of all mank ind,
md by rules CT lew that are universally
accepted. Nobody has yet dared to dcny
his principle. No Republican counselor
net it in argument when the Democrat
C counsel set it forth none of the eight
when all of the seven present.
ID it. Even you with all your "strange
Ilacrity in sinking" cannot get down
ow enough to contradict it.
Any court, any Legislative body,
ny commissioner or arbitra tor;
Who receives a paper known:
o have been fraudulently made, and
ives it the effect of 4 true one. or adopts
as the foundation of Judgment, or
flows it to prejudice any opposing right,
ommits most scandalous outrage upon
NV and Justice. The principle which
Xclndes document tainted with that
ind ofiniquity is fundamental, axiomat-
,, and necessary to the safety of alf
ights, public as we'll es private. 1t is of
UNIVERSAL application, impregnable, UNI
without variableness, or sllad-
" OF turning. 1t stands now as it has
5ood since the beginning Of the world.
Whole - tho marble, founded as the
rock,
As broad and genersl as the casing air..
WHAT TIE EIGHT COMMISSIONERS DID.
The Electoral Commission was consti-
lted with authority clearly defined to
ctcrmine certain controvertcd matter
fact, to vii: Whether Kellogg and
is seven associates bad been duly AL
ointed electors by the people of Louisi-
Ia or not. To maintain the Affirmative
le of that issue the certi ficate of the
oturning Board was alone relied upon.
nc eight commissioners, against tho
lemn protest of their seven brethren,
cepted that certificate and held it to
good, nay, conclusive, proof of the
ct averred, although it was; and they
fn No OIL ;,t, h,,t
ated through and through with the
'st atrocious fraud, and therefore as
Irupt in morals end as viold in law as