Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-07-25
THEELECTORAL CONSPIRACY
JUDGE BLACKS VIEW OF THE CASE.
IConcluded from last peek. I

JUDGE BLACKS VIEW OF THE CASE.
Concluded from last tceek.1
The board, getting hold of the re
turns under the election law, proceede,
to alter them in such manner as 4
bring out result totally false. The,
averred that the Republican or carpet
bag candidate for Governor Lieutenan
Governor, and Tor Electors of Presiden
and Vice President and all State off
GERS had majority of the votes, ant
finally declared their election in forma
certificates. 1t was not mistake. Al
a mere blunder it was impossible. l
/ they had been "fools as gross as eve
ignorance made drunk, they could no
have been led into any error about it
1t was without doubt the work of ,
pre-arranged conspiracy to cheat tn,
people of the State and the Union
The proofs, direct and circumstantial
that il was dishonest, corrupt, anC
fraudulent, are so numerous and so ire
sistibly strong that no man can stanC
up and deny it, unless, in the languag,
OF Mr.. O'Conor, he has lost the fac
ulty of blushing." In branding thi,
transaction with utter and irredeema
BILE infamy the Democracy have moi
spoken without the books-for is il
not written on all the records of Con
gress? Is it not reported by numer
GUS committees Is it not attested by
clouds OF witnesses ? Is it not proved
by papers which the conspirators them
selves have made ?
The action of the returning officers
in this whole business was unsupported
by legal authority. The Legislature
Of the State did not, because it could
not, give them power to disfranchise
qualified electors. They lacked, there
fore, the general jurisdiction which
they assumed. But that is not all
they proceeded in the very teeth even
OF the void statute which they professed
TO follow. That statute pretends to
give them no such authority as they
exercised over any return TO which q
protest or statement or charge of in.
timidation is not attached when il is
sent in by the Supervisor Of Registra.
tion or the Commissioner Of Election,
and the charge so attached TO the re.
turn must be supported by the afiida.
Wits of three citizens of the proper
parish.
Wanting this, the board was abso-
lutely without the pretence Of power
to touch the return from any parish
or polling place, except for the purpose
Of compiling it and adding it as true to
the Others. By the election law of
Louisiana the board has no more
authority to examine or decide ques-
tion of intimidation which is not raised
by the election officers than private
individual would have TO steal it from
the records and burn it. So stands
the lar. The fact is established by
conclusive evidence that from every
one of the Democratic parishes the re-
turns came up without any charge,
statement or protest. In all those
cases they were, therefore, without
color of Jurisdiction. [If any one
doubts this proposition let him look at
Senator Bayard's elaborate exposition
of it, where he will find it established
by such unanswerable reasoning and
such wealth OF authority that per-
versity itself will admit the law to be
as he lays il down. But the conspira-
tors could not afford to be balked of
their game by the failure Of the local
officers to make a false charge of in
timidation. These votes must be ex-
cluded per fds dm nefds, and the return
ing board must do it; that was what
the board was made for. The return
ing officers went upon the principle ant
peldm dm fdcidm. They made the
protests which they could not find ;
afiidavits which no creature in the
parishes was base enough to back with
his oath were fabricated in the Custom
House, and used by the board with a
full knowledge that they were mere
counterieits. The exclusion Of returns
on the ground of intimidation was in
every case dishonest, for in none was
there particle of evidence to Justify
it. When nothing else would serve
the purpose, they did not scruple n
resort TO plain forgery. OF the return
from Vernon parish every figure on
the whole broad sheet was altered with
elaborate pains under the especial
direction of Wells. Perjury and sub
ornation Of perjury entered largely
into the business. There is hardly any
species of the crimen fdlsi for which the
law has a punishment that did not be.
come an elementary part of the Great
Fraud which was committed when the
defeated electors and State officers of
Louisiana were falsely certified as
chosen by the people.
1t seems necessary and proper-but
it is diflicult--to say what judgment
should be on the conduct of the distin.
guished Republican gentlemen, headed
by Senator Sherman, who went TO
Louisiana 10 see the count made.
Were they accomplices in the crime OF
the returning board2 Whoever wishes
to answer this question fairly must re-
member that he is speaking of men
who stand high, not for talents alone,
but for all the virtues which win pub
lie confidence and inspire general re-
spect. All presumptions are in their
favor nothing can be justly concluded
against them except from the clcarest
proof 1t must, therefore, be consid-
cred as settled that they had no con.
ncction with the forgerics of particular
return papers or with the perjuries Of
the Custom House if Wells was bought
with anything beyond the promise of
recognition" they had nothing to do
with the bribery no knowledge OF
these specific offences has been traced
to them. But they might have caused
a true count of the votes If they had
wished 1t one word of honest rcproba.
tion from them would have paralyzed
the rascality of the returning board.
II they had complied with the request
Of the Democrats TO use their joint in
nuencc for justice and truth, the con.
spiracy would have broken up in an
hour. They did undoubtedly know
what everybody else knew, that the
Tilden electors had been duly appointed
by majority of nearly eight thousand
votes legally cast they could not help
but see that at least. And they must
have known that no Just reason and
no legal authority existed to alter this
result or ialsiiy the record which
proved it. Yet they refused to open
their Inns for the riubt of the pcoplo 10