The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1877-11-16
Judge Black on the Electoral Commission.

least, at the hands of Judge Jeremiah s.
Black 1t will be recolected that Stoughton
was one of the committee appointed by
President Grant TO visit New Orleans and
witness the count of the electoral vote by
the returning board. He was one of the
most unblushing advocates of that report
and of the Electoral Commission, and in
view of bis services in behalf of Hayes, i'm
portuned the latter for place, until he has
at last been appointed minister 10 Russia. 1t
will also be recollected that Judge Black, in
an article in the North American Reoieso,
laid bare the iniquty of the Louisiana Re-
turning Board, and showed the illegal and
unjust conclusions of the Electoral Commits
sion. To this article Stoughton ventured to
reply, and to this reply Judge Black has
written q rejoinder, which is printed in full
in the Baltimore Gazette of the Goth inst
Judge Blacks sarcasm is whitening and
unsparing, while he utterly demolishes every
argument used by Stoughton, and exposes
him as mendacious ignoramus, whose on
ly regret must be that he ever crossed Judge
Blacks path.
Judge Black says In the outset that his
reason for writing the letter is that Slough
tons self-assurance will delude him into the
the belief that his argument is irresistible.
Judge Black states the position of the De-
mocracy as to Hayes and the Electoral Com
mission fraud, as follows:
"You think, as your political friends in
general think, that after the decision of the
Electoral Commission against us, we ought
to submit in silence and not veX the victor
ious party with an appeal to the tribunal of
public opinion. We hare submitted. The
proper representatives of both parties agreed
to leave the dispute TO body which they con-
stituted for the purpose of settling it, We
could not refuse to abide by the award with
out being guilty of bad faith. We do not
now assert the injustice of it with any view
to reverse or modify it. You need not fear
the stability of that award, however iniquit-
Gus you may know it to be- You can enjoy
its fruits in perfect security, and we, the
people, will on our part perform the vows
which we have vowed before the Lord
however much it may be to our own hurt
But to acquiesce without protest-to con-
fess tactly that the wrong is right, and the
evil good-that is out of the question"
There aoaS greatfra committed Either
the friends of Tilden tried to cheat Hayes out
of his election, or the friends of Hayes did
cheat Tlden out of his election. Either the
Louisiana Returning Board deserved to be
hanged, or the Democrats in that State are "a
combination of most redemptionless rogues"
But the members of that Returning Board
have been given office. The gentlemen sent
South to back them up are all in place. The
advocates who defended them before the
Electoral Commission have been signally re.
warded. Mr. Matthews has become Senator
Mr. Sherman and Mr. Evarts have come into
the Cabinet. Mr.. Stoughton himself has an
ambassadorshp conferred upon him. This
is not a simple winking at fraud 1t is a
Qualification OF it. 1t is making crime profit
able. 1t is offering premium for the repeti-
tion of it.
Judge Black details the proof that the vote
of Louisiana was actually cast for Tilden,
but the returning board Gin the exercise of a
wise discretion" as Mr. Stoughton says,
threw out enough votes TO give the State
to Hayes. He then declares that the
Va 'h'o bpaiNli SolilDiHCu WITH
others in and out Of the State who
melted them to it and helped to cothe
the cheat IN what they said were forms of
law" was conspiracy" to rob the people
of their liberty. 1t is far worse than con.
spiracy to steal any amount of public money.
Running crooked whisky for a lifetime
would be an act of whte-robed innocence in
omparison.
"The Electoral Commission" he says, twas
constituted with authority clearly defined to
determine a certain controverted matter OF
fact, to wit Whether Kellogg and his seven
associates had been duly appointed electors
by the people of Louisiana or not. To main
tain the affirmative side of that issue, the
certificate of the returning board was alone
relied upon. The eight commissioners,
against the solemn protest of their seven
brethren, accepted that certificate and held
it to be good nay conclusive, proof of the
fact averred, although it was, and they knew
it to be, not only tainted, but saturated
through and through with the most atrocious
fraud, and therefore as corrupt in morals and
as void in law as the nakedest forgery that
ever was made.
Thus it came to pass that this great cause
involving the title 10 the highest office in
the republic was determined falsely upon ev-
idence which no justice of the peace would
receive in suit for the price of two sheep
In one of the regular courts of the country
upon trial for land or money, the mere offer
of such evidence by counsel knowing its real
character, would be extremely dangerous
1t would not only be rejected, but the guilty
counselor would be punished, not in the same
way, for there is technical difference, but
on the same principle that courts punish the
utterance of counterfeit money. To pollute
the administration of justice by passing false
and fraudulent documents upon q court is
indeed very much worse than Showing the
queer" upon n shopkeeper"
Mr.. Stoughton having gone out ofhis way
to abuse President Buchanan and his adj
ministration Judge Black defends the admin.
istration of which he was part, and opens
upon Stoughton such volley of sarcasm as
to make its recipient probably wish lie had
never been born.
Judge Black not only demolishes Slough
tons arguments, but holds the man himself
up to the scornful gaze of the whole world,
by analysing his motives and pointing out
the price he received for his labors as the
apologist of fraud. The article will 20
great ways towards making such a crime as
that perpetratei upon the American people
last winter impossible in the future
--s.s.----
Hon. A. s. Hewitt, member of Congress
from New York, has plan for the establish
ment of an American kitchen at the Paris
Exposition next year, with view of intro
ducing our methods of cooking Indian corn.
If the poorer classes in Europe can be taught
to eat it, the gain TO them, in q new and cheap