Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1877-01-17

J there can be no appeal, over which n
court, either of Louisiana or Of tn
, United States, has supervisory contro
and which can, and in the epresent issu
, has assumed to adjudicatc the result
, Of the Presidential election. II il b.
true as asserted by the Supreme Cour
OF Louisiana that the whole power o
the highest legal tribunals in the lant
is superseded and subordinated by thi
board, within the sphere Of its jurisdic
ton If II be true than ten thousanC
citizens can be disiranchised by its de
crees without hearing and without I
remedy If il be true that 1t is gifted
with power not only to try, convict
and punish in their absence those who
have been guilty of riots and intimida
ton, but also those who have neither
participated in nor known OF its perpc
tration if ii be true that those whom
the people have chosen TO fill the Offices
Of the State are concluded without Q
judicial hearing, and that candidat,
for elcctor of President chosen by an
apparent majority can be returned de
feated and there is neither a contested
election nor review by judicial author
ity Tor his relief, then il is time TO in
quire as TO the grounds of our reliance
upon government of law and to learn
whether the guarantees OF the Federal
Constitution mean what they import.
cannot agree either that the Louis.
ana returning board is court, that its
DEGREES are conclusive, or It's judgments
final, but do believe and affirm that
its assumed jurisdiction and authority
are contrary to the theory Of our insti
tutions, anti-American in principle, and
that they violate the plain letter Of the
Federal Constitution. In no other
State in the Union are the acts and do.
ings OF returning board held TO be Of
absolute verify and conclusive Of their
correctness. In every other organiza
tion of the kind in the country thcir
duties are held to be ministerial, or, il
quasi,judicial functions are vested in
them, the right to review OF their ad-
Indications is reserved TO the courts OF
law through contest, or TO some other
body vested by law with the power
and the means to pass judicially upon
the questions involved, Returning
officers are mere registers of the popu.
lar will expressed under the forms Of
law. If they be constituted also tri-
bunal Of the last resort both as TO facts
and law, they are are vested with pow
err to nulliiy that will at their pleasure.
From being its mere conduits ;hey be
come its judges and its tymnts. From
being the means Of its faithful expires.
sion they may become the irresponsi-
bic agents OF ialsehood and wrong.
Dare we trust the ballot TO the re.
turning board utterly uncontrolled by
the judiciary p? Is there safety any.
where il il be not found in this super
visory power2 What will become of
the sense Of security that all feel when
our bloodless revolutions have passed
that the return is the truth, or the
law, welded by faithful judges, will be
invoked by fhnsa Interested 80 make il
..-.L ? IL this not the very anchor
of the election system ? Can we dis.
pense with it? Will not the result
which the action Of this returning
board fastcns on the country be the
entering wedge to our destruction
the leprosy that will infect and taint
the whole body? Such an innovation
as this, with such results as hinge upon
its action, will speedily demonstrate
that returning boards, with absolute
power over both law and fact, and the
ballot, cannot exist together ip a free
State
Upon the faith Of the people, upon
their implicit and unhestilating conf
dence in the popular vote as the truth
ful representative of the popular will,
depends the life of our institutions.
The theory of our government and the
noiseless working of its complex ma
chincry both depend upon the faith we
have IN this great leading thought.
Take from the forms of expression of
the popular vote the safeguard and
protection of fjudicial scrutiny, and faith
will have departed with them. Pohtl-
cal and judicial duties tit but i'll upon
the same person. The return and the
certificate flow from the rapid and
superficial count Of the returning Off
Ger. The tests of their truth and of
their effect belong to tie slower, cooler,
and more cautious methods of the law.
The former is primd fdcie the latter,
when completed, is conclusive. The
former accepts for truth that which
seems TO be truth the latter receives
complaints, hears testimony ,deliberates,
and Judges The doctrine OF the CON
elusive effect OF the Judgment Of n court
lnds its reason and its origin in tue
fact that the party must be heard be-
fore he is condemned. This protection
has been the property of race since
Magma Charta To condemn without
hearing is tyranny. Nor can Is be ar
gued that under this statute those who
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tribunal as those enumerated by
Chief Justice Waite IN the most recent
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