The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-02-03
THE RETURNING BOARD.

aid, but to avail nOtnlng,
|
THE RETURNING BOARD.
views of the New York Press on Their
flight TO the Customhouse.
IN. Y. Herald.1
Our special telegraphio correspondence from
| New Orleans shows that the members of the
Louisiana Returning Board do not take kind
ly to the idea of being left by their friends to
meet the prosecution Of the indictments found
against them in the Criminal Court OF that
city, and 1t Is stated that they threaten GER
Is done for their protection by the national
government. Gov Wells, who managed to
escape arrest, is said to have fled to Washing
ton to represent to the Administration the
show that unless something Is done
for them by the Federal authorities,
'they will be lost'-a figure Of speech
which we presume means that they
will be found guilty Of the crimes charged
report as entirely correct it is difficult to SEQ
what tho Administration could do about the
matter, even II it had the disposition to do
anything. The day has gone by when d Pres
ident could select a, United States Judge to
make any order or decision that night be re-
quired and could enforce the edict by the aid
Of Federal bayonets. AS the reign Of terror
was overthrow by President Hayes 1t is not
likely that he would restore 1t II he had the
power to do SO. Yet it Is only.by some Jug
Cling process Of the United States courts,
which would require TO be enforced by armed
troops, that the indicted Returning Board
could possibly be saved from trial In the
| courts of the State whose laws they are al
| legged to have violated.
| The accused men certainly display but little
shrewdness If, as reported, they threaten dis
closures of fraud unless rescued by the Fed
eral authorities. Such threat would be an
wise to make at all events until all hope Of
escape had departed. 1t may be that they
will be disposed to make q clean breast" la
| the hope OF securing lenient sentence should
| they be convicted. But the State could not
afford to accept any such confession as the
price of a cessation of the prosecution, since
such an act would show that the prosecution
was undertaken for, political purpose, and
not to vindicate the law and purify the State
proceedings of the. Louisiana Returning
Board were foul and black with fraud, and as
the confession Of the fact by the guilty parties
| could not now make any difference In the
result it would be comparatively worthless.
| II tho Returning Board members are fairly
tried and convicted the world will believe
their punishment to be just, whether they
profess their guilt or persist In asserting
| their innocence.
IN. Y. World.]
Wrong-doing is like the wheat found in the
collins OF the Egyptian mummies, which,
though apparently dead for centuries, has yet
the power to terminate and bring forth fruit.
1.-The evil that men do lives after them" and
we have a new commentary on this old text of
Shakespeare to-day in the dispute ut New Or
Louisiana Returning Board. In this dispute
the ghosts of old strifes and factions are ris-
ing up to trouble the new-found peace Of the
commonwealth. The political crime of ere
ating a returning board and employing it to
defeat the will of the majority plunged
Louisiana into turmoil for years; led to the
rejection of State officers lawfully elected; to
revolution to renstate the Ousted officials to
the tyranncal employment of Federal troops
to counterfeit the work of the revolution; to
sional commission; to a renewed controversy
with the greatest prize In the country at
stake; to repeated injustice, and finally to a
readjustment of Louisiana affairs by an i'm
we find this readiustment in its turn proving
itself as unstable. Thus an old partisan law
and the appointment Of a set of knaves
to carry 1t out still keep great
American State in chaos. Indirectly the pas
members of the Returning Board for wrong
which the action of another tribunal has
made irrevocable, may be traced to the bitter
ness of the contest over reconstruction, In
which no contract was esteemed binding and
cution Is natural In community which has
grown accustomed to see the laws turned into
instruments Of political vengeance and rights
made a mere matter Of bargain and compro-
bers of the Returning Board to flee to
the protection of the United States courts
and, this failing them, Of their resort to the
Gpstom-aon ; as to a. city OF refuge, reads
and carpet-bag rule; Only in a city
SO long and so brutality misgoverned
as New Orleans was could prisoners, indicted
prisoners, coolly expect to find the Federal
Custom..House an asylum and an Alsatia.
had suffered eclipse for years and the pro-
cesses of the law fallen into contempt
could a customhouse official call in the
United States marines and capture sheriff
for attefhmpitg to make an arrest
incidents suggest utter public demorali-
cation so far as law and politics are
concerned, and show how dangerously near
some portions of the United States have
the public mind. The interference of the |
Federal Administration to maintain the |
rights OF the State courts shows that the tide
of evil has been stayed, and brings with 1T at
tutional government and timely rebuke to |
the arrogance Of men too long accustomed to |
consider Federal commission as a sufficient |
warrant and license for any assumption of
power whatever. Under the judlciOuS man.
agement of Attorney General Devens 1t may
be that Louisiana will be enabled to work off |
the evil effects of the political diseases which
left in her system, and the |
symptoms of which break out oc-
in such occurrences as this Custom
House attack ON the sheriff. But certainly |
the new treatment has not been applied day !
too soon.
New York Start
It is fortunate for Louisiana and for the |
that Grant does not occupy the pres
idential chair. Had that s'sashed and gfrded |
Sphinx been appealed to for protection by
the Returning Board roguess who sought