The daily gazette., 1878-02-07
Consolation for the Prisoners.

= IT'S perhaps naturaf that the vfxfffnr'
statesmen who, at the instance of Mr'
Zachariah Chandler and Mr.. Don Game
ron and at the request Of President Grant,
went TO Louisiana to witness the Return
ing Board count the returns, should feel
a little uneasy at the course events are
taking. IT is also natural that they should
confer together as to "the present sittia-
sion In Louisiana and the duty of Repub-
hcans." These gentlemen have an abid-
ing interest in the whole matter involved
in the Returning Board trials. 1t is pre-
eminetly their funerals; they are not en-
titled TO ride in the hearse, being still In
the land Of the living, but they have an
undoubted right 90 the place of chief
mourners. Exactly what share of the re-
responsibility for the work of Wells and
his associates they must shoulder is not
yet known outside of their own breasts,
but that they had good deal to do with
1t may be asserted without fear of contra
diction. Had they never gone to New
Orleans the vote Of louisiana would not
have been stolen. .ef.
The Returning Board had the will but
| not the courage to execute the conspiracy
planned by the national Republican com
| mittee. The majority against Hayes was
too great to be overcome even by the aid
| Of an UNANIMOUSLY partisan law contrived
to meet just such emergencies. The
Democrats who had been for eight wears
regularly cheated out Of the results of
their ballots, had learned lesson. They
had q record, duplicate and triplicate
records, under official seals, of the vote
/! of every parish. The true returns were
given to the country through the press az
fast as they were received, without re-
i gard to what the totals might be, and to
say which electors had majority was a
work of simple addition and subtraction
within the scope of any schoolboy's
knowledge. These returns, trebly forti.
fed by certificates and affidavits of Re
publican officials, showed the Iilden
electors had majority of nearly nine
thousand.
/ Wells himself was appalled, by the
amount of frand andperjury necessary u
wipe out such figures and give a majorit,
to the Hayes electors. But with the ar
rival of Mr.. Sherman the task dwindlet
in size, and when Mr.. Stoughton appear
ed on the scene, and these two put thei
own and the heads of the Returnin,
Board together. Louisiana was boldl,
} claimed for the Republicans in defianc
: of arithmetic and the known truth. Re
publican hopes and Returning Boart
audacity grew apaoe from day to day il
, the very teeth of. accommodating Demo
cratic majorities, IT may, have been.
mere .coincidence that the hope and tn
audacity dated from the arrival upon tn
} scene of the eminent citizens who nov
represent this government in Vienna ant
St. Petersburg and In the Treasury De
lpariment at Washington, but 1t is a fac
in which the people cannot shut thei
eyes and about which the said eminen
citizens are very sensitive, a,sH 4
II 1t is natural, therefore, we repeat, tina
they should take a great deal OF interes
in the proceedings beforeJn1gei Whitake
!. bat New Orleans. Neither is it surprising
; fthese things in the real solitude of tn
: parish prison should tire Of waiting 70
the hour when the promise Of protectio
. upon which they relied shall be fulfilled
nor that the elder manipulation of return
: should in his profane way threaten :
: give certain people ssunshirted hell,
! whatever that may be, If something
: not done in his behalf. But 1t is not eas
: to'see what is TO be done. Fate is collin
Tits anaconda folds about the wretches I
the cells who are undergoing or awaitin
trial, and If the friends of these but lift
7 finger for rescue they too may to
quickly receive the dreaded embrace
3 Mr., Wells and his fellow-prisoners ougl
( not to be hard upon their friends VIII
/ Ii are still at large. The ties of friendshi
4 | and association are strong and elastic, bi
there is limit to their strength anditel
, sion. One cannot expect gentleman
= drop Cabinet portfolio, or throw asid
: a.Senatorial robe, or have a ministerii
s palace to dabble in the dirty puddle ,
l the criminal courts. But let the unfort1
/ mates be assured that all that can be dor
v will be done. Those eminent statesme
r who remain in the country have held
a meeting at Washington and resolved
: protest, What more could be asked
. reason? What better salve could be a.
7 lplied to the limbs chafed by felons' iron
{ TO consciences scared by the neariI
Q flames of Justice? Let them take the pr
d test--"in form hereafter to be dete
mined upon"-and be thankful. A pr
!, test is not protection, but 1t is goo
thing in its way.-TiDles.