The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-11-21
HOW THE ELECTION WAS CARRIED.

Conservatives in this State has astonished
the Administration at Washington with the
Republican party generally, and the widest
theories are advanced and the most reckless
stories invented to explain 1t. According to the
Republican papers the election In Louisiana
was one vast and bloody massacre of negroes
from the border of Texas to the Mississippi
and from Caddo and Ouachita to the Gulf;
while the frauds in stuf1ing the ballot-boxes
and counting the ballots summed up larger
number OF votes than were honestly cast.
No effort has been made by these malignant
and reckless papers to ascertain the real facts,
and all that the Administration has done in
the premises has been to summon the United
States District Attorney to Washington and
| instruct him to institute a wholesale prOsecu-
tion Of Democrats, on the theory that all che
! fabulous stories of murder and fraud are
| true
| A decent respect for ordinary fairness and
justice ought to have prompted the Republi-
can administration and press to pause before
accepting as true these fearful stories, and to
attempt to ascertain II it was not more proba-
| BILE that there were good and sufficient reasons
for the result, than that an enlightened and
Christian people-many Of them Northern
men. and thousands of them descendants of
Northern parents ventured to carry an cleo
| ton In q great State by the most cruel and
Infamous means and, for the purpose of reap
ing the perqulsites of political office, sud
denly transformed themselves into cheats,
! liars and murderers of innocent and help
less negroes. No such atrocities as those
charged by the Republican press upon the
Louisiana Democrats in The late election
occurred The only atrocity perpetrated
in connection with that election is the
! damnable and wholesale defamation Of the
people Of this commonwealth by journals
and politicians who claim to represent the
wealth and patriotism of the country, and
who have yet prosttuted their energies and
abilities to this vile and shameful business.
It is true that the Democratic candidate
| for State Treasurer was elected by nearly
| forty-f Thousand majority; that the Dem
ocrats elected o solid congressional delega-
ton, and over two-thirds Of the Legislature
We concede also that this is unparalleled in
the political history Of the State. But it was
not accomplished by violence. fraud and MUIR
der These results were due to adequate
causes, which are familiar to every intelli-
gent man In the State, and which ought to be
to the Republican press and administration.
w evil mention q few Of those causes.
In the first place, with view to forming an
overwhelming combination against the Dem
ocrats, consisting Of the Nationals and Ma
tive Americans in New Orleans, and the Rad
icals throughout the city and State, the Re-
publican leaders made no nomination for
State Treasurer and Endorsed Gardner, the
nominee of the Native Americans and Ma
tionals It happened that Gardner was In
especial bad odor with the negroes every
where His name had been connected In
some way with the killing of the negro poi
soner John Gair, in East Baton Rouge some
years ago, and vast numbers Of the negroes
refused to support him. In number Of
parishes the negroes voted for some man of
their own locality. In Concordia, for instance,
the negroes voted for one of their chiefs, q
negro politician named Dave Young. No
where did Gardner obtain the full negro vote;
they were bitterly opposed to him; they
charged him with completely in the killing
of one OF their race and preferred to vote even
| for the Democratic candidate than for him.
| Secondly: The election Of a solid Democratic
delegation toCongress is as easily and rational
| " explained Early last summer it was known
| in Louisiana that Ludeing, Wells, Anderson,
| Castellanos and CulIom-the Chief Justice
of the Warmoth- Kellogg Packard Supreme
Court, two'members of the Returning Board,
and two of the counsel Of the Returning
Board-were to run for Congress in the sew
eral districts of the State some as Republi-
cans, some as Nationals, and others as indie
pendents It was also pretty well known that
this obnoxious ticket had been Matched in
Washington, and that the object Of these can
didacies was to force, if possible, from the
people of louisiana vindication Of the Re-
turning Board and of Hayes fraudulent title,
and. theoretically, n condemnation Of the
Nichols government.
Was ever more bold, open and dastardly
insult offered the people of 8 great State
The obnoxious scheme fired the heart of
every white citizen Of the State with intense
disgust and indignation, and inspired every
Democrat and Conservative, besides hun
dreds of moderate Republicans, with deter
mination to prevent the imposition of such
an indignity upon the commonwealth. Even
the pestilence, scattering sickness and death
Oh every hand and filling our borders with
woe and lamentation, could not repress the
ardor of brave and proud people to protect
their State and their government from this
contemplated wrong, and the canvass against
these men was prosecuted In every District
with an ardor bordering upon enthusiasm and
men divided their time between nursing the
sick and dying and working against the Re
turning Board candidates for Congress. That
those candidates were defeated In every Dis
trfct, is not in the least strange. Had they
been elected a halo OF light would have dawned
around tho Fraudulent Administration at
Washington, and an odoS of sanctity diffused
about it. while all over our own State gov
ernment, which has given us peace, secu-
ritv, Justice and measurable relief from bur-
thensome taxation, would have been branded
Fraud" Every Democrat and Conserva-
tive realized this, and felt that his own honor
and that of his State and State administration
REQUIRED that these men should be defeated.
In no free country on the earth could men
| no OF tt,15o NJ inc