The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-02-06
PERSECUTION, NOT PROSECUTION.

PERSECUTION, NOT PROSECUTION.
III there were any reason TO doubt the par
tisan purposes Of the prosecutions under the
election laws In this State, the course that is
being pursued by the United States District
Attorney, in refusing to set the cases OF the
prisoners indicted for trial, Is alone sufficient
to put at rest any amiable surmises one
might happen to entertain on that score. The
city is already full of the victims of this un-
scrupulous persecution. dragged from
the remotest parishes, and the list Is being
daily swelled by the addition to 1t of num-
bers of the very best and most Influential
citizens OF our State. Among them are men
OF all stations In life, generally white men,
with here and there q well known and in
fluential colored Democrat but from all
alike. without reference to their ability to
furnish It, the same excessive bail Ia exacted.
These prosecutions are conducted by the
wholesale, and the particular investiga-
ton which each individual has the
right to demand, and which courts
are accustomed to make In cases OF
application to bail, in order to determine
the probable degree Of guilt and the ability
of the accused to furnished bond, is refused.
They are all Jumped together and the same
bail exacted Of ALL the rich and poor, the
principal and the accessory. alike. But even
after this bail Is given 1t merely releases the
parties from actual Imprisonment. They are
compelled to remain here In the city dancing
attendance from day to day on the court, at
great expense and to the neglect of their bust
ness at home. The instances are exceptional
when this outrageous and Unnecessary
requirement will not operate irrepara-
BILE and heavy loss to the victims
OF this prosecution. It is not necessary
at all to the fullest enforcement OF the law
and is merely an act OF gratuitous and wan
ton persecution, the purposes of which 1t Is
not difficult to discover. IL the attainment OF
the ends of justice were the sole motive that
prompts the Federal officials in the conduct OF
these cases, 1t would be easy enough to fix
the day OF trial In each OF them. and allow
the parties indicted to go home, to return at
the time fixed to stand trial. There is not the
slightest apprehension that single person
under indictment will attempt to escape
trial, but even IL there were, they are all
under heavy bonds. But to bring these men
to trial, to enforce against them the law only,
Is not the sole or the controlling motive OF
these prosecutions. They have another OBJ
ject outside OF the courts, which can be ob-
talned only by this INSCRIPTIONS alb use OF
power. That purpose Ia to inaugurate,
through the courts and by provision of the
laws, the most Infamous system Of intimi-
dalton that has ever been attempted even In
this State Justice under the law Is not what
Is sought for, indeed. 1t is safe to assume. under
the construction Of the Supreme Court In the
Grant parish case and In view of the recent
expressions OF opinion In Congress during the
discussions Of the Edmunds and Morgan
resolutions that the Attorney General him.
self does not expect single conviction In
these cases that will be sustained. This Is
doubtless the reason OF the extraordinary ex-
actions Of the District Attorney In keeping
these prisoners In the city and refusing to set
their cases for trial. The intention Is to SUBJ
NIT them to as many hardships as possible, to
ruin their business, involve them In debts which
they can I'LL afford to incur, and otherwise to
harass them, for the deliberate purpose Of
lettering them and others like them from
taking any active interest In politics In the
future Another object, doubtless, Is to keep
these men, in the aggregate the most infiuen-
tial In their respective parishes, from partici-
pating In the approaching election for the
constitutional convention. This Is the real
meaning OF these arrests, and this Is the
sort OF justice the enforcement Of the Federal
election laws In the South always aims at.
The best citizens Of our State, the
men to whom the communities In
which they live look for law and order
and protection. are dragged here from
their homes to answer for imaginary crimes,
of which they can never be convicted, nor for
the purpose OF submitting them to punish
ment after conviction, but to outrage and dis
tress them by the arbitrary perverson OF the
mere preliminary processes of the courts.
A grosser abuse Of the forms Of law was
never conceived. This Is persecution and not
prosecution, and there should be some means
of preventing it.. If the State authorities can
afford no relief, Congress should take hold OF
the matter and do something for the pro-
lection of these people. 1t would be In
famous ON the part Of the Democratic
party to allow the administration to &c
on with this systematized intimidation
ruinous alike to the party In this State and te
the victims of this prosecution, without rails
ing It's voice In indignant protest and denun
citation. Steps should be taken to compel 9
just consideration for these men and save
them from the oppression and distress thai
threaten them from the partisan abuse o.
power.