Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1880-09-16

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the count to be false; and that they Oh
| fered to give the vote the other way Tor
bride, and that the certificate gwen Dy
Kellogg to the Hayes electors was tne re-
| suit OF conspiracy between kelIogg
and the Returning Board and others To
| defraud their opponents of their election
| and the State Of her right to vote, and
that the Hayes electors were not erected,
but their opponents were.
The Commission, by vote Of s
| to Z, refused to receive this evil
dence. Mr.. Justice Bradley, in
giving this opinion, said:
Icannot bring my mind to believe that
fraud and misconduct on the part of the
State authorities, constituted for the
OF the state, is subject over which the
two Houses of Congress have jurisdiction
to institute an examination.
Gen. Garfield, who was one of the
Electoral Commission, in his opin.
ion in the Louisiana case, said:
The determination of the Board, If not
overruled by the Courts OF that State. is
the final and conclusive decree of the
state itself. Neither Congress
nor this Commission has any authority
to inquire whether there was fraud or
error in the process by which the deter
minatiOn was reached.
In the Florida case, where the
determination of the State can.
yassers was overruled by the courts
Of the State, Gen. Garfield held
that 1t made no difference. These
decisions of Gen. Garfield were
made under an act of Congress
which required him, as n mem Der
of the Commission, to decide
"what persons were duly appointed
| electorsn from the States of Florida
and Louisiana, and he took an
oath that he would ''impartially
examine and consider all questions
submitted to the Commission"
have shown you how he performed
that duty. How he kept his oath
lot him answer to his conscience
and his God; but for that fraud
practised upon the American peo-
pie they will hold him responsible.
It 10 not often that an august tri-
bunal Of nation, sorely debating
az to whether q civil war is immi.
nent, is presented in the attitude
which characterizes the individual
shyster. But, in his summary OF
the Returning Board infamies,
Senator Trumbull thus puts the
brand of fraud upon the brows of
the Republican leaders, and shows
how their own OK might be gored:
The facts I have stated in regard
| to Florida and Louisiana are all
substantiated by official docu-
msnts. 1t was thus by the fraudu-
lent and false count of the votes
cast by corrupt State Canvassing
Boards, sanctioned and confirmed
by the subsequent decision of the
Electoral Commission by vote of
eight to seven, that the managers
of the Republican party succeeded
in forcing into the Presidential Of
flee a man whom the people Of the
United States had repudiated.
Could a greater crime be commit
ted against the rights Of the people
and representative government?
What becomes, my countrymen, of
your boosted right to participate in
the election of the Chief Magistrate
OF the nation, or any other officer,
| IL effect is not to be given to your
votes when cast? Why go through
the farce Of an election, when the
result ia to be determined not by
the majority of votes cast, but by
the false count of corrupt return
ing canvassers? I am sure the
blood of all honest men who near
me, no matter what their politics,
will boil with Indignation at the
thought of being governed by off,
cials placed over them by the false
and fraudulent count of corrupt
Returning Boards, and yet this is
just what the people of the United
States have submitted to, so far as
relates to the Presidential office,
since the 4th of March, 1877.
Suppose the election for Presi-
dent this year should turn upon the
vote of Indiana, and that major
ty of the votes cast in that State
should be for the Garfield electors,
notwithstanding which, her State
canvassers and Democratic Gov
ernor should falsely and fraudu-
lently certify to the election of
Hancock electors, how many Re-
publlcans In the land would sane
ton the outrage and uphold the &C.
ton of an Electoral Commission
appointed to ascertain who was
duly elected in Indiana, which
should decide that the certificates
Of eleotion given by the Demo-
cratic Governor and State can.
wasting officers, however false and
fraudulent, we're conclusive upon
Congress when it came to count
the electoral votes? And yet this is
just what the managers Of the Re-
publican party did in regard to the
count of the votes cast in Louisiana
and Florida, four years ago.
The man who gave utterance to
the foregoing sentiments is the Ly-
man Trumbull who was the most
intimate personal and political
friend of Abraham Lincoln, and
who, in the United States Senate,
drafted one of the three amend
ments 10 the Constitution of the
United States which were designed
to secure the fruits of the war. Re.
publicans can ponder, with profit,
the candid and sincere utterances
OF this able, hon est and patriotic
man.
In our next issue we shall give
some Of the experiences of Hon.
Joseph e. Mcdonald, one Of the
lifelong Democratic Statesman, in
/ his visit tn T.Ouiaiana. dur.nu tn