Year: 1877

Our Duty to Ourselves ana to Our Pos
terlty.


8 Ataor Democrat Our streets are rife with


comments on the subject of the proposed in


tion OF law In their late capacity of members
, Of the Returning Board. We are told that
| the orand jury ought to take cognzance of


Sne % o,,clal ~ &c acts Dt these men and then agains


we near dark Whlsperings that to do SO would


be unpleasant to President Hayes and our
executive. the idea being that before


the former. you'd release our State from,


the point of the bayonet the latter pledged


himself that these supposed yioiators of law


should go "Scott Free


: | say there is o good deal of street COM
fl; mfent; Perhaps there is more; There is pro-
given to that thought fhe subject ''is'ua is n


grave one, and all men should look 1t sn,lare-


y In the face; As matters stand the over


whelming public sentiment Is that Wells.


Anderson y Go. should be dealt with Just as


ore. all other supposed violators Of law. 1


believe this sentiment Is properly founded.


and Ml propose to say briefly why think So


;, wells, Anderson u Co., as the Returning


returns of this State. they claim that they


discovered in these returns the election Of


the Hayes electors and Republican State Of


iicials, and they :. returned accordingly.


The Democratic Conservative party claim


that the official returns showed clearly the
election Of Tilden and the Democratic Con-


servhtive. State officials by seven to ten thou
.


proof is positive That absolute alterations alto I Of
the ofllclal returns we're made after the same
fell into the official hands Of Wells Anderson


q Go.


Now, what question Is 50 important TO us Of


Lousiana-yea, to our children and our child


rem children as this very one as to whether


this Returning Board did or id not make q


faithful m and legal fnding,2 And Il they did


tbis, n6t make s.a faithful and legal finding what


murderer has committed SO great a crime


against the State and the country at large?


On the other hand, If the Returning Board


law, as in duty bound, what man among


them should fear to go with the official re-


turps before such a supreme Court us ours


and ask the fullest investigation Do my


Am spurned Of men because thereof Are


my wife and children tabooed because Of my


supposed iniquity2. Is all this great burden
existing. on u soul that is absolutely con-
propose to carry me before the. courts Of jus
| tice | will go with them; will outstrip
them In their zeal; they shall not drag me;
will throw myself at the feet q. justice IN
them with the judicial declaration Of my In
| nocence.


| Such is the inevitable impulse of a man
| conscious OF his integrity. When o man
avoid 1t by taking to any Of the by-paths
| known to the lawyer or the politician, he but
fixes in the public mind the conviction that he
Is guilty Of all that is charged against him.
they are guilty or innocent; II the latter, they
have nothing to fear from grand juries and
State S attorneys.


But has there been bargain to shield
| them from the power Of the law? And ii yes,
who has made It?


Ii there has been, then law, common sensa,
and morality have been outraged No man
or set OF men who hold either directly or in
pf tnfn nut had
the shadow Of right to agree with any other
man or set Of men that criminals before the
law should be held intact In consideration OF
any political arrangement. In view Of the
suffering to which our people had been for
years subjected, it may have been we'll to
promise exemption from persecution of the
miserable Wretches who have Dreyed upon us.
but no more than this


Common sense should have taught that any
such bargain was the sheerest political folly
IMAGINABLE All this Returning Board bust
Louisiana. and history is not made for us
alone who to-day participate in It's making; it
Is the Inherited property Of our children and
our children's children, and they will realize
it more than we do If it is reputable, infinitely
less II 1t is disreputable.


Did Wells and Anderson fairly count the
returns and declare the electionA Yes. Then
what Is the the position Of our Executive and
people? Why, they are revolutionists Of the
worst order, and destroyers of the funda-
mental principles of republican government.
On the ninth day of january, 1871 they sub
crees of the ballot-box; they overthrow legti-
mate government, and they deserve hanging.


Did Wells and Anderson fairly count the
returns and declare the election No; b
they violate their official oaths and enter into
q conspiracy to crush out the will Of the peo-
pie as expressed at the baIlot-box; and they
ddld this not as men, but as public officials
expressed will Of the people, and they deserve
to be hanged as high as Haman IL the law
permits it.


II the Executive shields Wells and Ander-
his own administration while he steps clear
beyond any official line of power. II he
sanctioned any agreement to shield these
men from the law he did whatshe had no right
TO do


And 50 with President Hayes. II he bar
gained for the safety Of Wells and Anderson,
either directly or indirectly, and now fears to
see them tried before an incorruptible bench,
the proof Is clear that he knew beforehand
that he was not elected and that he knows
and feels it now.


say, then, that any such arrangement as
that said to have been made by our Execu-
tive and the President is too absurd to talk
about. 1t violates common sense, and neither
of these parties could afford to deface his ad-
ministration in that way.


That any such arrangement could be made
without violating ordinary morality no man
will assert, and / am certain that our Execr-
tive will be found on the right side in aues-
tions of that nature His whole character
proclairns it, and his place in our history de-
mands it.


Let Wells, Anderson and every other pub
lie malefactor stand up before the law and
take the consequences. If / steal or murder,
and am caught at it, | must suffer. have no
patent for immunity: The poor devil who
steals q loaf Of bread for his hungry children
is hurried off to the penitentiary Let the
greater villain, who would rob whole people
OF what is lar more valuable to them than
bread, and that when clothed with the garb
OF oiflce, be dealt with at least as fairly. But
more than all, let us be true to the escutcheon
OF our State, and let US prove to the world now
that we have not been, and are not now the un-
civilized bandtti we have been proclaimed.
Let us open up the infamous history Of the
ylllainS who have fleraacIlted and DETAINED