The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-08-03


"lf any doubt existed as to President JoArsons
connection soith me massacre In New Orleans, VIII
be removed BY reading his despatch to Attorney
jIeneral Heron Of LOUISIANA fhis d spa ch, writ
ten with the knowledge that l0Yal citizens Ot the
United States were dying from wounds received pY
q Rebel moo assumes the iu lItsponslbility OF tne
deed. The pohcy that prompted M yor Monroe
aud his followers found its iuspTGtion IN WASH
inVton."
OF the despatch upon which the Tribune virtually
arraigns President Johnson on charge
Of murder? 1t instructs Ad0rney-GeneraI
Heron to call uOOn the mill airy for force TO
sustain the civil authorities in suppTessng
unlawful assemblies, and 1t designatest the Illegal
radical Convention as within this category.
That is all. The connection OF the despatch
with the riot exists only in tIe Ir!6uneS
imagination. And the allegation that 1T was
"wrltten with the knowledge" of the riot and
its deplorable mementoes Is gTatuitous, and we
believe untrue. The despatch was dictated, as
we understand, before the loss OF life was
known, if not actually before the occurrence
OF the riot; and its apparent object was TO pre-
vent the difficulties which terminated so
calamitously. The error was, not in directing
resort to the military, ii that step were neces-
sary TO preserve the peace, but in the delay on
the part OF the military which permitted the
riot to continue more tnan three hours; so that
the President simply DISCHARGED his duty ana
whatever responsibility exists belongs else
where. The Tribune special despatch yesterday
assigns the responsibility to General Bard.
"Mauy Union men," says the correspondent,
''are known to have been murdered. General
Baird is responsible for this, inasmuch as ne
had no troops in the city, although warned OF
what has transpred.n The charge preferred by
the Tribune editor against the President IS
therefore dlsproyed by the Tribune correspond
eDt, living on the spot
satisfaction.
lin the first place the President recognizes a
usurIed power to communicate his wishes james
M Wells is the Governor OF Louisiana, and the Off.
Clal representative OF the Slate. To HIM the Pres
dent should have spoken. But Governor Wells.
only elected Governor by Re Del votes had ca led
this Convention together, and the President steps
over the theory of ate Rights, and sends mis- COM
mrnds to officer of his CabInet-his Attorney
General
To assume that Governor Wells possesses au-
thority to call this or any other convention IS to
count too ond1ently on popular ignorance.
He holds office under the Constitution which the
Convention OF 1864 drafted and which the people
OF Louisiana ratified; ana the most radical
theorlst will have difficulty in iustliylng a call
for convention to overthrow the Constitution,
issued by one whose sworn duty is to uphold it.
Even on the hypothesis that the Convention
might reassemble, Judge Durell its President,
was alone authorized to reconvene it. He re-
fused to help the game of the radicals, and Gov
enor Wells did what he had no more right TO
do than Mr.. Horace Greeley.
We admit, however, that ss between the
National EXECUTIVE and the State OF Louisiana,
Governor Wells should be the medium OF COM
muniCation. This slight difficulty occurred to
prevent it in the present Case:--GOvernor Wells,
having exceeded his authority In calling the
delegates together, seems to have shrunk from
the consequences of his own handlwork, aud to
have disappeared from Official view. He incon
tinently absquatuiated-r retiring, according to
some accounts, beyond the reach OF mail or
telegraph, and for the time practically leaving
Louisiana without a Governor. Had the Presi-
dent waited Tor advlces from Wells, or refused
to recognize the position OF anybody but Wells,
the rioters, back and white, would probably
have enjoyed some hours further license. 1t Is
fortunate that red tape did not in this manner
prevent the interpostlon of the military. In the
absence OF the Governor, the Attorney-General
consulted the President; the President very
properly assured the Attorney-General of the
support of soldiers TO preserve the peace; and
what might have grown into q massacre was
confined to a comparatively brief but bloody
riot.
The analogies employed by the Tribune do not
realty help its Case:-
"When Governor Brownlow asked for troops to
COM el the obedience to Executive commands, and
protect tle Legislature its IegIsa power he
was petu antiy refused. In Tennessee the majO ltY
was loyal, and the President threw his influence
with the minority. In LOUISIANA the majority was
Rebel, and the President not only sustain IT, bat
p aced IN It's hanOs the army OF the United states.
If 1t right to refuse and to BrOwnlow in seeing
that the law and the Constitution were sustained,
and thereby peace and order then it wrong TO
refuse and to Governor wells and his Convention
II that Convention was unlawlu, tnere were reme'
dies III the Supreme Court We have had uoZen
Fen'a Conventions in the asst year-all unlawful
as organizing war upon a friendly power. The
President permitted them to assemble, ana sent no
troops dIsperse them Why make an exception
OF IL yal men in Louisiana, who at the worst
and accepting as tTuth tho charges of the President
were no more illegal tnan the Senate OF the FenIan
Brotherhood
Governor Brownlow's request was not to "pro
teCt the Legislature in it, legislative power"
but to aid one party in the Legislature against
another. IL was not to preserve the public
peace, but to effect partisan purpose BY sub
| iecting members OF the Legislature to military
! dIctauon. The President refused 10 interfere
| in any way in the controversy between the poll
| tical autnoTit esq OF TennesSee; and nine moi
out of ten have said that he decided wisely
! The case OF Tennessee, then, had no resem
| blance to the case OF Louisiana, In the latter
| State the civil power proposed to prevent the
| assembling OF violent men, making no pretence
| to representative capacity, constituting an or
| gani2ation VIGOROUSLY illegal, and aiming at g
| result that would amount to revolution. Tht
measures resorted TO by the Conyentionlsts Il
| fortify their position tended to conflict with
! law, and the creation OF a disturbance with
which the local authorities unalded, might bC
unable to contend. Hence the precautionary
application OF the Attorney General, and tn,
precautionary despatch OF the President
Nor does the Fenlan movement furnish JUS
| parallel. Its conventions and the sessions OF 1T
| Senate never rose above the level OF tarces
They neither endangered public order no
| threatened domestic revolution. When, how
ever. Femanism really became aggressive, ant
impenlled the authority OF law and tue mainte
nance OF friendly relations with a nelghborini
country, President johnson iutertered as edeC
tualy as at New Orleans. Tue same principle
governed his action IN both instances. In botl
he delayed interference until events arose t
Justify it.
Perhaps in this latitude it may be difficult I
realize the reasons for the Importance which i
Louisiana has attached to this talked-of Coz
vention. Here, gathering OF tweEty-siX rad
CalInobodies, with an applaudng negro auditory
| would be passed over as merely q very slll