The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1866-08-16
The Presidents order and the New Orleans
Massacre. CauStic Criticism.

!
From the New York Evening Post
We do not understand the Presidents des
patch to Mr. Heron, the Attorney General
of louisiana In the first place according
to Mr.. Johnson's theory, Louisiana is state
of the Union; why then does he interfere
with the internal affairs of Louisiana A
convention was to be held in Louisiana this
convention was either legitimate or an il.
legitimate body. In the first instance it
had right to sit !; in the second it was an
illegal body, whose acts would be void and
of no force, and whose members would be
subject to arrest, if at all, under the state
laws, by the state officers of justice. AS
they numbered but twenty six, their arrest,
whenever their acts made them liable, could
not have been difficult by the great State of
Louisiana. We do not see on what plea the
President had right to interfere or what
business he had to issue an order in the
matter.
Next, we find this order addressed not to
the Governor of the State, but to the Attor-
ney- General Why is this =? Does the Pres
ident supersede the Governor
| But after all, it is not the Governor, nor
the Attorney General, nor any State officer,
but local city officer the Mayor of New
Orleans-as it happens, fragrant aud def
ant rebel who seems to think that the Pres
idential pardon in his pocket not only CON
dones his crime, but justiies tit is this
person who takes the matter in hand of ar
resting the convention. Under his skiIlful
management considerable percentage of
the members were asSassinated before they
were arrested.
We do not see how all this can be ex.
planned we trust the President, by publish
ing the whole correspondence, of which we
have now only his order will be able to JUS
tify not only the manner of his interference
but the act of his interference itself For
the present We can only say that his order
appears to have had as unfortunate an eff
feet as his 22d Of February Speech instead
of comforting and protecting the law-abiding
and loyal citizens, it seems to have encour.
aged bloody-minded and vindictive mob
of men lately engaged in rebellion instead
of ''suppressing all illegal and unlawful as
semblies," in the W ords of the order, the eff
feet seems to have been to give full reign to
most law-less and law defyng mob, and
to secure complete immunity from punish
ment to the rioters.
- w uO uiduc lllS pIcSluGLb ILt JuuS0 Vi lE0
legality of a state convention? When did he
hear evidence upon the matter Where does
he get his authority for interfering ? By the
Constitution, ''the United States shall pro-
tect each state against invasion, and on ap-
plication of the Legislature, Or of
the executive (when the legisla-
ture cannot be conyened), against domestic
violence" Where the Invasion where
the domestic violence !? where the appli-
cation Of the Legislature, or of the executive?
Where was even the danger to the pnblc
peace A convention numbering twenty-six
men met in hall at New Orleans. Was
it feared by the murderous mob, or by May
or Munroe that these twenty-six men would
rise and put the whole order of Thugs to
the sword?
Suppose the convention was illegal sup
pose it had passed an ordinance, no matter
to what intent-wbat then Its orders could
have had no force If there had been
doubt upon their legality, they ought to
have been taken before the state courts,
whose province it is to decide such questions.
If civil government is restored in Louisiana,
according to the Peace Proclamation, if
Louisiana is State, with constitution,
laws, OAAANSAc, COulto anu IileD all
such matters must be settled and decided in
the State by State officers and by the
courts, not by a mob.
1t does not escape the attention of the
Union-loving people that every outrage like
the New Orleans riot, in the southern states,
is done in the interests of oppression, and
against equal rights and impartial justice,
by men who continue to boast of their
crimes against the country and the flag
Whether at Memphis or New Orleans, in
Richmond or in Georgia, wherever we hear
Of mob violence it is the violence, the bru
tai lawlessness of men lately engaged in an
attempt to destroy the Union; and their
victims are men, women and children
whose loyalty to the Union was so active
during the war that no history of the war
can be written without recording their cour-
age, fidelity and self sacrifice 1t is not
pleasant to Union-loving people to see the
President of the United States, no matter by
what accident or inadvertence placed in the
position of giving encouragement to such
Elawlessness, and making less endurable the
sufficiently hard position of men who, with
I him, are hated and reviled by the late rebels
as southern loyalists."
IS" Lambs charity extended to all things.
I I'd