Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-06-08
The Journal ON the late Louisiana

The Journal ON the late Louisiana
4 Outrage a , \ A
The Journal, in reply toour question rel
/ alive to General SHERIDAN, by virtue ol
4 his military power, taking upon himself
1 the right to remove the Governor Jol
1 Louisiana, and to establish despotism in
1 that State-as all Governments must neces-
4 sarily be that are governed by a military
ruler To- defiance of the laws of the land
/ says:
| HHow long is it since the Democracy de.
nouneea the1pretepded State Government
! of Louisiana as q bogus concern-5he o.
|. Lincoln's 'tten per cent? goKernments
4 At the time of its organization you de-
nounced 1t as a farce, and declared that II
Yas created by the military" order oi
Gen. Banks-in- fact, that it was. the sole
work okhis- hands. Congress, taking the
4 Democracy at their word, declared in the
/ reconstruction law that the organization
known as the State Government of Louis
lana shall be, regarded AS PROVISIONAL
/ If itcan be used <tO preserve 1order.and as
sist in the work of reconstruction, it is to
be retained, If not it is to be superseded
/ Gen. Sheridan, for reasons satisfactory to
| himselt-and no doubt for good and suf-
| fictent reasons has superseded Gov, Webs,
as he had perfect right to do 'f..57l,i rnl
| superseded Gov. WELLS, as he had g
perfect right to do!" Where does General
SHERIDAN get the power given him, mere
military leader, BY Virtue 6f his bayonets
the right to remove civil officerP We can
find it no where except in the powerwhieh
might gives over right.
| The government of Louisiana, for years
has been bogus concern That Of Gov
WELLS come nearer than that OF its preIe-
cessor, HAHN, or that of its success ora ies-
| tRblished by the despotism of Gen. SHERI-
DAN. ,.o,-,.,.,.rA .-,,.-,,,,.
When HAHN was made Governor with
the consent of the Administration of Pres
| ident LINCOLN, BENJAMIN F. WADE and
HENRY WINTER DAVIS, in their famed man.
ifesto of August 1864 denounced the act
as great constitutional wrong, and in
terms Like this: IA
This Michael Hahn is no officer of the
United States. The President, Lincoln, ]
without the consent of the Senate, by a
private note, not even countersigned by the
Secretary of State, makes him Dictator Of
louisiana" 4. y,yT
If this was SO terribly wrong in LIN
coin, who, as Pres ident, was responsible
to the people for his acts, how much more
so is 1t for General SHERIDAN, responsible
to no one except his commanding officer, in
a time of profound peace, to set aside the
government of State and to say to one
man you shall, and to another, you shall
not be Governor, as if he were autocrat of
the continent as well as Dictator of Louis
lana.
The Journal, adds the following 49, =
"If The STATESMAN wants to know our
opinion further than that, it is informed
that we hold that there is not at this time
any such State Government in Louisiana
as is contemplated inAtfe Constitution of
the United States. There has been no such
Government there since it was overthrown
by the rebels in 1851, and there will be
none until the people reorganize under the
ure."
No such Government in Louisiana as is
contemplated in the Constitution We
thank the Journal for the admission.
And why is there not? Because in utter
disregard of the Constitution, the party
in power, has destroyed the, Union, and is
now keeping the State of Louisiana, and
other States, in condition of Colonial vas
salage. Any man, from the President
down, who aids or abets in this act, who
has sworn to support the Constitution of the
United States, is, incur opinion, and in the
opin ion of every honest, unbiased citizen,
guilty of wilful and corrupt violation of
the Constitution. This is strong language,
but the greatness of the outrage iustifies it.
A State can no more be deprived of its
rights within the Union. than can the man
of lawful age be placed back into minor
ity at the bidding of his parent. And yet,
the Journal, the apologist of these outrages,
that for years, the State of
Louisiana has not had such State Gov
ernment as slcontemplated in the Consti-
tuition OF the United States. And why has
she not? Because, the power of her State
has been usurped, her rights
set aside-her people, loyal and disloyal,
treated as if they had no rights that an
Abolitionist was bound to respect. @-s =