New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-10-06
LARLEssNBss I'M LouIsIANA.

LAWLEssNEss IN LOUISIANA
When Governor Mammoth, in an eA6eial
letter tosh President, calied the attention
Of the country to the lawless conditIoh q
societyin our State, when he Stated that
one hundred and fifty murders had been
committed within short spaoeOf time,tAe
Democratic press became highly indignant.
The Governor was accasedeof falseheod
and misrepresentation for political pur-
poses. Confident that investigation would
fully confirm the statement, the Administra-
ton has made no reply to these frequent
onslanghtss ''T''7-'.''''-''''-
The report of the joint committee of the
General Assembly of Louisiana on the con-
duct of the late elections and the condition
of peace and order in the State is before
us. The facts laid bare by this committee
not only sustain Governor Warmoth's
statements, but exhibit condition of So
ciety in the rural districts of Louisiana
scarcely suggested by the letter TO the
President. Not one hundred and fifty, but
two hundred and four murders are re-
ported.
Many of the facts elected by this investi-
CATION were obtained through the Freed
mems Bureau, being official statements Of
officers of high rank in the army.
The report proper is quite brief. Re
marking the sources ofinformation open to
the committee, it calls attention to the diff
fculty it had of procuring the testimony of
persons cognizant of cases of outrage and
murder in different parts Of the State.
"The reluctance Of these persons 10 testify
has arisen from the danger which they
assert-and which the committee believes
to exist-of violence to their persons and
and even of the loss of their
lives, from the vengeance and anger o
lawless and disloyal persons in their re-
spective neighborhoods." a
After admitting the incompleteness of |
their report the committee proceeds to say: |
Humanity sickens at the contemplation |
Of a bigotry go ferocious aud hate SO re-
founded solely on political differ
ences, and having for its impelling motive,
not resistance to oppression, but an unruly |
desire to coerce the sentiments and actions
Of others, and blind feeling Of rage and
toward those whom they can not
cove nor silence. ..
1t is the mature conclusion of your com
mittee. founded upon the testimony before
them, that the state of lawlessness and un-
punished crime prevalent in this State, is
not alone to the desperate and
Infamous characters who are its immediate
agents, but to the apathy and silent couni-
vance of that large and respectable class
If the people of the State, who, while they
would seorn personally TO commit any Of
hese violent acts, if they do not actually
with their perpetrators, at
east refrain studiously from any efforts to
estrain or bring them to justice, and are
therefore, justly liable to the indictment of
he peace-loving portion of the community
or the otfense of permitting such mi:-
reants to roam at large unpunished.
Much of the lawlessness is also due to {
be neglect Of the officers of the law. =,
The committee recommends the passage
{ proper laws and thanks Major General I
}. o. Howard and Brevet Major General
ldward Hatch for important assistance.
Scarcely had this important document,
nth its unanswerable array of facts been ,
rinted, when the Democratic journals of
ur city began their accustomed cry of in
ired innocence. The report is declared
a campaign document" I
We confess to the opinion Of the Crescent.
is a powerful campaign document, but
OF in the sense in which they :
Sc the phrase, The Committee sim a
ly performed a duty, charged upon C
lem by the Assembly, in an impair d
al manner. But this, as any other verified h
atement of the condition of affairs in the g
)uth, must necessarily be an effective y
lmpaign document. The political issue a
sfore the country to-day is the right or 4
rong OF reconstruction. Whatever clearly D
axes known to the people Of the North Il
at state of society which demanded and I
hose continuance the more fully justifes !,
e measures adopted by Congress, must be d
lluable to that party whose victory, in a
e election of Grant. will forever disthrone 2
= Il