New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-08-17
THE cusroMHoUsE OUTRAGE
Opinions of the Press
THE AFFAIR CONDEMNED

outrage perpetrated last week by federal
officials of Louisiana:
From the st. Louis Republican,
| We print in another column a report of
| the rupture of the radical party in Louisi-
| ana, on the ninth, and the extraordinary
events that attended and followed it, taken
| from the New Orleans papers of the tenth.
| 1t will be found worthy Of an attentive
| reading.
We have given some prominence to this
| transaction, and we can hardly be mistaken
| in believing that it is destined to have an
| important influence in our national politics,
| and ON the public sentiment. Such things
| as were done in New Orleans on the ninth
can not pass unnoticed by the people, nor,
| perhaps, unchallenged by Congress. If the
| hostile parties in Louisiana were Radical
and Democratic, any injustice and violence
which the latter might receive at the hands
| of a government acting in behalf of the
| former, would be approved by Congress;
bat when the injurers and the injured
are both Radicals, the case will be thought
different.
Some things were done that will have to
be accounted for. The original convention
was the Republican State Convention of
Louisiana; but it was called by the United
States Marshal, to meet, not in public
hall, nor in the open air, bat in place
beyond the jurisdiction of the State-in a
| place where the local State and municipal
authorities had no powers. 1t met in q
building of the United States, devoted TO
official business. This building was closed
against citizens having legitimate business
in it, and merchants found that they could
not enter its doors to transact their business
with the Collector of Customs, without
having tickets of admission. And, as if
this were not enough to secure the delibera-
tions of the convention, a company of
United States soldiers. with captain in
command, was stationed in the building to
keep off outsiders. All this was the work
of the President of the United States; for
a government customhOuse could not be
closed at midday, and given up to mere
party convention, and a company of gov
ernment troops could not be detached TO
guard that convention without his consent.
Were these extraordinary precautions
necessary for the avoidance of an outbreak,
and for the protection of the Customhouse
convention from violence!
If it be said that no violence was threat
ened, and none probable-that the radically
governed city of New Orleans, in the rad
ically governed State of Louisiana, is tran
quill, orderly and law-abiding-then why
were those warlke preparations resorted
to! Why was temporary martial law
maintained in and aronnd the New Orleans
Customhouse9 Is it because President
Grant may actually use United States
buildings, United States officials and the
United States army to give his a6herents
control IN Republican party conventions
The executive has begun to mete out to the
WarmOth Radicals in Louisiana precisely
the same treatment which Congress en-
couraged him IN melting out to ''rebels;" and
the fact is not little significant. 1t sug-
gests that 'loyalty" has come to mean 10y
atty to the person of the executive, and de-
votiOn to his fortunes; that the exotic word,
borrowed from the vocabulary of royalty,
and adopted as the party cry of radicahsm,
is made to confer the prerogatives of roy
atty. 1t suggests that the executive is ap-
preaching that point sooner or later reached
by all rulers entrusted with Unconstitutional
powers by his confding party, where he
concludes TO crush his own party as well as
the opposing one, and make himself the
heir OF its authority.
From the New York Journal of Commerce.
THE NEW ORLEANS OUTRAGE.
We take no interest in the soulless quar-
rel between the two wings of the Repub-
hcan party of Louisiana, and care not which
whips. But the startling apparition of fed
eral bayonets at the Customhouse conven-
ton in New Orleans is an omen of which
people of all parties all over the country
should heed. Two companies of regular
troops with two deadly Gatlin guns (Ameri-
can mitrailleuses) were summoned from
Texas, 1T seems, by request of the United
States marshal of Louisiana, to overawe
the convention. 1t was not election day,
and there is no Ku-Klux in Louisiana
None of the conditions precedent for the
interpositiOn of the United States army ex-
listed as required by the force acts. There
was no probability of a riot in the conven-
ton, or anything more than the tongue
lashings and mild fsticuffs which often
distinguish Republican gatherings in
this city. If bayOnets and mitrailleuses
could be stationed at the doors of a
convention hall in New Orleans to keep
out all but sound administration men, we
see not why the same game could not be
played in New York or anywhere else in
the Union. 1t could be with equal right
and propriety-and there lies the moral of
this story of military usurpation from
Louisiana. No bloodshed ensued from the
interference, but that was purely good luck
The death-deahng weapons were there for
use, and would have been used but for the
discretion ofthe Warmoth men, who hauled
OFF and organized an opposition convention
elsewhere. How they felt about it may be
inferred from Senator Pinchback's remarks:
"ls it possible We are to be put down by the
government we have sustained ? If that
be the case, the sooner this government is
torn down and monarchy built upon its
ruins the better" Thus does tyranny ever
provoke anarchy; and if Louisiana is to be
convulsed by attempted revolutions in the
interest of the Warmoth party, the blame
will rest chiefly with the despotic power
that put bayonets and Gatlin guns in the
Customhouse on the ninth instant
A convention so hedged about by
government influences could do nothing
else than support the government
through thick and thin. The resolu-
tions adopted read as matter of course.
They instruct the delegates to vote for Presi-
dent Grant at the next national Republican
conXention-and that being the 30. e. d."
what else they indorsed or recommended is
thing of no consequence. Had this insult
and menace been offered by Republicans to
Democrats, it might have been said that
the latter were ku-Kluxes, resuscitated
rebels, and the like; but such ingenious ex-
cuses. can not be set up in the present case.
The Warmoth party is Republican and re-
gular in all respects, except that it does not
sustain President Grant 1t is in possession
of the State government, and bids fair to
keep it, unless driven out by federal
bayonets and batteries. In condemnation
of this grave wrong, just and moderate
men of the Republican party, throughout
the Union, will join the conservatives. 1t is
an act which touches the liberty and the
life of every citizen of the republic.
From the Shreveport Southwestern
HAS 1T COME TO THIS?
Whether the Democratic party will gain |
ar lose nv tho praSent fa1d cynoDnr fha bod