New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-09-12

|
Journalist on His Travels-BandmaI
"T0m Jasper "a Dramati,
Failure, Etc.
New YORK, September 5, 1871.
| In accordance with previous arrange
ment, the delegation from the State conven
tion of the Republican party of Louisiana
called upon the President at Long Branch
yesterday, at noon. The day was lovely
| the trip pleasant, and the committee il
| good spirits. Arriving at the cottage occu
pied by General Grant, they were shown
| into reception room. Presently the Presi
| dent entered. He received his visitors in a
| polite but constrained manner; and the
| delegation, through their chairman, Gen
eral Campbell, proceeded to business by say
| ing that it had been judged fitting to com.
NIT to writing the statements and sug
gestions which they had to pre-,
sent. The committee, which had been
seated, rose on the entrance of the
President and all remain standing during
the reading of the address, copy of
which you have already received and
doubtless published. General Grants face
was quite flushed, and his manner restless.
He changed his position more than once
during the interview, but never to digni-
fed nor graceful one. First, he stood with
both hands crossed stify over the upper
part of his abdomen, then easily shifted his
his feet till he got them crossed, and
finally retreated toward piano and
leaned upon it. In doing so, one
hand accidentally touch the keys, up
among the high notes. The unexpected
sound i'm his rear startled his excellency,
and produced among his visitors feeling
of ill-suppressed merriment. Some of the
morning papers have exaggerated these
frequent changes of position and this acci-
dental touching of the piano into stamping
and banging upon the piano." but this is
simply absurd. 1t is true that he inter
rupted the reading of the address several
times. First in relation to that part of the
report which states that Marshal Packard
had called out and armed extra deputy
marshals without any authority of law, the
President broke in saying that Mr.. Packard
had been authorized in so doing by the At
torney General, and that moreover he was
authorized by the law.
At that part of the address which states
that Mr.. Packard claims that his calling
out of troops had been done with the full
Endorsement and consent of the highest au-
thority," and adds, "by which we under
stand to mean that of the President and his
chiefs of departments General Grant ex
Il ~ IL -
ruption was in reference to Mr.. Casey,
whom the President seemed nervously
anxious to defend, saying that the collector
twas not in New Orleans at the time, and
therefore could not be held responsible for
the use of the Customhouse," or words to
that effect. During the remarks made
at the close of the address, his excellency
displayed anxiety at the situation of affairs
in Louisiana, and annoyance at the position
in which he finds himself placed by the
bungling management of the government
officials in New Orleans. In reply to the
address, he simply said that he would send
a copy of it to the persons concerned, and
that, of course, he could take no further
action in the matter until learning what they
had to say for themselves.
Truly his dilemma is one to elicit SYM
pathy. He wishes to promote the interests
of the party in Louisiana, with which his
own may be identified; he wishes to uphold
his brother-in-law; he does not wish to see
that these wishes are inconsistent, perhaps
incompatible. Appointing relatives to i'm
portant offices all over the country may be
one of the prerogatives of the Presidency,
but it is one which may sometimes cause
difficulties, and so far from strengthening,
may weaken the chances of reelection, and
that indispensable preliminary, re-nomina-
ton. On this subject Jefferson says: "The
public will never be made to believe that
an appointment of relative is made on
the ground of merit alone, uninfluenced by
family views; nor can they ever see with
appreciation Offices, the disposal of which
they entrust to the President for public pur-
poses. divided out as family property"
The Republican party of this State is not
more harmonious than that of Louisiana,
although Senator Conkling (who has the
monopoly of the federal patronage) de-
clares that there is no cause for dissension.
He Is perfectly satisfied, and can not see
why everybody else is not the same.
You have already learned, by telegraph,
of the grand mass meeting held last Mon
day night, in the interest of political re-
forms. In point of numbers, it was bril-
liant success, as well as in the diversity of
classes and Of interests represented. There
were staunch Republicans and staunch
Democrats; men of every party, and men
of no party; men whose names as political
leaders are household words in this COM
munity, and men who have not taken the
trouble to simply cast vote in years, all
brought out and brought together by the
importance and interest of the occasion.
Men will stand the homeopathic robbery of
exorbitant taxation and misapplication of
public money long while before they will
take any steps toward selfprotection. Such
matters, being everybody's business, are
attended to by nobody; but there is limit
to the forbearance of taxpayers, and this
limit seems to have been reached now
and here. Judging from the names of
those who have assumed prominence
in this movement, the tone of the resolu-
tons and the vigor with which the commit
tees and subcommittee have already gone
to work, it seems fair to expect something
more of it than usually springs from efforts
of the sort. We have had more than one
"Citizens' Association" for political reform
n~la 1,,& L. I