New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-01-20
x240
AFFAIRS IN LOUISIANA.

This Louisiana difficulty is similal to tha
which is disgracing the Republican party o
New York There is the same personal, self
ish scramble; the same traduclmg OF tn
opposite party as is practiced in New Or
leans. In either case the cOmbatants arr
representatives or citizens fighting for posi-
tiOns from which they may control thu
party. Another element which
came into the Republican party was shoddy
The war gave fat contracts, and many men
with the keen scent of the vulture, came
into the party to be eligible to take these
contracts. They were good Republicans
because there was ''mOney in it. Now
they are in the party, seeking either fol
power or plunder, and propose to keep il
the old ruts forever. Both parties
need to he thoroughly renovated, else there
is no hope for the nation. The people only
need to assert themselves, and the work is
done.
Says the Troy, New York, Times:
We confess that we do not like the par,
that federal officials are playing in the
drama. These federal officers went great
deal further last summer, in the effort to
manipulate the State Convention, than they
should have done. They exposed the Pres
ident to severe criticism for their miscon
duct. Now they show that they have
learned nothing by their experience and
blunders on that occasion. They exceeded
| the bounds of lawful authority and of pro
priety then They are going further now,
in giving aid and comfort to one of these
violent factions. We trust that
the President will give these Otficious men
fair warning that they must mind their own
business or quit. They profess to be his
friends, but they are doing him great harm
by their mischievOus acts.
| This is from the Milwaukee Sentinel:
And now we have the Democratic party
| of Louisiana calling for martial law. The
| only intervention by United States author
| ity has been sought by the Carter Demo-
cratic faction, and the abuse of the revenne
| cutter to shelter runaway Senators from the
Sergeant-at-Arms was by that faction; and
all this was disapprOved by the authorities
at Washington. If a call for martial law
had been made to suppress the Ku-Klux
Outrages, or TO protect Union men in the
enjoyment Of their right, what howl the
Democratic press of the North would have
sent up.
The Trenton New Jersey Gazette says:
President Grant may well exclaim, .Save
me from my friends" more insagacious
and hOt-headed lot of partisans than that
unfortunate gentleman is afflicted with
never marred the fortunes of public man.
Two striking examples of the folly of
these indiscreet men are just now in promi-
| nent relief before the country at New Or
leans and New York. In the former place
the customhouse crowd and United States
marshal seem to think that they are ad-
vancing Grants fortunes by high banded
proceedings against the State authorities.
And a few foolish newspapers that always
rush to the defense of anything done by
men who profess friendship Tor Grant COM
nit the egregious folly Of attempting to
shield and defend these Outrages. Presi-
dent Grant properly rebukes these pre-
sumptuOus ninnies by promising a rigid in
vestigation into the affair." and by sustain
ing. with United States soldiers, the State
authorities. In New York city another ex-
ample of this blind and unwise policy is
presented. Senator Howe, in conducting
the examination into the customhOuse
affairs, manifests extreme impatience and
annoyance at every evidence of fraud, and
the anxiety of an advocate to shield the
custOuhouse crowd from exposure. The
impatience and anxiety is reflected in one
or two papers that have assumed the char
acter of administration organs, and the few
people who depend upon these sheets for
their opinions are thus led to believe that
Grant fears and deprecates investigation
and exposure.
nal, says:
The President, according to authentic in
teligence, was ready enough to extend the
provisions of the ku-Klux act to New Or
leans. and place the entire State of Louis
lana under martial law; but his Cabinet
shrank from the responsibility of commit
ting such an act of illegality, even to secure
his denomination. The opposing factions
will therefore be permitted for the present
to fight their battle out there, and we trust
this is tut the precursor to the withdrawal
of the obnoxious enactment from other dis
tricts of the South. Notwithstanding all
the outcry which has been raised against
the unhappy whites there, they have, on
the whole. been far more sinned against
than shining; and President Grant will do
more to secure his reelection, as we'll as
render himself worthy of it, if it is to take
place at all, by extending a generous am
nesty to them than he can ever expect to
obtain from force of arms.
We copy the following from the st. Louis
Republican,, only remarking that the real
struggle in this State is not between two
factions of the Republican party, but be-
tween the Republicans and the insurrec-
tionary and revolutionary men of the De-
mocratic party. The latter are responsible
for all the disturbances here, and all the
losses entailed upon our commerce. There
is no way for the Democracy to escape this
fearful and terrible responsibility. The Re
publican says:
The American people have wonderful
faculty of adapting themselves to Circum-
stances. however extraordinary they may
be: and so it comes to pass that events
which would rouse the astonishment and
Indignation of any other civilized commu-
nifty on the face of the earth are hardly
sufficient here to raise ripple upon the
ocean of public opinion. Yet, if the same
events transpired abroad, our citizens would
discuss them earnestly upon the street cor
ners and on Change; our journals would
TEEN with comments on the critical situa-
tiOn and there would be a vast deal of in
terest felt in the final result of the foreign
imbroglio. Imagine the same condition OF
affairs in an English county, a British colony
or a state of the German empire, which now
exists in Louisiana, and what world OF
talk and printers ink would be expended
in sharp criticism and eloquent denuncia-
ton! How we should boast of our free in
stitutiOns, and draw tlatterlng comparisons
between the monarchies of Europe and the
proud republic of America; and with what
infinite gnstO we would dwell upon the bless
iRgs of liberty regulated by law and what
infinite pity should we expr ss for nation
alites crushed beneath the yoke OF kingly
oppression! But when the plague spot ~
on our own body polite 1t straghtway de-
generates into the merest trife, and we do
not seem to appreciate its moral significance
or the danger which it foreshadows.
1t is not our purpose to examine into the
merits of the Louisiana trouble, 10 de-
eide upon which belligertnt the largest
share of blame belongs; but we do declare
that the fight now in progress there is an
insult to deceny, an outrage On common
sense, and an utter disgrace to the whole