New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-12-11
rUr pERTURBED SOUTH.


In Louisiana, South Carolina, and Alabama
there exists q state Of disturbance which is
well nigh chaos come again. The struggle
deepens in louisiana and the suits and cross
suits, iniunctions and other legal complications
which grow out of the contest for the Gov
eminent are sufficiently bewildering to
confuse the clearest mind. In the midst OF
this wild wrangle, however, one fact is patent:
the origin of the whole difficulty is found III the
so-caIled Enforcement legislation Of Congress.
Judge Durell's acts, oppressive and tyrannieal
as they appear, find their authority in the En-
forcement laws, if anywhere. Even those laws,
it is true, do not seem to give the United States
courts cOgnizance of any such case as that
made up by Kellogg and decided by DureD.
The law provides that candidate who claims
that he has been unjustly deprived OF hs
Office by the exclusion Of the votes OF citizens
on account of race, color, or previous condition
of servtude, may bring action, &c. heiiogg
never could claim thathe had been so deprived
until he could proceed against the person VINO
was put into the Office of Governor 10y the
frauds or other crimes against which he pro-
tests. Yet Judge Durell anticipated all that
dicton of the case before it had any standing
in the courts. In other words, he decided Oh
it in advance, so as to give Kellogg pos
session; which would he cOnceding him
a great advantage at the outset. From
this extraordinary step until now, every new
phase has only complicated affairs and con-
tirmed the opinion that, however well In In
tention were the Enforcement laws, they are
dangerous and fraught with mischief. Law
has been brought into contempt; the popular
will in Louisiana is effectually put out OF
sight, and what seems to be fdrclcal traVesty
of self-government covers the State. All this
is the result of an interference OF Congress
with local law.
The latest news from Louisiana leaves Lieu
tenant-GOv. Pinchback in the chair as acting
Governor vice Warmoth, impeached and re-
moved. Pinchback also appears as Congress
man-at-Large, having commissioned himself
as such, under the authority which he pro-
fesses to receive as acting Governor. AS Ii
this were not sufficiently absurd, he declares
Attorney General Ogden removed and, to
stop the proceedings which Ogden had begun
in the U. S. Supreme Court against
Judge Durell, Ogden's successors commissioned
by Pinchback and is instructed to discontinue
those proceedings. On WarmOths side there
is less activity; he has procured In the
Eighth District Court an injunction against
Pinchback restraining him from exercising the
powers Of Governor. This injunction was
issued by Judge ElmOre, who was commits
stoned by Warmoth, sent to Jail for usurping
judicial power by the Kellogg party, pardoned
out by Warmoth, and IS now in his seat
again. Could q more dsgraceful picture of
judicial juggling be imagined We cannot
even guess at the issue of all this debasing
wrangle; we can only hope that the pressure
of Federal power will eventually be removed
from Louisiana and that popular rights may
stand up again.
In Alabama the case is not yet so serious.
There are still two Legislatures in session
and there may soon be two Governors. The
State House Legislature, which has every
appearance of regularity, threatens to inn
peach Gov. Lewis, who has recognized
the Court House or boiling Legislature.
As he refuses to acknowledge the
legality of the body which proposes to i'm
peach him, it is plain that contest will be
soon impending between him and new Gov
ernor should he be impcached and removed.
The State-II House Legislature has also elected
a United States Senator, Mr. L. w. Sykes, who
is described as q gentleman possessing a good
political record, and as an early advocate and
supporter of the last amendments to the Fed
eral Constitution. His election takes the case
to the United States Senate.
Affairs are unsavOry in South Carolina,
where Mr.. j. j. Patterson, Il thrifty unscrupu-
lous Pennsylvania, has been elected to the
Senate by the Legislature. lie came to grief
at once, being arrested for bribery and cor
ruption. Temporarily released from custody,
he was rearrested, and is yet to be tried. This
scandalous chapter in South Carolina politics
will not surprise anybody who has paid any
attention to affairs in that State. AS between
ex-GOv. Scott and Patterson, the latter would
be choice of evils. But both are understood to
have regarded the contest for the Senat0rship
as one of cash only. Ii may be difficult to
prove bribery in Patterson's case; though
there is littlo doubt that the moral evidence
against him is conclusive. Mr.. Elliott, the
cOlOred candidate, seems to have cut no figure
in the canvass. His strength has been sup
posed to be merely an unknown quantity
which was marketable. All of these troubles
and squabbles are disgraceful to American
politics; but they are the legitimate fruit OF
repression.