New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-10
THE EMPLOYMENT or THE ARMY.

THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE ARMY.
There is perhaps no one of the Presidents
powers which ought to be exercised with more
scrupulOus care than the power to use the
armed forces of the United States IN sustain
ing the authority of local officers. The Con-
stitution makes it the duty Of the United States
to protect each State against domestic vio-
lence, on application of its Legislature, or of
the Governor in case the Legislature cannot
be assembled, and the statutes authorize the
President to employ for this purpose "such
part of the land or naval forces as shall be
" Judged necessary" 1t is worthy of remark,
| however, that the President is not to decide
in the first instance whether the emergency
| contemplated in the Constitution has arisen
| The danger of Federal interference was fore
seen, and it is stipulated, both in the Consti-
tuition and the statute, that the application
for assistance must be made by the State Leg
islature, unless it is absolutely impossible for
that body to be called together in time, when
| it may be made by the Governor. Even then
the President is not compelled to act; it be-
comes "lawfuln for him to interfere, but If
be has reason to believe that bis aid is not
honestly needed it is both bis right and his
duty to refuse it.
How Gen. Grant has proceeded with the
employment of troops in Louisiana has been
already shown, and the letter which we
printed yesterday from our very capable spe-
cial correspondent in NewOrleans throws
strong light upon the case. He shows that
the recent demand for assistance, which re-
suited in the Proclamation of May %, prac-
tically came, not from Louisiana at all, but
from the Federal office-hOders. And we may
say the same thing of the first employment of
troops in December. On the Sd of that month
the Attorney General telegraphed to Marshal
Packard that Gen. Emory would furnish him
with soldiers to enforce the DEGREES of the
courts-in other words, of Judge DureD.
There had been no violence of any kind, no
resistance to any writ, no conflict of jurisdic-
ton, and if any demand had been made upon
the President for help it had been made by
Packard himself. Certainly the Legislature
had asked for no interference, neither had
! Gov. Warmoth. Nevertheless troops had
already been ordered to New-Orleans, and as
soon as Durells midnight order was signed
they occupied the State-House. After the
| Pinchback administration had been installed
/ by this action of the troops, formal
request for military assistance was made upon
/ the President by Pinchback and his Legisla-
! ture. 1t was so evident, however, that no
/ disorder existed which required the use of the
soldiers, that the President hesitated to COM
ply with the demand, as he lhad of course q
perfect right to do and it appears from the
published correspondence that when he did
finally act upon it, he acted not in order to
preserve the public peace, but in order to
preserve the Administration majority in the
Legislature. Collector Casey telegraphed that
the delay in placing troops at the disposal
of Gov. Pinchbackn imperiled the party
quorum, and gave strength to the COnserva-
tive opposition. He urged that orders should
be sent to Gen. Emory before the Democratic
members could take their seats in the Legis-
lature. He telegraphed three times within
two days. always to the same effect, and at
! last the President yielded. In this case, there
! fore, he used the army of the United States,
not at the demand of the Legislature or the
! Governor, to protect State against domestic
| violence, tbut at the demand of Collector
| Casey, to protect the Administration party
against political defeat.
On the 18th of May, ten days before the ap-
pearance of the Presidents proclamation, we
published a dispatch from Washington an
nouncing that Gen. Grant was determined to
take high-handed measures in Louisiana, and
to make vigorous employment of the troops
as soon as Gov. Kellogg could be induced to
ask for them. eff Mr.. Kellogg can be made
" to understand what is required of him. said
our correspondent, "heroic treatment will be
administered by the President. AS soon as
" a requisition is made the President will issue
+" proclamation in the most positive language,
admonishing the citizens of Louisiana to peace,
+" dispensing the McEnery government, and pro-
claiming the Kellogg assumption as the lawful
government, and announcing the intention of
I" the Executive to sustain Mr.. Kellogg with the
whole military force of the country" But Mr..
Kellogg, though he wanted the troops. was
unwilling to take the odium of asking for
them. lie knew that there was no need of
them, and that their employment could only