Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1873-05-28
Louisiana.

I Louisiana.
The recent proclamation of the Presiden
calling upon the insurgents in Louisiana Il
disperse, sharply calls public attention agair
to affairs in that unhappy state, and war
rants, perhaps, a brief statement of the situa
ton.
The cleo lion last fall was unusually quiet
and, as was generally admitted, was tolerably
fair, except that in some districts where Their
was large negro vote the polling places wer
not conveniently located. Both parties
claimed the state by from 10000 to &c, OO(
majority. The vote was never counted, as
far as can be ascertained, by any legally con
stituted canvassing board. The Warmotl
or Democratic board, had possession of tn,
returns, while the Kellogg or Republican
board, upon whose pretended canvass thu
present State government calls itself elected,
never had any legal, if indeed il had any re
turns before it. IF that board made any
canvass 1T was from newspaper reports
forged returns and guess-work OF course il
declared the Republican ticket elected; and
it was doubtless hoped that the end wou lc
Justify the means.
But this was not enough. 1t was vel
enough understood that such a government
could not be inaugurated without the helE
of United States troops, and these could only
be had through the device of process issuing
from United States court. Judge Durell
furnished the process, and the United States
marshal, under orders from Washington,
furnished the troops. This part of the tran
action has been properly characterized as
g outrageous y by Republican committee OF
| tht United States Senate. 1t had no warrant
in law, or precedent, or justice, or equity. 1t
was bold and bald and premeditated usur-
patton. But it accomplished what it was set
on foot to accomplish, and put the Kellogg
government IN the places of authority in
Louisiana. Since that moment the state has
really had no state government, for Kellogg
has never seen day when he could maintain
the United States army was at his command.
If the state had been remanded to the condi-
ton it was in before reconstruction. and
Kellogg had been appointed provisional gov
ernor under military rule, ne would not have
been in fact more an agent and representative
of the United States than he is now, and
louisiana would thus have had just as
much a state governm ent of it's own choosing
as it has now.
Such is the condition of Louisiana to-day
and is it not strange that the President hav
ing set the Kellogg government up in Louisi-
ana finds that it cannot maintain itself, and
is obliged to come to its aid with the army
and navy Of the United States
Yet it is not easy to see that the President
can do anything else than just what he is
doing. The first step last fall was the fatal
one. Having once recognized the Kellogg
government as the legal one he must, to be
consistent, stand by it, The people of Lou
isiana have no purpose of resisting the Unit
ed States. They are only resisting Kellogg
and his police. They know the state govern
ment cannot stand alone, and they have
made that apparent. The constitution makes
it the duty of the United States to protect a
state. on proper application, from domestic
violence, and as the President recognizes the
Kellogg government as the state of Louis
lana, he is in duty bound to protect it. And
this protection, if it is to be ised al all
has cone none too soon. Kellogg's weakness
has been apr aren't to every body but himself
for many weeks. The custom house at New
Orleans, which really is the managing head
Of affairs in Louisiana, has found him I'M
suited to its purpose. The state was not only
Rapidly drifting into anarchy it had
already reached it, 1t is to be hoped
hat this United States interposition will at
least restore order and quiet Even a usurp-
ng government may Be better than for the
people to fall to cutting each others throats;
it is certainly better than such massacres as
that at Coliax. Senator Carpenter, of Wis
consjn, said in a recent speech in New Or
leans
You must keep the peace until this
outrageous conduct of Durell is set aside. 1t
is not Kellogg that governs The state it is
not Grant, but the law, and to the law you
must submit. Congress will doubtless cor
rect it, and pray you, gentlemen, for God s
sake, do not injure your cause by any distur-
bance, and | feel convinced you will be set
right. II the Kellogg government cannot
show that the election returns were fraudu
lent believe that Congress will order a new
election and put him out"
The New York Times, while approving the
Presidents proclamation to maintain the
peace in LOU siana, says:
" Yet we assure the President that the coun-
try is not blind to the faet that his own
appolntees in Louisiana are, to a lamentable
extent, responsible for the bitterness and con-
fusion which prevail there, and that had he
in 1871, as we then urged him to do, remov-
ed Messrs. Casey and Packard, and COMPEL
ed their associates and successors to keef
out of state politics altogether, his present
action would either never have been requr-
ed, or if required, it would have come with
much better grace"
The truth Is, the whole of this Louisiana
trouble has been brought about by the i'm
proper intermeddling of federal officials with
the politics of that state. The people o
Louisiana have something of the same sens
of their capacity to govern themselves that
the people of Vermont have. II they hat
been let alone in the same sense as ths
northern states were let alone in the lat
election, they would have been as peaceful
and quiet as Georgia or Mississippi or Ala
bama. Federal interference began the
disturbance but as it is strong enough t.
quiet it, it ought to do that at once il tn
interest of peace. A usurpation to be re
!, spected and respectable, ought to be vigorou
and decided and the President having un