New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-04-08
DE PkCTO,

We do not mean 10 lmpule ignorance,
but inadvertence, to such Of our compeers
as use the terms de facto, as applicable to
the relations between a citizen and the
government of his State. There is to the
citizen but one state Of government
Every government is to the citizen gov
eminent of right. Itmay be administered
by his enemies. It may be IN the hanuS
Of those he may consider bad men. us
laws NAV be. in his opinion, contrary 10
good conscience. yet this IS la"lui gov
eminent TO the citizen, and be can not ID
anv manner qualify his obedience TO tne
laws. He can stop at no de .facto half
vav house. He must obey the govern
,oent as lawful, or he may decide to resist
and throw it off. Ali Republican govern
ments are de j,re as to their own cl'lzenS'
This offspring Of. the higher law has been
heretofore exposed. The citizen OF re-
public agrees that there shall lie mode
Of legislation, of adjudication and OF ez-
ecuting the law. If the persons chosen for
these purposes do not suit the citizen.
he NAV reform the government at the
next election. If the laws do not meet his
approval, he can resort to the agreed tnbu-
nails. If he finds the majority unworthy
of his association he can emigrate. But
neither the personal notification nor its
newly discovered relative. the de Jact0
dodge, is legitimate. No honorable cltl'
zen can live in a country. accept the pro-
lection Of the laws. and reserve right 10
disobey such as he does not approve. IL
has been explained that those citizens OF
the United States who absolved them
selves from obedience to the fugitive slave
law, because it was violative of their con-
scientious convictions, were in the wrong.
The offense of the law was that CT those
who made or of those who interpreted 1t.
The citizen who obeyed an agreed exposl-
ton of that law was guiltless Of moral
wrong. Law is a rule Of civil conduct
prescribed by the supreme power OF a
State, commanding what is right and pro-
hibiting what is wrong and each citizen
of a republican government has agreed that
an appointed tribunal shall define what
is right and what is wrong. Therefore
the citizen is under obligation to obey the
laws under which he lives as de Jure
and not as de focto. The term de
facto, as applied to a government IS
adopted by one government to describe
the actual existence Of authority in
another government. When Santa Anna
overthrow the constitution of 1924 and
successfully proclaimed dictatorship, his
was a government de ,facto, as to other gov
ernments. 1t was no government at all as
to the people of Mexico because it was
not government made with the ''consen'
| of the governed" 1t was to them not dt
fdcto, but anarchy. The republican gov
eminent of France, the consulate and en-.
pire were all de ,factO governments. SO
far as they were severally accepted and
installed by the consent Of the governed
they were lawful governments to the
people of France. The United States was
one of the first to relieve itself Of embar'
rassment about the legality Of an existing
foreign government. 1t recognized three
lie tacto governments in France within
| a few weeks.
The same term is now improperly ap.
| piled to a government Of one Of the con-
stituent States Of the Union. Louisiana
is in no sense under q de tacto government.
The government Of the United States las
pronounced it legal according TO the only
rule of legality. the decisions Of the State
courts. Louisiana is governed by an adj
ministration legally chosen and republican
in form, so far as appears from the only
test of legitimacy which the federal gov
eminent has right to require.
There is, then, no such term as lie jdc'0
properly applicable to the government Of
Louisiana either by the federal govern
ment or the citizens Of Louisiana. It is
either lawful government or anarchy,
and should be obeyed without qualifca-
ton or overthrown without regard to con-
sequences. To this alternative it is proper
that all who foment discomfort should con-
fine themselves. There can be no hating
at the halfway house of disobedience to
an unpalatable law. Let there be an end
of this mischievous fallacy. It has no
meaning except to mislead.