The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-03-08
The Compromise Question.

The NeW40rleanS 1lneS mas q repOf-
ter who calls himself Roundabout.
His sympathies seem to be rather with
the MeEnery government, but he has
too much sense to make fool of him
self and not see facts which are thrust
in his face. He has been in favor of
compromise as the only relief from
the faction wal for the State govern
ment, and the only mean of restoring
political peace and prosperity. to the
State-to New Orleans especially, His
political talk on this subject was not
well received by the Fusion extremists,
and he slackened for awhile. Since
the action or ~nOn-actiOn of Congress,
however, and the Presidents message
declaring his intention of continuing
to recognize and support Kellogg, the
subject comes, up again; and ROunda-
bout in the Times Of the 81 inst, re-
views the history of the Fusion foolish
ness, and states that the Fusion Legis-
lature is reported to have rejected a
fair compromise. If this is so, we will
continue to have the Kellogg govern
ment pure and simple, and those who
are not pleased at it, will have nobody
to blame but the Fusion Legislature.
This is R%oundabout's sketch:
A good deal of curiosity and some
discomfort has been expressed on aC-
count Of Roundabout disseminating, in
a measure, his political Investigations.
The time has now arrived when that
can be explained.
The readers of this column will re-
call the fact that there was a time, some
weeks ago, when our Legislature was
indQstriously engaged in the occupation
of doing nothing particular. All through
that period, the community was kept in
a FOOLS Paradise with "privatc tele-
grams" and positive information" and
all the rest Of it. Every day We ex-
pected to hear of the final recognition
of our government, and every day we
heard nothing of the kind. When the
excitement began to die away, and the
more sensible Of the Legislature
clamOred for action, another telegram
would come and a fresh sedatiye go in
to operation. Finally the committee
men began to return. The first arr
walls were a little surprised that the re,
cOgnitiOn hadn't taken place while they
were en- route. The next said it wOulC
come in a day or two certain-the NORTH
was indignant, etc. Some more got il
who thought it was a certainty before
very lOng-MOrtOn had said sO-and so
and a great sensation had been created
by the testimony of jacques. Finally
!, people got hopeful, and spoke Of {
strong case, etc.
, All this t1u,n po~r1nInhO,4 Ii1nP+ rNo
lieve a word of it. He had seen nothiM
in the past history of the Republican
party to make him believe it's leader
were going to throw their friends owe,
in an emergency. He put aside al
consideration Of the merits of the cas-
r and asked himself the practical cues
ton, will Congress disregard the evi
! dent wish of the PRESIDENT Common
: sense told him no! The idea then pre-
, scented itself of suggesting a conprO
, mise such as the President and Con
gress could approve without danger O
offending their own people. Conf
dence ran high at that time, and private
, kilograms were flying down the wires
The a~ll-or-nothing party was powerful
and "nO compromise" was the accepted
Shibboleth. But there is nothing likt
making IN early, start, and 80 ROunda
I DOut IuiltGu lD SUI1e lI1cII&tS OF HIS III
the Legislature, whom he knew to b.
L gallant and sensible gentlemen. I
r little plain talk convinced him that
: fair compromise would not be unaccep
table even in those halcyOn days, an,
forthwith he raised the tune. Oh! HOY
few took it up. What! not believe tn
good news! That fellow Roundabout
: is a miniOn of Kellogg; he is wOrkin.
! for his master, and so on, and so on.
I. Roundabout was in bad Odor abou
t that time for %Venturing to hint tina
s some people didn't know everything
He was read, however, and bided hi
time, and hammered away at the sam
old tune.
e By and by the radiant Goddess Conf
n dence meulted her feathers. The hope
full era dawned, and then the argumen
1 tative but suddenly one bright morn
ing a card appeared in the TIMES calm
IL meeting Of the members of eithe
Legislature returned by both boards.
Then Roundabout knew that como
=, sense had resumed it's sway in tn
h quarters where it was most needed, an
e he rested on his oars. His mission ha
!, never been to mar anything distinguish
= ed by that beautiful trait, and he ha
always known where discretion bt
h longed to fair play.
Since that time Roundabout has NJ
stirred the political waters. He b.
lieved that in compromise the best we
Il fare of the Fusion party was mvOlvet
e and he knew that the gentlemen WI
had concluded to promote it were an
:. mated by pure and patriotic motives.
Ill Propositions and counter-propOshio1
have been made, and there has been
great display of coyness and gener
20 coquetry on both sides; but matte
were gradually getting cleared u
10 Finally a plan was submitted WhiC
both sides could fairly accept under tt
re- circumstances. It gave the Fusionis
about fifteen Senators and forty-sevC
members, and the basis of the arrang
y ment was perfectly impartial. Round;
D. of the most prominent city legislato
/. that the proposition was tolcrably sati
d factory, and would in all probability
accepted by Saturday evening.
Everything looked we'll for such
had no axes to grind and sincere
- wished to see Louisiana restored
peace, Roundabout is among this nur
IN ber,) and no possible good could con
he of any public allusion to a matter n
yet contaminated.
' But now, it appears, that the time h
come to talk. Roundabout is inform,
by responsible members of the Fusi
TT Legislature that the compromise W
On taken up and rejected yesterday ate
q noon. " ~.
Those same dispatches and assuranc
~ which beat WaTmoth and elected N
Millen seem to have had the indire
nd effect of beating compromise and /
Installing the a1l-or-nothing poll
again. It is not probable that the
ne instruments were employed for a
d. ether purpose than to prevent w