Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-13
8utland Daily aerald.
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
FRIDAY, MARCH Z. 1873.


1t was telegraphed throughout the
country, yesterday morning, that the
leading Republicans" of Louisiana and
the Fusion Legislature" of that State
Ind compromised on the basis of the
census of 1870 subject to ratification. !"
The dispatch does not deign to inform
os who are the ''leading Republicans, "
,;bo compose the "Fusion Legislature"
or uoon whose ratification the cOmprOm-
,se IS TO derive its binding force. The
facts were promulgated, we presume,
both rs a matter of news and as sub
iect for graduation. While we freely
r0ucede that the matter is news in
every possible sense of the word, being
hitherto unknown, unthought of, undis-
covered and an entirely neao way of
sIecting State officers and Legislatures,
5r, even, of deciding contested elections,
vet we must utterly dissent from the
Idea that there is anything in the propo-
.ition for graduation or congratulation.
rhe compromise proposed is, the dis
patch says, that ''the plurality have the
drst choice for Governor, and the min
urty the second choice for Lieutenant
Governor" What this means would
puzzle man, even wiser than Solomon,
20 decide. What plurality or minority
s disclosed by the census of 1870, or the
census of any former years, in Louisiana
we are unable even to guess. We are
sure that there are no such facts indiCat-
ed, in that or any other census, in refer
5nce to Vermont, New York or the 9th
er States. We have examined the Gen.
-us returns from Louisiana and fail to
detect any such distinction, even in
reference to that State. The dispatch,
although leaving this point somewhat
muddled, does not, happily, leave US in
doubt as to its effect. This, it says,
will make Kellogg Governor, and Penn
Lieutenant Governor. The Legislature
ls, also, to be arranged. Those members
Of the House of Representatives whose
elections are undisputed and uncontest
ed are to have seats, but the Senate and
the other members of the House are to
receive their credentials, if they have
any, and their seats, entirely on the
question Of color. That is where the
population of a district is mainly col
arad, the Republican member is to be
lated while in districts the majority
1T whose residents are white, the Demo
cratic or Liberal claimant is to be deemed
the proper Representative or Senator
as the case may be. The whole thing
Is absurd and ridiculous on lis face. The
very idea of any compromise is all
wrong. 1t is not a matter of comprom
lse 1t is, moreover, question of right
and wrong, a matter of fact and law
The compromise, so called, in the Ala
5ama case, a few weeks ago, forms no
precedent for this course. That, in the
real meaning of the term, was no COM
promise at all 1t was simply an agree
mint by both parties to do right. There
was a contest only in reference, if we
remember correctly, to two members,
hut out of this had arisen two bodies,
both claiming to be the Legislature Of
the State. The compromise was that
the Legislature should convene, organize
anew, without the votes of either or any
of the contestants, and, when so con-
yened and organized, should seat the
members whom they (the legislature
should decide to have been duly and
legally elected. This was strictly right
and proper, and involved no comprom-
Ise on either side, unless it Is a COM
promise tc do right, and recede from
wrong position. But this proposed
Louisiana compromise is an entirely diff
terent matter. In carrying it into eff
feet, they propose to disregard entirely,
the votes Of the citizens. 1t goes upon
an assumption, false in theory and false
in fact, that all the colored people are
necessarily Republicans, while all the
white population are Democrats or Lib
erals. We do not much wonder that
our Southern brethren naturally place
the entire oolored population among the
supporters of the administration 1t
may and, probably, does seem strange
10 them, that the freedmen should be
Otherwise than Republicans II is a
TACT, however, that some Of them have
gone astray and are following after
t2!sc gods. The white population are
not. by any means, All Democrats or
Liberals, A laroe number are, and for
years have been, active members of the
Republican party and supporters of the
administration. But even admitting
that their politics could be determined
by their color, it would not follow that
Representatives and Senators were elect
ed accordingly. Men do not always
vote according to their political affilia-
tons, neither does every voter always
vote The color of the population in a
given district might be proper and cumu-
lative evidence in contested election
inquiry, but no sane man would deter
mine the case upon such evidence alone.
As we have already said this is no matter
Tor compromise. Either William Pitt
Kellogg was elected Governor or he was
not. This sentirely aside from the oues-
uon determined by President Grant that
ne was, dc Jacto, Governor and would be
recognized as such. This recognition
presupposes contest, and the de fucto