The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-09-24
Shall There be New Election in Louisis ma
Governor McEnery has set noble ex.

ample to his opponent. In his letter al
dressed to the New York Herald he offers
to resign all claim to the office to which he
believes he was elected, upon the condition
that Gov. Kellogg shall also resign, with
the understanding that new state govern
ment shall be chosen by the people. 10
this spirit of unselfsh zeal for the good of
Louisiana the highest praise is due; but it
has characterized the McEnery party from
the first. In the recent revolution there
was every temptation for the successful
leaders to use extreme measures to retain
their power. They certainly represented
the will of the people, They claimed to
be the duly elected officers of Louisiana.
The public opinion of the country, and, as
in the case of as conspicuous partisan as
Senator Carpenter, public opinion without
distinction of party believed in the justice
of this claim. Even extreme Republi-
cans, of whom General Butler might be
called the representatives, could find moth
ing but apologies for the Kellogg govern
ment As if to emphasize these facts, the
behavior of the contending parties during
the crisis was such as to destroy any vesi-
tige of respect that may have been felt
for Kellogg, and to increase our sympathy
for Mr.. McEnery and his followers. KEEL
logg and his comrades behaved like cow
ards. They did not strike a manly blow
for their power At the first blush OF
revolution they threw down the sovereign
ty Of the state and FASTENED to seek pro-
lection behind the federal bayonets. Gen
eral Longstreet seems to have made an ct,
fort to redeem the cause of Kellogg, bu
surrounded by such men even his conspic
uous and unquestioned bravery were use
less.
Yet, in the hour of absolute victory, the
McEnery government down threw its arms
and its opportunity at the feet of the ma
tional government. The simple demand
of the president was enough. His move
ments of troops from other states to Lou
isiana, his orders for war vessels to proceed
to the Mississippi were altogether unneces-
sary. This horrible array of war againstNew
Orleans was as supertiuous as it would have
been against New York, for no resistance to
the United States authority was c0ntem-
plated or made. The President might
have spared his threat to shell the city or
inundate it by breaking the leYees, for it
was not justified by the temper Of the peo-
pie, and we regret that it was ever made.
We must remember that we cannot always
deal with revolution as u wicked outbreak
against authority, or an act of lawlessness,
like the religious riots of thirty years ago
or the Astor place riot, or the outbreaks
in New \ ork city against CONSUMPTION in
1864. The difference between these,
events aud what we have seen in Louisiana
is the difference between isolated and wan
ton disturbance of the peace and the spon-
taneous uprising of a people against tyran-
ny and corruption. Nothing could have
been more brutal, for instance, than the
New Orleans riot of 1866. The response
to that on the part Of the North was in
slant and decisive. President John
sons strange sympathy with the at
fair was the beginning Of the downfall OF
his administration. That riot had every
phase OF wicked resistance to law An
armed mob suppressed freedom of speech.
A convention in proper deliberatiou was
dissolved by force, its leaders murdered,
innocent spectators massacred and negroes
shot down on the highway, amid general
reign of lawlessness and terror. The re-
cent revolution had none of these painful
phases, Authority was assumed by what
certainly was obedience to the will of the
people Of Louisiana. There was no re
venge, no recriminaton, none of those
scenes of bloodshed and cruelty which
marked the success of revolutions in France
and other countries. There was nothing
in the whole course of the McEnery revo-
luton, from its inception to its surrender,
to forfeit the respect or the sympathy of
the American people for the people of
Louisiana and their leaders,
This answer Mr.. Kellogg made to Gov
ernor McEnery ought to have been as pa
triotic as the offer. The ease with which
the revolution was effected must have con.
WINGED the nation that his government has
not the support of the people, and he
should profit by the lessons. He has
the power now to satisfy the
wishes Of Louisiana and to relieve
the national government from embarrass-
ment. Let him use it wisely, aud not i'll
sist upon compelling the administration to
keep him in an office which he has not the
power to hold unaided. If he accepts the
proposition OF Mr.. McEnery he will make
peaceful and permanent solution of the
difficulty possible, and prove that he values
fhp welfare pf tho Stata thn, 10
honors and gains of office. But if he re-
fuses, the entire nation will be forced to
recognize III him an obstacle to peace. and
VIII justly reason that the man who breads
tar election, now, has good cause to
doubt the fairness of the election before. =
We inter from his telegram that it is not
his intention to resign, and that ne places
the responsibility of his removal upon the
legislature which is to be elected
But, whatever Mr.. Kellogg may choose
TO do, the duty of the government is to see
that justice is rendered to the people of
Louisiana. The proof is overwhelming
that they repudiate the Kellogg admins |
tratlon. The appeal from the president Of /
the board Of trade of Baton Rouge. the I
President of the Farmers Association and
other citizens, is only additional evidence
OF the Intense dread they have that this
hated rule may be restored. General
Grant should deal with the question of
equity as well as with that of the law He
has suppressed the armed revolution by a
word, but the moral revolution still lives as
a protest against usurpation and crime in
Louisiana and the crimina! sympathy Civ
EN- to usurpation and crime by the admin
lstratlon. The country will demand from
the President, as due to the oppressed
people OF that state, something of the VIC
or he has shown in overcoming the Nc.
Emery government He should insist mn