The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-12-31
IS SOMEBODY WILL BE RURT"-GOV.
McENERY'S TELEGRAM.

Z
the United States like a national calamity, an
is full of alarming portects. For some tim
it has been hoped that the unprincipled me
who, as the Returning Board of the State
have been conspiring to falsify the results G
the ecent election, would be deferred from
concentrating the proposed outrage. 1t
true that there seemed but slender foundation
for the hope. The secret sessions of tn
board, its protracted proceedings, the salts
factory proof that returns were being tam
pered with, and in some cases actually forged
the bad character of the actors in the con
spiracy, all indicated determination to com
plete the usurpation initiated by Kellogg anc
his partisans two years ago.
Nevertheless, it could scarcely be credited
that sane men, with the example OF the recent
elections in the Northern States before them,
would be reckless enough to persevere IN a
policy SO emphatically condemned by the
whole people and to still further provoke pub
lie INDIGNATION The final action Of the Re
turning Board proves that the agents selected
for the work have as little prudence as hon
esty, and leaves US with the painful certainty
that the people Of Louisiana have no choice
but to submit as pa,ientlyas they may to the
cruelest injustice and oppression, or to place
themselves in the unfortunate and fatal posi-
ton of resistance to the United States Gov
eminent. This latter resort we have the au-
thority of Gov. McEnery, in his telegram to
the Herald this morning, for saying is not
contemplated. In this there is ground for
hope that peace will be preserved until JUS
tice can be done to the oppressed people OF
the unfortunate State.
Looking at the effect Of this outrage from a
political point Of view alone it is impossible
not to see that j. must eventually be fatal to
those who take part in its preparation or
abettal. Indeed, it almost induces a belief
in fatality when we find men of apparent
shrewdness rushing heedlessly on in the pur-
suit of policy that cannot fail to accom-
plish their destruction. Recently President
Grant made the significant remark that if
there should be any more resistance to the
Kellogg government "somebody will be
hurt" The whole miserable history of this
Louisiana business, from the usurpation Of
Kellogg down to the second overthrow of the
form Of republican government, is of char
acter to hurt all who figure in it. The Re
publican leaders have already been seriously
hurt by their criminal craftsmanship in the
business of reconstruction.
The National Administration has been hurt
by its injudicious and despotic interference in
State elections and in the aid it has afforded
to usurpation when the will Of the people has
been in conflict with the interests OF Radical
ism. Should this latest and most fragrant
outrage be consummated, should the Govern
ment elected by the people of sovereign
State be deprived of power through fraud,
forgery, and conspiracy. rendered effective by
the force of United States bayonets, the one
man who will be hurt beyond all hope of re-
covery will be Ulysses S. Grant The bright
record of the hero of the war will be forgotten
in the general denunciation that must follow
tran Pam h1ioov,
ment.
Nor can the principle of Republicanism fail
to be hurt by blow struck at its foundation
by hands that should protect it and be fore
most in maintaining its inviolability It is
easy, therefore, to predict that the political
effect Of the Louisiana business and like out
RACES will be very different from that antici-
pated by their authors and abettors. Whether
designed to perpetuate the present National
OF intended simply to prolong
the rule of corruption and plumber in the re-
constructed States, the policy that produces
such fruits will assuredly be strangled at the
earliest moment the people of the Union can
lawfully place their grasp on its throat.
Another and momentous inquiry suggests
itself in connection with this miserable affair
What will be the effect of the action of the
Returning Board on the people of the un-
happy State? We are told that they are
gloomy and respondent" and 1t is easy to
imagine how the hearts OF men must be cast
down by the prospect before them. Aside
from the Indignation that every one must feel
whose rights are thus outraged, the citizens
Of Louisiana know that the honor and credit
Of their State must suffer, that property must
deteriorate in value, that foreign capital will
be shut out from them when they are most in
need of it, and that ruin awaits their business
classes.
They have also the apprehension that some
Of the more daring and thoughless spirits
among them may rise up in rebellion against
the usurpation, and plunge the State into yet
more deplorable trouble. Upon this point
Gov. McEnerys letter has great significance.
While renewing his promise of obedience to
he Federal Government, he is 0utspoken in
his declaration that resistance has become
necessity. The wrong done, he says, would
not be submitted to by any free people. |
Heretofore McEnery has behaved with great |
and such imprisoned Ian |
yuage from him, even when taken in connec-
ion with his subsequent declaration that ere
sistance to the national authority has never
been meditated,' is significant OF trouble if |
he remedy be too long delayed.
He should permit no outbreak, for it could
lot fail to end il disaster to a people already
)VerDOrue ny MlSIOItune resistance now,
wen if it is expressly limited to resistance
O the usurping authority in the State Gov
would afford the opportunity to
many who desire to confuse and overshadow
he real issue and place the Conservatives of
he South in false position. 1t would
,aralyze the efforts Of those in the North who
spouse the cause Of their Southern brethren
S their own, and who will fight their battles
at the ballot-box until they win
heir disenthrallment. Hence every good
riend Of the South will unite with us in ex-
lorting the men OF Louisiana 10 possess them
elves with patience; tc endure any wrong
wen to the infamous act of a reversal Of the
popular will, legally and peacefully expressed
It the ballot-box, rather than to give their
enemies the advantage Of representing them
IS in armed resistance to the United States
government or even of procaiming martial
aw in the State. 1t is better to bear usurp-
ne, corrupt and villainous government for
wo years than by an imprudent act to risk
he postponement OF the final day of reckon
ng. The recent elections have given unmis-
akable indications that the people of the
IN ion are resolved to restore rannhI;ca,, ,,,,,.