The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1874-01-30

to the Louisiana difficulty is at least definite
and comprehensive. He stands by what has
been done and throws the responsibility OF
any injustice or improperly in acts sustained
by federal authority upon ''the courts
Is to say, upon Judge Durell. II the Presi-
dent satisfies his own conscience by this easy
process he will live to learn that the review OF
HIS acts from that source is tar more indulgent
| than the Judgment that will be passed upon
them by public opinion. 1t is true that the
constitution supposes that decisions of the
federal courts. properly reached. shall, If
resisted, be enforced by federal power
but then it assumes that the judges
shall be honest men, properly dis
charging judicial functions, and it further
more assumes the responsibility of the
Executive for these points- Does the Presi-
dent feel satisfied with his relations to this
part of the Louisiana dificulty2 If Durell is
responsible for his acts, who but the Presi-
dent is responsible for Durell? Appoint
ments have been made as if the idea of any
responsibility to the country on that head had
never reached the White House and men
have been continued in Office after their acts
had made their names infamous but to ap-
point bad men or not to remove them is
equally to betray the trust the country reposes
in the Executive. General Grant, therefore,
in justifying his acts by reference to Durell's
Judgment takes advantage of his own delin-
quenoy; or rather he rests one delinquency
upon another and simply moves his ground of
accusation against himself
Perhaps the President rightly regarding the
Louisiana usurpation as q monstrous outrage
on the liberties OF the people, would scarcely
care to be classed as an accessory and accom-
plice OF the parties who planned and executed
the villanOus proceeding; yet when he says
that in his official course he 'simply followed
the decision Of the courts, he commits him
self to an attempt to uphold Durell; for how
else can we interpret this calling the famous
midnight order "a decision of the CourtY No
one is in any doubt as to what is meant by the
words "a decision of the Court and as neither
the Council of Ten nor the Spanish hqui-
sition are the types of our constitutional
tribunals it is tolerably well understood !
that these words cannot apply to
to any facts or any case presented
in court, but is simply part of plot to seize
the power in a State. 1t is something more
than mere abuse of words that the President
thus falls into. It is an assent if not an as
sstance to the conspiracy. thus to endeavor to
give constitutional form and character and
legitimacy to an act that was as clearly mid
night outrage as was any midnight murder
ever done by footpad or burglar. More
over, if the President proposes to rest his ex-
ecutive responsibility upon presumed author
ity to act derived from federal court he must
first clear up the history Of the order sent to
the commander of the troops in New Orleans,
which anticipated any appeal to the courts
and was itself the very origin and corner
stone of the whole fabric of fraud
There is at least one point in the Presi-
dents latest views on the case in which we
can entirely agree with him-which is that
the Judge should be impeached Both as q
precedent necessary for the future safety of
the people and as an important preliminary
step in the present case this should be done;
and we are glad to learn that testimony taken
at New Orleans with view to this proceeding
is now in Washington and likely to be acted
upon with little delay The Impeachment of
Dureu would strike out the pin that holds to-
gether the whole frame of the edifce that
covers Kellogg and Pinchback and the rest;
for the rebuke and disavowal of that mid
night order would be equally the rebuke and
disavowai of the employment of the troops,
the seizure of the place used as State House,
and, indeed, of every subsequent step in that
train of outrages; and upon the impeach-
ment Of the Judge the Executive would
necessarily cease to sustain the act upon which
the impeachment was founded Kellogg
would fall, therefore, and to avoid anarchy the
government would be compelled to order q
new election. But though the President
urges that Congress should impeach Durell it
seems that there are those about him who
hold different opinions, and deem that they
are properly defending the President in doing
what they can to prevent Durell's impeach-
ment. They urge, first, that Duren should
resign, and, if he will not do this, that Con-
gress should legislate him out Of Office by
abolishing his district. They pretend that
their desire in this is to save their party the
scandal and the disintegrating strife
of an impeachment trial But these
men, if this be their real motive, IN
derstand very little the relation of
parties to public opinion, and the President
was far better politician than they are when
he proposed relieving the party by publicly
and VIGOROUSLY cutting loose from it the in
| EQUITIES that those men propose not to put
aside, but to smother out of sight and retain
All the scandals ever brought to Light would
not do the harm to the party that will be done
| by retaining this monstrosity, and the i'm
| parchment of the Judge would be a political
publication that would indicate to the country
that the leaders of the republican party are
more Interested in its GOOD rennte than in the