New-York tribune., 1874-10-23
THE LOUISIANA CONTEST.
TIE SITUATION STILL oMINOUs.

-<..,o avn xrIIoGa PAKTY IN pERsECUTING
vux NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. ARRESTS of oS-
OFFENDING CITIZENS IN NORTH LoUIsiANA-rHE
= uscopIK ADVISED NOT TO GIVE boNDs-THE
CITIZENS OF CousHATTA GREATLY DIsCOURAGED
REIGN OF TERROR IN The PARISHES -
NEW ORLEANS Oct 22.-The situation is ht'ie
more ominous this evening. 4 think though much
.of il NAV be intended rather menace than any
thing else The impression seems to be, however,
that the proceedings to mpeach the jurisdiction OF
the Second District Court issuing natural
fzation papers will be pushed. If successfully
done il will dsfranchise aeout 6,OOO conserVa
tive voters in the city. This Court has peeh
almost exclusively used in taking out citizenship
papers for the past 20 years More than two-'hnos
of the naturalizations Of New-Orleane hold their
titles from il and the invaldation OF Its antnorty
will of course make o clean sweep Some tnink tne
agitation of the question is designed to harrass ana
alarm the Conservatives and to break down the
spirit OF the campaign which has thus iaf peen Ca
tremely unpromising for the Radicals.
I have never seen anything equal to the cold
blooded maglignity with which the Federal offi-
eials and Kellogg Ring here are goadng and perse-
cutting these poor people. Now that they they nave
the military at their disposal, they seem utterly
reckless as to what the consequences may De- speak
ing Of the military, / may mention that durng
the last twn days, there have a great
many unseemly and unnecessary displays OF
army force, such as marching promlscuously about
the streets, manuverng, exercising, &c, ana the
pretext is that they need exercise and dlsclpnne
work but from what the officers let fall In conver-
sation. gather tnat they agree with popular opin-
ion in thinking the thoroughfares of the city
queer field for such proceedings. Added to all this.
shere are renrwed rumors. still more authentic than
ever of arrests, indictments &C., of the promi-
pent participants in the 14th Of September
affair | begin TO think that there is some
thing in il and that the whole scheme is intended
either TO distress and paralyze the conservative
campaign or to provoke demonstration on the
part Of the more exctabe element, which VIII
afford Kellogg's people excuse for declaring the
elections invalid The citizens are behaving with
wonderful self control. There was move to call
An Indignation meeting in Lafayettesquare but the
leading White Leaguers suppressed it promptly.
They say they will take part in nothing likely to
produce a collision with the Federal Government.
Matters in North Louisiana look serious. A DIS
patch from Shreveport says Notwithstanding the
assurances of Packard Kellogg and Beckwith to the
contrary parties of cavalry. accompanied by potl-
cal adventurers, holding commissions as United
States Deputy Marshas securing the parishes OF
North Louisiana and etfecting the lndiscrlmnate
arrest of peaceable and unofiending citizens Gen.
Merrills, whose infamous career in South Caro-
lima is known here, yesterday said to Judge LOWS
see If the Republicans here lack the backbone,
/ will make affidavits against the merchants"
Tbereupop the blanks were printed, and Merrill has
stated that the arrests will be made tomorrow.
Although much excitement prevails, our people, so
far. are firm, and refuse to retract While no at
tempt will be made TO resist the United States
authorities they are wrought up to point almost
of desperation. To-day pledge similar to the one
already published carried around ana re-
ceived los signatures, the signers wlshlng
TO share the responsibility with their
besides which some 60 ladies have signed the
labor pledge. These names and the 65 already pub
Ished embrace nearly every business man IN the
place and their Imprisonment for any length OF
time Will bankrupt nine-tentbs OF them and, no
donbt. force all into protest pledge to the same
purport has been signed by nearly all the planters
in the PARISH. The feeling this evening seems to be
to refuse 10 give bonds ana Inc Times thuS cioSes I'LL
address 10 the citizens:
Therefore, we advise people, those OF them who
are arrested to refuse give bonds 10 treat the arrest
ss it s ecandalous outrage. without law and without
Justice. We advise them to force these men 10 relire
from TINS thing carry TO its full consequences. and
then let the American people judge whether, ten
years after the surrender Of the Southern
armies after Louisiana has been recognized as
Slate and part and parcel OF
the Union while there hostility within her borders
60 Federal Government and when her own civil aH-
thOrites can execute the laws Observation-Disclosures
United States Commissioner candidate for State
office surrounded by cavalry and infantry. arrest
and mprison our citizens because they choose TO exer
else a right exercised in every other section OF the
Union ana IN every other section OF the civilized world
II these men, felow-citizens, make this issue
force them develop the datardy outrage In the full
est proportions that the whole country may see 1t in all
its hdeousness. Let the arrests begin. The American
pfople contemplating the arrest by the civil aud mill
tary officers OF the Republic, Of the whole community
for the exercise OF night common TO all mhn will be
Al interesting event in our political history.
Both the United States Commissioner, Levise who
issues the warrants, and the United States Deputy
Marshal. the notorious Keeting who executes them,
are candidates for the Legislature, and are using
their offices 20 secure their election The labor
movement would doubtless have proved a small
affair and have blown over without being carried
into execution but for this highhanded interference
Of the Federal authorities.
The steamer Thorn. which came up to-day re-
ports the citizens of Coushatta greatly discouraged
The arrest Of 13 of their leading citizens by the
United States Marshal has completely parayzed the
whole community. Nearly all the stores are closed,
and no business is doing The place looks dismal
and deserted. The citizens arrested have not been
sent TO New Orleans as we had been led to believe
but are confined in small house in the Of the
town and guarded by the infantry. Arrests have
been made in the neighborhood of Mansfield, Of
persons who were not within S5 miles of COnshatta.
and in short the arrests seem to be indiscrimnate
and evidently for the purpose of intimdatng the
white people. The worst possible state of things
,xists throughout all North Louisiana, and num-
Der Of innocent men are leaving their business and
fleeing from their homes. A gentleman who arrived
here this evening from Mansfield says il was ru-