Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1874-09-30
THE LOUISIANA TROUBLES.
Hon. Reyerdy Johnson's, opinion.

Hon. Reyerdy JOhnson's, opinion.
the Error n Recoyai.ing KeU,qg-We
recognition absolute aud faal-The
Presidcafs late coaysc justi6cci-Rcr-
of"f'om "ot justifajie.
lfrom the New N-yrA H.ro'd Of aaud instant.l
Jll>s.tss,.yf.ra. sept. II, 1874.
.Iomcs Gortgn Bc"n'H.
s.fl'ior If HE UcruH. n. J..
Dear .SsA-ln compliance with the re-
quest contained in your note Of the 10Th
instant, ! give you the subioined opin-
ION upon the Louisiana difficulty -
The questioes the occasion prcsentare Of
Importance to the whole country. as well
as to Louisiana They should therefore
be treated with much dclibcration and in
40 partisan spirit. proceed reconsider
them under three heads, viz:
First Was the President right. in
the first instance IN recognizing Kellogg
as the Governor of the State?
Second If he was not, had the poo
pie any right to drive Kellogg from
power, as they have done, by force Of
arms, and to take possession Of the
government?
Third. Has the President right to
restore Kellogg and the government Of
which he was the head?
Frst-ln my opinion the President
committed an error in considering kel-
logg as the legitimate Governor. lie
seems to have acted regardless Of the fact
whether he had been elected by ma
lority Of tie people Of the State. His
opponents insisted that he had not been
and there every reason to believe that
dent earSc was apparently adopted by
reason ofs judgment, or decree of the
Tnited sizes District Court of the State.
The President considered himself bound
by that diree; and, as it assumed the
election Of Kellogg he thought he wa,
to take that election as conclusively es-
tablishcd.a In this. think, The Presi-
dent was clearly wrong. The question
whether State government has been
lcgitimately established is not judicial
one. The courts of the United States
are not vested with any authority to con-
slider it. This, in the nature of things,
must be 50. How is such "A fact, when
disputed, to be asccrtained when the
ground Of tie dispute is that the
party claiming to have been elected did
not receive a majority Of the legal votes
Are the witnesses to be examined by tho
courts? Are the ballots which have
been cast to be produced? Is the con-
potency of each voter to be passed upon
1t must be obvious that over such IN
quiries no court Of the United Statei
has any jurisdiction, The question is !
political oae, and is to be adindged b,
the politsiSS5l lsRartmept of Che Govern
ihldhodaIfand, after Tie ~ K f@o IN on
had no CT Constitution until l84.
than its lonial charter, granted b.
Charles Il Second in 1868. The pro
visions of that charter were supposed b,
many, and probably by majority Of tn,
people Of the State, to be, in certain es
sential particulars, anti-republican.-
They resolved, therefore. to substitut,
another constitution, and for this nur
pose q convention was held and new
government formed, under which. at F.;
succeeding popular election. Dorr wa.
chosen Goyernor He then attemptcc
to get possession by force, and was sue
cessfully resisted by the charter govern
ment The question came before tbe
Supreme Court, in the case referred TO-
instituted by Luther, who was acting
under the Dorr Constitution. to recover
damages f9r trcspass alleged to have
been committed by Borden. who bad
proceeded under the authority of the
charter government The opinion Of
the Court vas given by Chief Justice
fancy, and there was no dissent mon
the point diverted to- 1t was expressly
held that The inquiry whether a govern
ment exist IN any State is political and
Tl a judicial one The language of the
y I'"rt -, that the inquiry belonged to
t =! Poltical power and not to the iu-
HcIal, and THAT it rested with the
political power to decide whether the
charter government had been displaced
or not In the same case it was de-
clded that when the President was call
cd upon to protect a State against do
nestle violence, in the manner provided
tor by the fourth section of the fourth
article of the Constitution, he is COM
PEELED to determine whether the Cover
nor or the Legislature Of the State MAX
ing the call is or is not legitimate, and
ms determination is conclusive. The
result Of these several rulings seems OBJ
Vlous. Judge Durell had no authority
Whatever to pass upon the question
whether Kellogg had been duly elected
"oyernor. That was question which,
when properly brought before the Presi-
aeht, he was to determine for himself.
ne action of the Judge possessed for
NM nor for anybody else, no authority
whatever. Consequently the President
When ne recognized Kellogg, as he is
understood to have done, exclusively
upon the g.ound Of that section, fell in
to an error lie abandoned -undesig
molly M 7oubt--thc duty which the
deyolyed upon him, and
s So.I,i amt 2rity for what he did under
q j,idgnentof United States Judge.
which as u him, was entirely void.
Necoad-But the President having