Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-09-27

ass eSSueuJS uuIll In6y anlOuul UOr6uJdlSs
and the property might as well belong
to the usurper, in fee simple. 1t is not;
the man Kellogg that the people COM
plain of, but the practical confiscation'
which his rule represents and enforces.
TIE recent uprising was not for liberty
or freedom, but for the sheer right to
live-to remain In the land of theiri
birth-to retain the remnants of pro-
perty left them by war, food and mis-.
fortune. 1t is not the right of selfd
government that Louisiana demands,
Sd much as any sort of government that
viii let them live and die in the land of
their fathers.
The manner in which Kellogg has
retained his power, and the utter cor
ruption that dominates at Washington,
are shown by the developments of yes
sterday's dispatches. The letter of E.
c. Billings, Kellogg's attorney, proves
that the United States Attorney Gen.
eral Is the most active partiZan of this
confessed usurpation. Such is the ju-
1dicial temper of the man whom
Grant wished to make Chief
Justice, and whom he has since
placed over the whole South, with
the War Department to sustain his
marhals. This is not unnatural for the
hero of the landaulet, but is none the
less a disgrace to the ''best government
the world ever saw" Next we find
Kellogg sending a draft of $1,000 to
Caleb Gushing, Grants second choice
for Chief Justice. Next TO Attorney
Williams in activity, is William E.
Chandler, Secretary of the Congress
sional Campaign Committee. Ben But
Ter brings up the rear, with a retaining
fee of $1,000 from Kellogg. These
revelations betray what sort of a gov
eminent reigns at Washington. The
most corrupt courts of effete monarchy
that history depicts develop nothing
more disgraceful than this exposure of
the secret ways in which Kelloggretains
favor with the powers of centralism.
The NelU York Tribune, of the oath,
publishes a lengthy address to the
people of the United States from the
Committee of Seventy, in explanation
of the late revolutionary movement.
1t opens with a brief rehearsal of the
origin of the usurpation, and copies
the language of the United States
Senate Committee, Feb. 20, 1873, page
A:
Your committee are, therefore, led to
the conclusion that if the election held
in November, 1872, be not absolutely
void for frauds committed therein,
McEnery and his associates in State
offices, and the persons certified as
members of the Legislature by the De
Ferret Board, ought TO be recognized
as the legal government of the State.
Considering all the facts established
before yeur committee, there seems no
escape fyom the alternative, that the
McEnery government must be recOg-
nized by Congress, or Congress must
provide for a reelection.
And again, page As:
If the Senate should be inclined not
to 60 behind the official returns Of the
election, then the McEnery Govern
ment and Legislature must be recog-
nized as the lawful Government Of the
State.
Notwithstanding this, the address
says, the Northern people have been
generally misled by two false assump-
tions; first, that the negro voters in
Louisiana largely exceed the whites;
and secondly, that the negroes and the
white Republicans voted the Kellogg
ticket en- B'GSse. In, regard to the first,
the committee expose a very loose mac
curacy Of the last census. While the
white males exceed the negroes by
4.247, the excess of white males over
twenty-one years old is given as only
I53. The explanation is that, by an
arbitrary rule, the census-take classed
all of unknown or doubtful age as
above twenty-one. Most white persons
could state their age, but thousands of
negroes were classed as voters under
this queer rule. AS to the second
error, the committee recall the
fact that thousands Of Republicans
of both colors, under the leadership of
Warmoth, Sheridan, McMillen and
Armistead, who was the colored candi-
date for Secretary of State, voted the
Fusion or McEnery ticket.
The address recites how the people
of Louisiana have appealed to all
branches of the Federal Government:
to the President, who repealed them
with insult; to the Supreme Court,
which declared it had no jurisdiction
to undo the work of a subordinate
Federal Judge; and to Congress at |
two successive sessions.
The prospect for relief at the ballot |
box is equally gloomy. Kellogg holds
over till January, 1877, with half of |
the Senate. As it requires two-thirds |
of the Senate to impeach, Kellogg is
beyond their reach, and meanwhile he
controls the registration of voters at
his will. The existing law gives the
supervisors supreme power to refuse to
register any citizen or to strike off his
name, and the courts are forbidden.
under penalty of $500, to entertain
any complaint against them. The
latter monstrous clause has been direct
ly tested and sustained.
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