The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-07-05
AN ELOQUENT AND ABLE
EFFORT.
Extracts frem the Speech Of Hon. Geo. A.
Sheridan Before the House Of
Representatives.

Extracts frem the Speech Of Hon. Geo. A.
Sheridan Before the House Of
Representatives.
The two finest efforts which have recently
been made in Congress are the speech of Sen
ator Norwood, of Georgia. on the Civil Rights
Bill, and that of General George A. Sheridan
who was elected, by ma ority of over 10, 600
votes, Congressman at large for Louisiana, but
who was denied his seat because it would have
logically resulted in ousting Mr.. Kellogg from
his usurped position as Governor of Louisiana
We deeply regret our inability to give Sher-
idan's graceful and mastery effort in full,
but must content ourselves by making such
extracts as will be most interesting to the
general reader. Without the silvery, ringing
tones of the orators voice, and his impas-
stoned manner of delivery, the reader will of
course miss much of the beauty of an address
which would have done credit to Congress- in
its palmy days, when men Of brains and honor
filled the seats now occupied by mediocre and
bigoted demagogues.
Mr.. Kellogg as nomiuee for Governor, had
no record as Republican in the State He
had come to New Orleans as the appointee Of
Mr. Lincoln asacollector of customs. Scarcely
had the body Of the great President felt the
chill of death before this man became the firm
friend and supporter of Andrew Johnson. He
was q member of the convention called at
Philadelphia in the interest of Mr. johnson
He never returned to his Republicansm until
1868, when the State went Republican. 1t
was well known that during his administr,-
ton Of the Custom House under johnson, no
soldier of the Union could find place within
the walls of the granite building. No black
man was found on the rolls, save here and
there, perhaps, one to whom was given the
most mental employment
1t was known, too, that Mr.. Kellogg had
filed the CustOm-HOuse with men elected to
the first Legislature of Louisiana who had
pledged themselves to vote for him for United
States Senator in consideration of the favor
extended to them. Those of us who knew
Mr.. Kellogg well found little in his record to
give us either faith in his political sagacity or
confidence in his integrity. We had no faith
in his veracity. Judged by their record,
Ananias and his consort were shining examples
Of truth compared to Kellogg. 1t is Oh record,
l believe, that they falsifed only upon one
occasion. 1t is nowhere upon record in Lou
isiana that Mr.. Kellogg ever told the truth.
In fact he had no record before the people,
whose suffrages he claimed, for veracity or
fair dealing. He was like Sir Agrippa, ''for
profound and solid lying much renowned"
Again, there was no vital issue at stake
There was nothing to draw out the full force
and strength of the Republican party, consist
ing as it did, nineteen-twentieths Of it, Of
black men. The old cry that if they did not
vote the Republican ticket they would be re-
ens'aved had lost its power. They knew full
well that the grand question of their liberty
had long ago been taken out from the jurisdic-
ton of courts, where lawyers plead and inter-
plead out from the Halls Of Congress, where
statesmen ponder and debate, and argued in a
court where God was judge and surging armies
were the advocates. They knew that forth
from the tribunal of Omnipotence the decree
had gone that in this broad land all men were
free and equal, and they knew that decree
could not be reversed; that it was fixed and
firm as are the hills and mountains Of the
earth upon their everlasting pillars.
Taxation when the Republican party took
control in Louisiana was thirty-seven and Il
half cents on 500. In 1872 it had risen to
So Is. The Legislature had granted giant
monopolies. Day by day they had imposed
new burdens upon commerce until scarcely
vessel folded its sails in the harbor Of New Or
leans, and desolation reigEed supreme where
Of old the busy hum and throb of commerce
were heard. Do you wonder that the people
Of that State groaned under these burdens?
Do you wonder that they combined for the
overthrow Of government that had brought
upon them such disasters as these? ask you,
men of New England, l ask you, men of the
Middle States, and you men Of the giant West
how long would such condition of things be
tolerated in the States from which you come?
Would not the people rise in their might and
grandeur and sweep from existence SO COM
pletely that its name would never be heard of
again Tor if heard Of, only spoken of with
scorn and contempD party that should bring
such misfortune upon the people of your sec
ton of the country?
Pinchback presents himself before this
House with certificate A certificate signed
by whom? Signed by himself as Acting Gov
ernor of Louisiana. How came he acting
Governor Of Louisiana? BY virtue Of the
impeachment of Governor Warmoth. Who
mpeached Governor Warmoth? The Legisla-
ture of Louisiana? No, sir; but Legislature
created by the injunction of Federal court
organized in accordance with the Germs of
that Injunction, in building filled With Uni
ted States soldiers, within whose portals no
man was permitted to enter unless his name
"oS AVuAA III SAAtAe ILJubttAoH VI uN was Vic
well-known partisan and supporter of the
usurpation. The Legislature that impeached
Governor Warmoth and gave Pincht back power
to sign himself as q Acting CT ernor Of
Louisiana" derived none of i power,
none Of its authority, from the ,eople of
Louisiana. 1t sprang, full-armed, with all its
deadly power for wrong, from the corrupt
brain OF United States Judge, who fresh
from his haunts of infamy and shame, reeking
with the stencil and fumes of midnight de-
hatchery with the kisses of hario:s yet warm
on his lips and the music OF their wanton
songs lingering in his ears, sheltering himself
behind the robes of his high office, dared, in
violation OF an express provision of the very |
law under which he claimed jurisdiction, to
issue decree creating Legislature for the |
people Of Louisiana, and invoking the unwill- |
ing bayonets Of the United States to save it |
from the fury OF an outraged and insulted |