New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-02-20
PUBLIC sArErY THE gUPRB,R Law.

PUBLIC sAPErY TIE SUPREME Law.
A violent assault is made upon peace
able citizen. He seizes upon weapon t.
defend his life, and is indicted by the as
. sailant for larceny of the weapon. A
break appears in . levee. 1t may bt
!: stopped for . hundred dollars, applied
instantly. A parish treasurer has thai
sum dedicated to other purposes. The
parish jury orders its expenditure to stop
the crevasse. The jury is indicted fol
malversation of public money by the reck.
less planters who cut the levee to haul
wood to or from the river. Such cases
furnish fair analogy of the practice
of applying any public money that
comes to hand to defend the existence
of the State government. Such is the
denunciation of this act by the organs of
those who assailed the State government
and drove its officers from the stations
assigned them by the people. That such
an emergency existed is known to all.
That in such an exigency few govern
ments would have resorted to even the
color of law to preserve the safety of the
State will be disputed by none. The Pic
oyune quotes Mr.. Dibble as saying, of
the money transferred by judicial order
from the interest to the militia fund, that
it had been taken for governmental pur-
poses, and that the State government was
in actual anger from the White League,
and had to defend itself at every hazard.
The change of destination in this fund
was made by due course of law, and the
disbursement Of the fund must be &C.
counted for in strict accordance with the
law. This will be secured under the in
junction sought by Attorney General Field,
and if any misapplication of the fund shall
appear, the parties responsible will be held
to account for it. The Legislature can
readily repair the transfer of fund not
needed at the instant for the special pur-
pose to which it had been dedicated, and
thus no harm will have been inflicted on
the credit of the State and no loss will
result to its treasury. No one need be
discontinued except those who by an Or
ganized overthrow of the State govern
ment made this expenditure necessary.
Perhaps such persons would like to enact |
that in any future attempt of the clubs to |
expel the State government from Office it
shall not be lawful for the State govern
ment to employ any money or State arms
in preserving its own existence.
But as this transfer of fund lying idle
for the time to the protection of the State
against domestic instruction has been
assailed, it will be proper to assign its
proper nature. The law of nations, and
of nature, elevates the self-defense of
national life to the highest grade of hu-
man duty. The public safety is the
supreme, law under this maxim. The
federal government suspended the habeas
corpus, imprisoned suspected persons,
and seized on individual property. Under
the same law the Confederate government
exercised the same powers. In its greater
necessities it exercised even larger powers.
Suppose we reproduce a few of those
cases which occurred in Louisiana. Says
. federal historian:
A secession caucus assembled at Wash
DgtOn on the fifth of January. 1861. Among |
he resolutions attributed tt them was that ,
the arming of the South was to go on I'm
Munitions Of war of every kind
were to be- assidnously provided. and such
made that military force of
100, 600 men. exceeding anything that it was
the government could raise, was 9
% be in readiness at the time of Lincoln's {
Every exertiOn was to be
made to obtain possession of the forts,
arsenals, custOmhOuses, mints {
md other public property to induce the 6
resignation of army and navy officers, and
% constrain the various legal and other I
gents in the South to refuse to do their | !
luty."
On the tenth of January, 1861, says a
Confederate historian
The first active steps toward separation !;
we're taken, and the steamer National
tarted for Baton Rouge, after midnight, !
or the capture Of that place, with strong
orce of citizen soldiers. On the eleventh !
f January, 1861, Major Haskins, United | l
'tates army, commanding at the arsenal at n
Baton Rouge, capitulated $4,000 stand of !.
rms and other munitions. =
The Secretary of War reported Febru-
ry Is, 1861
The forts Of the United States have been II
aptured and garrisoned, and hostile flags t,
nfurled from their ramparts. The arsenals
ave been seized, and the vast amounts of =
ublic arms they contained appropriated to II
he use of the captors, while more than half "
mittiHn of dollars found in the Mint at |
'e,c Orleans has been unScrupulously ap-
lied TO replcnish the Golfers of Louisiana. L
1t will be remembered that this ''capit- G
lation" of the Baton Rouge arsenal and e
urrender of federal arms occurred on the n
leventh of January, 1861, while the act p
f secession of Louisiana is dated on 81
10 twenty-sixth of January, fifteen days o
ter. Such was the application of the 81
octrine, the public safety is the supreme IL
w. If the then Governor of Louisiana 81
'ok time by the scalp lock, fifteen days Ell
advance of the emergency. it was no o.
ouse of the principle. The Confederate N
likewise took hand at OF
e suprema lea business The banks 81
New Orleans shifted off their specie 1e
sfore and Immediately after the federal u
.cupation. They We're very unlucky. q
part of their specie was lodged with te
e consulate authorities of foreign
untries. For this General Butler gave e.