The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1875-01-15
u. s. SENATE.
speech Of Senator Buyard. .

OF the United States, of South Carolina.
Then as now the Senator from New
York (Conkiing) offered an amendment,
leaving it discretionary with the presi-
dent to answer it. That resolution
with the amendment passed the Senate
on the 3D. of March, 1875, land to this day
the President has treated it with con-
temptous silence. With full knowledge
of the conduct OF this Major in South
Carolina, he had been sent to .green
fields and pastures new" in Louisiana.
Never since the time when the Ameri-
can Colonies had separated themselves
from Great Britain had the people. of
this country been brought face to face
with greater questions than these Of
to-day-questions needing the most
careful considerations. The issue was,
whether we should have free govern
ment or military Dictatorship, The
remarks of the Senators from Indiana
(Morton,) Vermont (Edmunds,) and
Illinois (Logan,) were calculated to
obscure the question, and by partisan
appeals to divert the minds of the peo-
pie from the true merits of the case.
lie (BayarO then spoke of the circu1n-
stances attending the organization of
the Returning Board, ETC., and said
In States of three and four times the
population OF Louisiana election returns
We're tabuiated and promulgated within
q week after the election. In great
cities with population equal to that of
Louisiana, they had been tabulated and
promulgated within forty-eight hours
after the polls closed. But in Louisiana
the Returning Board was occupied in
cahVasslng the returns nearly two
months, and in every case of dispute or
doubt they decided in favor of the KEEL
logg party. He read from the constitu-
ton Ut Louisiana, and argued that there
was an organization of the House of
Representatives of that State on Mon
day last by the Conservatives: that
thefe was quorum of the House pres
eht, ana the organization was under
the constitution. lie asked the Senate
ana the American people if President
Grant had the legal warrant to inter-
lefe Ill the organization of that Leeisla-
ture land declared that this debate would
ctoseand no lawyer would be able to pro-
duce any statue showing the warrant of
any such action.
Mr.. Bayard then quoted from the
speech delivered by him in the Senate
on the 18th of February, 1873, in which
ne argued that the dangers which were
thenacIng the liberties of the people of
LOUISIANA then, We're also menacinp
the liberties OF the American peop|e.
flad the policy of the President been
hiodttied Or moderated since then? No,
sir. 1t had been doggedly intensified.
Ihere was not one case where the dis
pleasure Of the President had been
slgnlfied by the removal of an improper
omciat. Nota single instance of rebuke.
sheridan had been sent to New Orleans
secretly to dragon the people OF LOUISE
ana. He arrived there only three days
before the meeting of the Legislature.
re conferred with none of those who
had the welfare of the State at heart.
but only with Kellogg and his adher-
ents, and then produced from his own
pockets the authority to assume COM
mand. Other officers of the army,
higher and lower than Gen. Sheridan,
mad been passed over, and he was
personally selected to interfere thus
with the organization of the State
Legislature. lie (Bayard) did not
wish to detract from the glories of this
officer. They were won in IL career of
rough war, but he was an officer of the
army OF the United States, paid and
clothed by the people, and a servant of
the people, and in no way their master.
lie then read from the constitution of
the United States, and said, if this
S'~uIS SAAceI, WITH WnntGNer glory he
may have attained by his sword, is
stronger than our guarantees of liberty,
then let us know it now. The issue
cannot be raised too soon.
MIR. Bayard then quoted from the dis
patches of Sheridan to the Secretary of
War,and asked: "Who would say that
this officer (SheriCan) was even tit to
breathe the air of II republican govern
ment "' lie next quoted from the dis
patch of Sheridan urging that certain
persons be declared banditti, and said if
there was now the tone in the Execu-
tive Department of this country that
there once was, that officer (Sheridan)
would never sign his name again as
Lieutenant General ofthe United States
army. If that officer had been in a hos
tile country he could not have made a
more brutal or bloody threat. Such
language as that used i'll the dispatch
was like that used by the captain of a
band Of janissaries, asking for instruc-
ton from some oriental despot. Gen.
Sheridan had no one quality to fit him
for the duties to command in louisiana,
His first quality should be good will