The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-12-07

or any force, not even the military Iorce oi
the United States.
Speaker Kerr: "Mr. Adams is the Clerk OF
/ this House. can allow no one else to read
any papers to it.
Gen. Sheridan: 81 can not decide the rela-
tive claims of the clerks. Will you allow one
of my officers to read this paper
! Speaker Kerr: "Yes, sir
/ And then tie officer roads:
EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT,
United States of America,
Washington, Dec. 6, 1875.
Gen. Sheridan
An illegal assembly of men having taken
possession of the Hall Of the House of Repre-
sentatives and the old Sergeants-at-Arms
being unable to remove them, respectfully
request you to remove therefrom all persons
not entitled to remain.
L. S. GRANT, President.
And then suppose that the old clerk Of the
Forty third Congress was authorized to point
out fifty members occupying seats without the
permission of Gen. Grant and his Cabinet, a
self-constituted returning board, acting tor
the Radical minority. They being pointed
out, Gen. Sheridan said: MY orders from
Gen. Sherman are to comply with all requests
or instructions of President Grant"
| Speaker Kerr: 81 desire to state to you
that the@ House of Representatives OF the
United States Congress has been duly and
permanently organized by the election Of my
self as Speaker, Mr.. Adams as Clerk. and Mr..
! Thompson as Sergeant-at-Arms. We have IN
our body these fifty men found by us duly
ele cted members of the Forty Fourth Con-
gress, and We are the sole judges of the cleo
ton and qualifications of our own members.
| ask if you are going to eject these members
! by military force from this House,"
Gen, Sheridan: Il am not here to decide
as to the legality of the election or as to the
seating of the members. 1 am here to obey
orders. l hoped that my presence would be
sufficient to secure their effective execu-
ton"
Speaker Kerr: "Whilst l respect you as a
gentleman and soldier, l, as Speaker OF
this House. cannot instruct the members to
leave You must use force"
Gen. Sheridan bowed, retired. and after a
short consultation with his staff, returned and
said, Il will make show of force"
Gen. Sherid IN again entered followed by a
file of soldiers, whom he stationed in the hall
and Hobbies, behind whom followed the Rad
ical members who had retired in anger when
Mr.. Speaker Kerr was elected. He ap-
preached the desk with Mcpherson and re-
quested him to call the roll.
Speaker Kerr: Mcpherson shall not take
the clerks desk. am Speaker of this House
and Adams is clerk. You have not men
enough on the floor of the House to seat Nc
Pherson; let that be understood-the sooner
the better" But Mcpherson proceeded,
when Gen. Sheridan said he had force
enough to compel the reading, if necessary.
Then Gen. Sheridan, accompanied by the
Secretary of War and the old Clerk of the
House, proceeded to eject at the point of the
bayonet the following named members
Messrs. Reagan, Culberson, Mills, Throck-
morton and Hancock, of Texas; Messrs.
| Douglas, Goode Walker Cabell, Tucker, Har-
ris and Hinton, of Virginia; Messrs Bright
and six other Democratic members OF Ten
nessee; Messrs. Cause, Slemmons, Wiltshire
and Gunter, of Arkansas; the nine delegates
from Georgia, Messrs. John Young, Brown
and eight other Democrats from Kentucky,
and all the Democratic members from other
Southern States, so as to leave the Radicals
in complete and controlling majority.
And then Mr.. Kerr arose and said: SIN the
name of a people once free, in the name of
my country, in the name of God and In the
name of justice, l enter my solemn protest
against this interference. Gentlemen of the
House of Representatives, your chamber is in
possession of the soldiers of the United
States. You have seen your fellow members
elected at the point of the bayonet 1 can
remain here no longer" He then retired, &C.
companied by the remaining Democratic
members, when the Radicals. although
VIGOROUSLY without quorum, proceeded to
organize the House de noUo by electing VIM.
A. Wheeler, of New York, as Speaker, and
! Edward Mcpherson as Clerk of the Forty
| Fourth Congress.
If Gen Grant were to take these summary
measures of ejectment CT Democrats from
Congress it would only be doing on large
scale what he, through Kellogg Campbell,
= and De Trobriand, did upon small scale, in
Louisiana, last winter. One branch OF the
legislative department of one of the free and
equal States of this Union was, on the 4th
January, 1875, sitting. legally organized and
in pursuance of its constitutional duty. when
its hall was invaded by the armed forces OF
the Federal Government, and its proceedings
suspended by obtrusive military violence.
We have only parodied what did take place
in Louisiana on that day, changing only the
locality and the parties to the transaction.
The change affects the magnitude, but not
the enormity of the stupendous act of tyranny.
Perhaps the Radical coup dadt, as supposed,
| woDld in effect be less pernicious and less