The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-02-04
COL. BROOKE ON THE SITUATION.

s. IDENTIFY expressed, are contradicted by fact
furnished by themselves. Col Brooke ha
n since made his appearance in the papers a
an endorser Of the banditti dispatch of Gen
Sheridan, which meets his full approval whe,
Il limited, as the general intended to the lead
Q ers of the opposition to Gen. Grants pc
. Governor, Kellogg
, In his letter, which was republished in the
Republican, of last Sunday, he says "Abou
four thousand men have been killed since
; 1866, for theirl political opinions's sake, Of
which we have very good data" 1t is diff.
cult to conceive that Col. Brooke, fanatic as
he is, can really believe this statement.
As political murders only take place in
times OF political excitement, and as here have
only been five such periods since 1866, there
would be an average of eight hundred at each
But in the election of 1868, the negroes did
not participate and consequently there was
no necessity for butchering them. In that of
1872 no charge of violence was ever made;
the accusation of the Radicals being that the
very ingenious laws, framed by themselves
for the purpose Of excluding Democratic
votes, had been turned against them and a
fraudulent result was thu, produced. Thus
almost the whole of this terrible array of
murders, of which '',os have very good data, "
must have occurred at or about the time of
three elections, and as the last is said to have
been much the most violent, probably one
half Of the whole may be credited to it. Is
it possible that Col. Brooke can believe
that some eighteen hundred or two thou
sand murders have been committed in
this State, within the last few months, from
political motives alone? If he does, would it
not be we'll for him to explain why it was
that the United States Marshals and soldiers
who have been marrying the State have not
arrested some of those murderers, instead of
may have spoken harshly to negroes, or ven-
tured to declare their determination to make |
such contracts as seemed most subservient to |
their interests? Why is it that these soldiers,
who are here for the protection of the perse-
cuted negroes, have not furnished that pro-
lection? They surely "are not afraid" of
even the terrible banditti before the shadows
of whom the knees of Kellogg and his band
OF carpet-baggers smite together. There is
but one mode of reconciling this IMMUNITY of
the murderers with the duty of these officers
under their orders, and that is by assuming
that they know the charge, which they SO
recklessly make, to be false.
Perhaps, however, they are unwilling to be
mere appendage to the civil power, for
which they evince the most perfect contempt.
md are awaiting that act of Congress or
Executive proclamation that will enable them
o take the whole matter into their own hands
md proceed by the summary mode Of
military commission. It is hardly probable
hat Congress- composed even in as largs de-
rec as it is Of carpet-baggers, would pass such ::
n act but Mr. Landaulet Williams is capable '
+ any crime, and an Executive proclamation q
lay. after the 4th of March, turn over Lou t
lana to these Claverhouses. But we are
ssured by Col Brooke that Gen. Sheridan -
oes not contemplate treating the entire popu- n
Ition, but only the leaders, as banditti. t
Now this vicarious punishment Of Poop lie q
trough their leaders is always unjust and
enerally inefficient. It is unjust, because the o
ader is such only by the possession of supe- q
or Intelligence or greater popularity, and le
equently by mere accident. 1t is inefficient fe
ecause it leaves the ferment to work in the 81
opular mind and to produce anew other :,
aders-other victims Of the inquisition or Il
e military commission. In any great agita- tt
On of the popular feeling the leader is neces- to
rily its impersonation, and it is this charac {,
alone which confers upon him the power b,
a greater or less degree, to direct, but never tn
holly to suppress its action. For the man ~ ~
r alone IN which he exercises that power of ~
rectlon can any personal and special re-
attach to him. For all that has pc
en- done in New Orleans within the past ar
ar, Gov. McEnery, Gen. Ogden and Mr. R. ~ ~
Mari are not one whit more responsible LIE
IN the people who acted with them. wa
They have not, and could never have led W WI
I'm in anything which did not meet the cl L
appreciation Of their own hearts and con- fin
ences, and there is no truthful man in this an
who will not say that while they fully ~
red the public indignation against the vul- ha
and mercenary wretches who have so long in
ndered and oppressed us, every influence ant
lch they possessed has been used to re- en- en-,
I'm the just resentment Of the people. If, a b
n, the malignant blood thirstiness of these bel
1erals could be gratified, and these gentle sig
n could be led out to be shot, it would WI
y infiame the popular hate of that Govern fer,
At which could tolerate such an iniquity. of
he only crime committed by the people of r ,nI
llsiana IS nrM resistance to the usurpa- for
by the miserable tools of despot of exc wit
We and legislative functions, which the Ed
lent law of America declares can only be t; ,
from the people themselves. The people eau
be South cling tenaciously to the doctrines The
a reverence for which they have been par
ed, that taxation without representation is 80,