The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-09-08
ALTERATIONS WHICH ARE NOT
FOUNDED ON FACT.


numbered, and as follows
l. That the military organization describe
D by the New Orleans Times was formed for tt
{ purpose of controlling the election of 1874.
2. That the seizure of the State governmel
was illegal and revolutionary.
:. That the Seizure was not justified by an
! invasion of the right of the citizen to kee
and bear arms.
, Our readers are invited to consider thes
brief propositions seriatim
/. The purpose of the White League ca
only be inferred from the declarations an
: acts of its members as individuals or as a
organized association. The constitution all
bylaws of the League contain no one sentence
line or word from which such purpose Cal
be inferred. Not speech is recorded of an,
member of the League declaring such pur
pose. Not sentence appeared in the BULLE
TIN or in any other journal in sympathy will
the League which indicated such purpose
Not a reasoning man among the thousands o
ant-Radicals who were friendly to the Leagu,
understood their purpose to be as affirmed
by the Republican,
1t was universally understood that the cleo
ton as we'll as the registration of voters were
to be carried on by the appointees of the d.
facto Governor, and strictly in pursuance Of
the election law. 1t was the purpose of the
league to secure full and fair repatriation oil
voters, and its members used their influence
and gave their time for this end, as did many
hundreds of other honorable citizens. 1t was
the purpose of the League to secure fair
and orderly election, and to this end, in con-
junction with many other citizens, its men,
bers were present at all the voting places,
quietly, and with perfect decorum, watch
ing the polls and aiding every legal voter.
The approximate result was, in part, what
the League dssired-an election more nearly
fair, and by far more pacific than had been
held in New Orleans in many years. In dis
proof of the Republicans affirmation, it would
be easy to bring twenty thousand affidavits of
voters, in substance as we have above stated.
We need only refer to the public at large for
general verdict that the charge of our neigh
Dor is wholly baseless.
2. The seizure of the State government,
(meaning by seizure the installation of Gov.
Penn, etc., was in no sense illegal. Our
rightful S ate officers had been, as they still
are, kept from tn Dir Offices by illegal means.
Those Off ces were occupied by usurpers who
were put in by process which aroused the
indignation of every honest American citizen
of the facts. They were kept there
by means of the military power of the Fed
eral government, employed in manner that
must give to theAdministration the enduring
brand of historical condemnation.
Grant, Williams, Morton, Packard, Casey,
Kellogg, Antoine, Field, Brown aud the
rest, by the aid OF the infamous D1rell and
Grants bayonets, created revolution and
usurped the offices which they held by force
Of arms on the 18th September. They were
the revolutionists. Their acts we're illegal
from the start They ruled without having
been elected, and contrary to the will of all
;he white and very many Of the colored citi-
.sns of Louisiana.
From Packard's seizure of the Mechanics |
institute, December 9Th, 1872, until the order
o his body guard 10 attack body of citizens
N the levee, September IA, 1874, the
lsurper had done no one legal official act,
laving no particle Of official or legal authority.
lis attack was resented with such vigor that
he fabric of his usurpatlon crumbled to atoms
a family, and the Offices of the State no longer
coupled by intruders, invited and received
eacefully ana legally the duly elected and
ightful possessors The act was in no sense
a violation Of law, and was altogether in pur-
uance of the right.
3 The Republicans third solemn and formal
sseveration is contradicted by well known
'cts. The usurper had put arms into the
ands of the negroes by thousands, at the
spense of tho State. This being known,
,upled with the notorious fact that the hold.
IS OF these arms were all members of a hos
le Black League, opened the eyes of the
sople to the necessity Of being prepared for
e defense Of their dwellings. Dealers
ere prepared only for ordinary demand,
1T their guns were taken from their !
ores or from vehicles passing from ,
ore to store. At last an invoice OF {
ms on steamer from New York, ordered 7
ng previously, were seized and only given !
} to the owner on condition that he would re- .
ip them to New York. These barefaced seiz- t
es of private property, by wholesale, in the G
nds of dealers was but preliminary to the
ncerted invasion of the house of every men, c
r of the White League in earch of guns, in b
of the declared purpose to disarm s
CD member Of that organization. b
Of this intention no other proof need be
zen than the illegal seizure of arms in
res, in vehicles and on shipboard belong
: to private citizens The dwelling of the
lien is no more sacred than his store or his
ssel. But the threats that were freely
cred by the police early in September, and :
> we'll kno yn desire of Radical leaders =,
create an apparent necessity for an
'rease of United States troops in New :
leans, clearly show what the intention was
Thus all the ReDubLican's formal aft rmations