National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-01-12
LOUISIANA.
Opinions Oh tue Press.

the White Leagues-is Sheridans remedy for
laWlessness at the South. The country is fast be-
time the Democrats in and out Of Congress are
affecting great deal Of mock indignation over
tionary proceedings OF the Democrats In the
Louisiana Legislature. They make pacific
methods impossible, and then complain that the
strong arm is used to keep them in order.
From the st. Louis DemocraIc.I
Now, is it not the height of impudence for men
who ought to have some respect for the truth to
come forward and assert that it is false that 'de-
fance TO the laws and the murder OF individuals
seem to be looked upon by the community from
choose 70 indulge in e.hsr" Ks long as the p PER-
sons remain not only unpublished, but acknoW[
who participated in the transactions named. is Il
not shameless for any man to assert that Shert-
dams statement is not true?
CFrom the Cleveland Herald
But here comes 10 q fact that takes from the
Democrats all right to get up clamor against
this military interference, for it is shown that
the Democrats first called for the appearance of
the military. Having, as they supposed, got
expel from the room certain Radicals to whom
the returning board had awarded seats, their
Speaker sent for the military, but he, hoisted by
his own petard, was the victim with his party
friends, and the Radicals who claimed the dis
puted seats got them.
CFrom the Chicago Advanced
Gen. Sheridan is about as free from political
pISluulCes as al lult4llBeul Eau 10. Auu no
is not at all the to get nervous." His dispatch
shows how critical and b ow alarming the condi-
tion of affairs is in that State 1t will tax the ut
most wisdom Of the Government at Washington
to keep the peace and bring order out OF this
chaos of passion. 1t is to be hoped that no false
pride Of consistency and no red-tape fear Of en-
tangling precedents will hinder 1t from taking
the course that promises the speediest and most
permanent relief This state Of things ought not
TO continue much longer.
CFrom the Cincinnati TImes.I
II
came-knew how to fl ht and the blacks did not.
1t was this which led them int their suicidal
course, and it was this which rendered Federal
interference necessary. The republican govern
meTic , Strength, had no physical force with
which to restore peace and execute the laws. Its
rank and le Just released from seryitude of body
and soul, could not stand for a moment against
the organized force Of those accustomed all their
lives to the pistol and bowie. 1t was powerless
for its own protection, and entitled, under the
Constitution, to the protection OF the Federal
| Government.
From the Columbia S. c. Union erall.I
If this act OF Sheridan is a wrongful and tyrar-
nous act at all, then We are not sorry that it is
Just a little ahead of anything previously at
tempted in that line, that is, if the Opposition
yell he historically correct. Because we like to
see cur country take the lead in whatever is done
OF great moment in this progressive age, and be-
cause this act Of Sheridan probes the Louisiana
cancer to its core, and makes a square issue on a
vital question that sooner or later must be settled
by the American people. The act is done. and
the Administration must be sustained or defe lted
first before Congress and next before the people.
From the St. Louis Globe.I
When the signal for disorder was given by the
person who nominated Mr.. Wilt for Temporary
chairman" that person knew that he was putting
into an Office which did not exist a member who
had not no title or right TO preside and when Mr..
WiltZ thrust himself into the chair OF the presid-
ing officer, he knew that he had just as much
right there as a soup-house vagRbOnd would have
in the mayors chair. The right OF the clerk Of
Nhn lr NIa NATL Nha -nlI
been called and a Speaker chosenin an orderly
manner, is as unguestioned as any human right
can be. Yet WiltZ and his confedeTates had no
respect for this right nor for the law on which it
was based, but hurled law and right alike out of
the way OF their mad design, thinking force would
justify ITSELF
From the Albany Evening Journal
In the face Of these facts, with what grace or
decency can the Democratic partissns of WiItz
and his fellow White League usurpers continue
their hysteric howl about the presence Of the
friends who first invoked military interference"
1t was their friends who first broug ht the soldiers
into the Hall Of the Assembly! 1t was their
friends who first requested the soldiers to remove
the spectators and intruders!-and strictly speak
ing, it was only intruders the soldiers removed
when they expelled the five men who had been
Illegally admitted to seats And in view Of these
facts, their cheeks ought to tingle with the blush
Of shame and their lips to falter with the con-
seriousness Of hypocrisy when, with Zine phrensy
rolling" they talk about the ''crime against lib
erty" which their own partisans inaugurated and
received with cheers!'
[From the Kansas City journal ef Commerce.
We are sure Of this, however, that a state Of
society exists in which life and property are IN.
safe, and in which there is undoubtedly much po-
litical, II not official fraud. We know that people
are being murdered for political and
else of political rights. As to Republicans we
only know that they are accused by their op-
ponents Of participation in this, while we know
that their opponents are organized into White
Leagues for the purposes Of intimidation; that
they commit the T TP ara that they attempt
fore against them, and inyalidates their accusa-
lions Of their opponents. Let vigorous policy
be pursued in reference to their we'll known
crimes-their murders-and after life and prop
erty shall have thus been made secure, the coua-
try will be better able to perceive who is charge
able with the political fraud.
from the New York Graphic.I
1t must be borne in mind that New Orleans was
the most intensely disloyal city in the South;
that Gen. Butler and the Union troops had as
much as they could do to hold the intensely re-
belliOus population in check; that after the war
hatred to Federal authority, which seemed all
the more bitter and rancorous because it had
been suppressed. that nowhere else was there
such marked unwillingness to treat the cOlored
people with even the common civilities Of human
beings. The whites and the blacks were in such
state OF chronic antagonism that there was con-
slant danger OF hostiities. The situation was
OF peculiar dellcacy, and offered q temptation TO
ambitious and sci l-seeklng adyenturers which
they greedily clutched. The difficulty goes back
of any direct interference on the part ofthe Fed
eral authorities to a condition OF things in that
State which may have been natural enough
under all the circumstances Of the case, but viii h
the prominent white people will recall with re-
| greet.
From the st. Paul Press.I
And Just here is the fundamental difficulty Of
the Louisiana question. The lawIess attempt a
| few days ago OF the Democratic minority of the
Louisiana Assembly to seize control OF the organ
| iZatiOn Of that body, and to expel a nuuber OF
| lawfully returned members to make room for
| men whom the official returns declared not to
have been elected, could not have happened to
any community which was not, as to its socially
dominant clements chronically laWless, any
| more than the White League banditti and their
systematic crusade of violence and assassination
against those opposed to them in political opinion,
| could have existed IN any community which was
not already largely controlled by a thoroughly
| IaWless, disorderly and anarchic spirit. This
/ revolutionary outbreak could not have happened;
in other words, If the Democratic party Of dousi;
with the internal spirit Of the rebellion, and de-
| termed to substitute the despotism OF force for
| the reign of law. 1t could not have happened II
the restraints of law or the common moralities of
civilized society were enforced in Louisiana by
| public opinion strong enough to make itself
heard or respected.
| From the New York Commercial Advertiscr.l
| There is an armed mob in New Orleans, hold
iug its dark lantern sessions in secret ready at
the call of its leaders TO sally out and do the
| work OF butchery with rife and revolver. If 1t
| existed in New York the police would soon put
| an end TO It as an unlawful combination of dis
| orderly persons. But the Democratic newspapers
| and such milk and-water Republican journals as
| the New York Times predict bloodshed AID
anarchy in case the law vndicates itself in Louis
| lana. 1t is argued that the SOutheTners are a
| peculiarly sensitive people, whose high notions
| OF chiValry must be dealt with tenderly. For
| the murder Of few hundred negroes more or
| less, the expulsion Of black children from the
| public schools, and the forcible seizure Of the
| reins Of government by ex-Mayor Wilt and a
| minority OF the House Of Representatives, these
| heightened gentry should be approached only by
| soft and silEen arguments. To arrest a leader of
the League, and subject his aristocratc wrists to
| handcufs-though they were red with the blood
| OF black loyalists-would be an indignity ealcu-
| lated to fire the Southern heart TO the pitch Of
| war. VIII Sheridan, then, dare arrest them? II
duty requires it, he will dare. He has no choice.
And every man who really desires the restoration
| Of law and order will give him support. HEROES
| do well enough for a moment Of passion; but the
one reliance Of the country is ia its laws, and Obe
| dienee is the first duty Of the citizen.
| CFrom the Buffalo Commercial AdEertiserJ
The condition of affairs in Louisiana is a SUBJ
ject of absorbing interest everywhere. 1t is i'm
| possible to predict what new developments may
| arise. At present all is quiet; but from the
| smouldering embers fire may burst forth that
| will not easily be quenched. In the excitement
the facts Of the case the causes Of the latest out