Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1875-01-26
/. Spirit Of ytffnsoll,
CharlestoWn, Jefferson County, Meat Va.
TUESDAY MORNING, JANUARY 2s, 1875.
SENATOR BAYARD,S SPEECH.

knoWIeuSeo ON al hanoS tu have been most
able and eloquent one, its arguments being di-
rectsd with great skill. He was exceediaglJ
severe in his structures upon Gen. Shsridan's :
conduct, and attacked the dispatches that had
passed between him and the Government with
merciless criticism. He did not stop here,
however, but found evidences of Csesarism in
the affair.
Mr.. Bayard quoted from speech of his
made on the Louisiana bill in 1873, when he
warned the american people that the dangers
meuAciug the liberties of Louisiana, menaced
at the same time the liberties of all the other
States. What he had foretold then had come
to pass word for word. The policy of the
President instead of being modified had been
doggedly intensified Lieut.. Gen. Sheridan
is sent secretly to New Orleans to dragoon the
people Of Louisiana into submission. Scarcely
there three days, having no intercourse with
any but the adherents of Kellogg, he sends
out his dispatches over the country. He
would not say one word against whatever glory
or renown accrued to this officer But he was
the servant Of the people of the United States,
fed aud clothed by them, educated by them,
and was not their master. Has he forgot that
by the Constitution of his country the. right
of the people to keep and bear arms shall not
be infringed; that they shall be secure from
unreasonable searches and seizures; that no
man shall be tried without indictment by 4
grand jury2 Sir, this issue cannot come too
soon. IF this cavalry officer, with his bloody
sword, is stronger than all our personal guar
antees Of liberty, it is time that we should
know it. Let us see whether tho dispatches
sent by this officer do Lot prove him unfit to
breathe the air of republic. On a three
days stay in one city of large State, he pro-
claims that whole State to bs lawless COM
munity. But there have been replies to those
communications of Gen. Sheridan.
Mr.. B. then read from the resolutions passed
by the different Exchanges in New Orleans
and the Bishops and clergy and others, pro-
nouncing calumnious the statements of
Gen. Sheridan. The meanest man of all these,
said Mr.. B., was the peer of Gen. Sheridan
in every respect. Reading from the dispatch
of Gen. Sheridan, asking that Congress pro-
claim the White Leaguers banditti, Mr.. B.
said that if there was the tone that once ex-
listed at the White House, Gen. Sheridan
would never again sign his name as L;euten-
ant General of the army. Did this dispatch
sound like an American oficerY Did it not
sound like the commander of band of janis
saries asking for instructions from some Ori-
entail despOt? In time of profound peace
he asks that Congress shall pass an ex post
facto law that he shall try by military COM
mission aud murder his own fellow citizens.
As he (Mr. b said, if the proper feeling
existed in high quarters, Gen. Sheridan would
not remain where he was five minutes He
had proved himself utterly uuft for his po-
sition. Instead of conciliation, kindness and
obedience to the civil law, he wished at once
to set up military despotism. We talk Of
Russian rule in Poland, and yet what Russian
officer ever penned dispatch of such re-
morselcss cruelty as this We read that
Secretary Belknap sent dispatch to General
Sheridan, that the president and all of US
approve of your couse." Every feeling of
disgust, of horror and of indignation which
have for the man who could send such a dis
patch, have for those who approve it. He
believed that the American people would res
pudiate all of us who endorse such action
Mr.. b. then quoted At length from tho de-
cision of the Supreme Court in the MilIigan
case on military commissions. General Sberi-
dan holds out threats which are disgraceful to
the cloth he wears, and to the country of
which he is q citizen. The proposition is now
here presented for the first time that the
President can of his own motion and his own
discretion, adjudge that sufficient domestic
violence exists as to warrant him to interfere
in the organization of Legislature. So far
as right is concerned, the people of Louisiana
have as much right to pass upon the qualifi>
cation of the members Of the two Houses of
Congress as Congress has to pass upon the
qualifications of the members of the Legis~
lature of Louisiana.
What has been done in Louisiana TO-DAY
may be done in New York to- morrow, and in
Massachusetts, the next day, and it can be
done in this Capitol on the fourth of March
If President Grant can break up the Legisla.
ture in Louisiana, he can, with a single
brigade of troops; interfere in the organiza>
tion of the Congress on the fourth of March.
He will have the same right to sustain the
Clerk Of the present House with troops, and
allow him to call such names as he pleases and
organize the House as he pleases there would
be no physical power in Congress to prevent
it. But the American people will stand in the
way; they will visit upon the heads of the Of
tenders all such violations of law and right.
He-said this movement now was an attempt to
feel the popular pulse to see how far power
could go. If the American people were in
sensible to the wrongs Of their fellow citizens
in Louisiana, depend upon it, they would feel
themselves and in q broader manner the same
disregard of their rights and liberties
He was glad no fimsy cover had been put
over this new usurpation, that there was NO
pretence of obeying the civil authority-no
sham of carrying out tho DEGREES of corrupt
court, but it was the plan, open, mailed hand
of the soldier, and it was for the the people to
meet the issue. She history of Louisiana was
as old as the history of the world; it was the
history of resentment against oppression,
against tyranny and wrong Give these peo.
pie government that they can love-a gov
erDment that has some regard for them and
their interests.
He could not forget that to-day was the an
niversary of the battle of New Orleans-a daz