The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-09-19

his ambition he has fallen, IKE Lucl1el
never to rise again. Fallen and low as b
may TALL will find
- in the lowest deep, lower deep
Still threatening to devour.
A public peculator, q convicted liar, coine
' and utterer of the basest forgeries agains
our civilization, the indicter of whole pee
pie, the secret and remorseless assassin Of
, State traitor, spy, sycophant. panderer-th
pen that gibbeted Barere could alone do jus
tice to the CHASTITY infamy Of his character
| In the spirit of the veriest coward and slav
} he struck down the liberties of great com
monwealth. For to head the count Of all hi
crimes he hated Freedom, "and such as b
is, may all who hate her be-"
I shall not weary You by recounting on
long, patient, futile efforts to secure, not
judgment, but hearing, even, of our case
The ears of the Government were sealet
against every petition and remonstrance II
vain we sent committee of two hundred o
White House. We were informed in advance
that the President was "immovable," and ht
| turned in sullen silence from our petition
In vain we sought redress at the hands o.
Congress. That body, it is true, was forced
to find that all the acts and orders Of the At.
torney General, Judge and Marshal were un.
| constitutional; that the court was without
| iurisdic ion; that the Judge deserved
impeachment; that the seizure Of the
Capitol and the organization of the Legisla.
| ture were without shadow of right and ut
terly in violation of all republican precedents.
But they afforded US no relief. In vain we
addressed the Legislatures Of the States.
From some we had expressions Of sympathy
and sorrow, from others vehement protest,
but from none active aid or interference.
We made q last appeal to the people of the
United States. In what temper it was re-
ceived, or with what effect, we had no means
of Judging. It was reserved for later time,
and for a remonstrance written in letters of
blood, to awaken the popular conscience, and
rouse to the sense of common peril. Rad
icalism, in its height of pride, heard the an
swer and trembled.
Meanwhile the rivets were driven more
firmly into the manacles which bound us hand
and foot, and Kellogg and Packard, backed by
Williams and Durell, ruled supreme. But for
appearance sake it WIS necessary to carry the
election OF 1874, that the honesty and justice
Of the Administration might be justified of its
children. So bill for the better manage
ment of registration and elections, which
placed the ballot-box absolutely in the hands
of the dominant party, was secretly passed in
the Legislature, pocketed by the Governor,
and approved after the adjournment of
Congress. When it is Remembered that
the Returning Board had the power to
reject the vote Of any precinct on the
sworn statement of three citizens that
there had been fraud or intimidation,
and SO declare elected candidates who had
really received q minority of the votes cast,
and that the Supreme Court of Louisiana had
decided that the Returning Board was not
subject to Judicial control and that their pro-
Is Is
final and irreversible, and not competent to
be reviewed or questioned by any tribunal,
and that there could be no title to any cleo
tive Office in louisiana otherwise than through
the PRONUNCIATION of this board, we might
well characterize the law without any light
from the hideous Interpretation practically
given it later,) as bill of vested rights. in
perpetuity, for those who framed it.
Nor did they rest even here. The cord to
which Louisiana was tied was stretched too
much to bear sudden strain. 1t was ga far
cry from New Orleans to Washington. A
well regulated militia, the fathers of the Con-
stitution had agreed, was the best security of
free State. So, the white militia was dis
banded, their arms taken from them, and an
exclusively negro militia organized instead
The metropolitan police had already been re-
moved from the control of the Mayor, and
made subject to the orders of the Governor
alone. How he had used it in overawing the
citizens and dragooning the parishes for his
political ends it is needless to recite.
The white people of the State thus stripped
of every means of defense, were threatened,
moreover, by an oath-bound league Of the
blacks, under the command of vicious and
leaders, and their increasing ar
rogance, their contemptuous scorn of every
right which they dared trample upon.
their outspoken threats, and the murder,
arson and rape which began to run riot in the
parishes, warned us that war OF races, which
of all horrors We were most anxious to avoid
and the Radicals to precipitate, was immi-
nent. and that we had either to avert or per-
ish by it.
With the single hope, then, as distinctly
and openly declared, that timely and pro-
claimed union of the whites, as q race, and
their efficient preparation, might arrest the
imminent danger of civil war, the WHITE
LEAGUE was formed; its exclusive object be-
ing, as publicly set forth in its platform, to
assist in restoring an honest and intelligent
government to the State of Louisiana, and by
union with all other good citizens, to main |
tain and defend the Constitution of the
United States and of the State, and to protect |
the rights of all classes.
Not until the League had actually been |
formed did We discover to what naked and |
defenseless condition we had been reduced. |
We had no weapons, and there were none to |
be procured at home; naturally we sought |
them abroad. Already in the streets and in |
private stores arms had been seized in open |
day by the police and forcibly taken possess
sion of and detained. One of the private
owners of arms thus seized, respectable |
merchant Of our city, sappliedjto competent
judicial tribunal and obtained an order tor
heir release. The order was disobeyed by
he police authorities, and when the court
attempted to vindicate its own dignity and
he majesty of the law. by fine and imprison-
nent tor contempt, Kellogg pardoned the
offenders and Immediately released them.
The forbearance under every form of insult.
wrong, oppression. robbery, which
We exhibited has no parallel in the history
# free States. But : at last the cup
'verfowed. On the 14th of September
S74, mass meeting of the citizens, une-
ualed in point of numbers and respectable.
ty by any similar gathering ever seen upon
ur streets, demanded the abdication of the
surper Kellogg fed to the safe security OF
United States territory, the Custom House,
al ,fy,n, | .