The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-03-27
THE LOUISIANA CASE.
Prospects of the Wheeler COmpr0misc-Ob-
stacles to the Admission of Conservative
Members to the Legislature Of the
President and Kellogg in the Compromise
Being Extraordinarily Of Overcoming
Pinchback's Oppo ition.
Correspondence of the New York Tribune.

n; tn effect, if indeed that was not its purpoi
2 of defeating the Wheeler Compromise. I'll
Il; parties to that compromise were Messr
- Zacharie, Burke and Leonard, who deriv,
id their authority from and represented IL
e. members of the caucus OF Conservative meI
bers of the Legislature, Gov. Kellogg, ar
l. the President.
II Tie Conservatives who were elected to II
i, Legislature claimed the right to take tt
l. seats of which they had been deprived by tt
3. fraudulent decisions Of the Returning Boar
?, of 1874, backed by the President with FEEDERS
), bayonets. In order that their rights migl
be recognized, they agreed, frst to subm
i their claims to the arbitration of the Hoa
0 Committee secondly, that those who wer
) declared elected by that committee should G
|, into the Legislature as at present organized
and, thirdly, that if they obtained control Q
the Legislature, they would resort t
no revolutionary or forcible measures +
prevent Gov. Kellogg from serving out tn
remaining two years of the term for which b
claims that he was elected in 1872. Gov. Kel
logg's part of the agreement was That he would
call the Legislature together in extra session
in order that the terms of the compromise
might be carried out, and the President, it il
understood, was to use his influence with his
party friends in favor of the complete fulfill
ment Of the agreement.
This compromise exhibits on its very face
some of the considerations which influenced
each of the interested parties who subscribed
to it. The Conservatives who had been elected
to the Legislature desired recognition OF
their claims which they could obtain in NO
other way. Gov. Kellogg, who could not
maintain himself an hour without the aid Of
Federal troops was anxious to strengthen him.
self in any way possible; and the President
was willing to resort to almost any expedient
which would relieve him, in g measure at
least, of the constant tro BILE he has had for
the past two years with the affairs Of Lou
isiana.
But it is generally believed that there were
other considerations Of similar private and
personal character, which Induced Gen.
| Grant to withdraw the opposition which he
at first manifested toward the plan OF COM
promise. At about the time it was agreed to,
it was reported in Washington, by the very
best authority, that as a result OF the compro-
mise brother in law Casey would be elected
to the Senate in the place of Pinchback who,
it was then believed, would not be admitted
It was not understood, Of course, that any
written agreement to this effect had been en-
tered into, or that the Conservatives in the
Legislature were to vote for Casey, but it was
almost universally believed that there was
tacit understanding that no factious opposi-
When this report was publiehed it was not
denied, either by the Conservatives or by the
friends of the President, until it began to
appear that the Administration would be
severely criticised for such an arrangement,
and then some assertions which tended to
throw little doubt upon the story came from
the White House. The Conservatives never
have denied that such an understanding was
arrived at But in all the negotiations touch
ing the compromise, two very important
interests seem to have been ignored; these
are Mr.. Pinchback and his colored friends
holding State offices and sitting in the Legis-
lature.
The mistake consisted in supposing that |
Gov. Kellogg was competent to represent the
Republicans of Louisiana, while the fact is |
that he does not now and never has had the /
confidence Of his party in that State. Per
sonally he is universally despis ed. Time and |
again he has attempted to "sell out his par
ty for his own individual gain, and ever
since he was thrust into the Office he now
holds by Durell's midnight order and Grants
bayonets his weakness and treachery have
been constant cause of anxiety to his party
friends.
They have sustained him because they have
never yet seen the way to get rid Of him and
retain, themselves, political power in the
State. The agreement which Kellogg made
with the Conservatives therefore, is held by
many Of the Republicans to bind nobody but
himself. Pinchback was not a party to it, nor
was it submitted to Lieut. Gov. Antoine, Su-
of Public Instruction Brown, or
my others of the prominent colored Republi-
cans; or, at least, they do not consider them
selves bound by it. They are just as much
es Kellogg is, but the compromise
contains no condition that they shall not be
disturbed in their official position.
PINcHBAcKs INFLUENCE. Is
Kellogg agreed to the compromise, sup
POSING that the Senate would refuse to admit i
'inchback to a seat, and, if well authenti-
ated rumors may be trusted, he as well as
ZEN. Grant had hidden and personal motive
Or doing so, and the fact that it was
makes it no less probable that it existed :
t seems now that, while to induce Gen. :
rant to favor the compromise, the hope that !,
ena.orial honors might, as a result, be con- :
erred on Casey, was held out to him, Kellogg =
'as swapping at the same bait expecting to J
ct it himself.
Kelloggs scheme, like that Of the Presi- y
ent, hinged on the rejection Of Pinchback y
y the Senate. Then Antoine, the Lieuten-
ut Governor, was to be put out of the way. =
wo plans for accomplishing this were pro- h
OSeu. Ouo was 10 ODtitlu IOT AutOlue de- T
rable Federal appointment, and, if neces- o
ary give him a present of money The II
ther was by regular canvass of the vote CT Y
572 by the Legislature. 1t is held that the n
ote for Governor and Lieutenant Governor !,
ast in 1872 has never been legally canvassed. :,
The law requires that the returns them
lives shall be sent to the Legislature and
lere opened and counted. The returns that :,
ere actually sent to the Kellogg Legislature -
ere papers prepared by the Lynch Return "a 90
g Board. If, then, the actual returns, 81 :,
hich have never been in the hands of Kel- - :,
gg or his party, but which can be produced ~
7 the Conservatives. were taken before the :.
legislature, they might now be canvassed, it - -
held, and, by judicions " throwing out, u &c
light easily be made to show the election of ~
ellogg and Penn. l.,
By either plan Antoine could be easily dis 10 ~
,sed Of. If the former were adopted, then =, "a
,nator residing in Penns district was to re- =. -
On, and Penn was to be elected to the Sem ~
e, and then to be its presiding officer. If a.