The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-12-11
GOV. McENERY TO SENATOR
McMILLEN.
He Accepts His Resignation but
Refutes His Arguments.
Senator McMillen's Successor to be Ap-
pointed at Once.

NEW ORLEANS La, Dec. ., 1879.
Hon. ". L. McMillen, Senator electof Louisiana:
Dear SRI have read, with regret, your
open letter addressed to me, through the
Associated Press, dated yesterday, in which
YOU express the opinion that the struggle OF
the people of Louisiana, for the right OF self |
has been determined against
them, and announce the withdrawal OF your
credentials as Senator, and tender to the peo- |
pie of Louisiana, through me. the trust COM
mitted by them to your hands.
In my judgment, based upon all that has
occurred since the inception of our difficult |
ties, YOU have seriously erred in the conclu- |
sions at which you have arrived.
You address me as Governor elect OF Lou
isiana." If I am "Governor elect since
1872 what estops me IS the chosen Executive
of the State, and vests that right in usurp-
err? The means by which this has been &C
complished are well known to the public, and
they never have received, and never can re-
ceive the approval OF the American people.
In November, 1872, the government. OF
which am the official head, was elected By
the people of Louisiana The result OF the
election was legally asoertained, and declared
by the Legislature, of which you were mem
Der. and in which there was . quorum OF
legally elected members in both branches.
In January, 1873, l was insugurated, and
acted az Governor until I was prevented by
the arm of the Federal Administration, un-
lawfully exercised against me through the
military power Of the nation. The right to
act still assert, and that right can not and
will not surrender.
You were elected Senator by the Legisla-
ture Of the State in 1873. II your Credentials
were valid then, they are valid now. In your
letter you say, "The Senate, to this date, has
held the question in allegiance" Then, why
withdraw your credentials and abandon your
trust while the Senate, the only power compe-
tent to Judge of their validity, has never
passed upon them!
But Won state, that other and equally COM
petent parties have, practically and finally,
determined the question, and you refer to the
"Wheeer adj ustment," the resolution OF the
Louisiana Legislature acquiescing In, but not
approving the acting government OF Mr. hei.
lopO. the action Of the last Lower House Of
Congress to the same effect, and to the seat
ing Of Mr.. Morey on the 9th inst, upon Gre
dentials signed by the person who is acting
as Governor of Louisiana. In my judgment,
YOUR Interpretation of these matters Is not
sound. They can not possibly bear on the
issue of the legality Of the State government,
because,
/, The Legislature of Louisiana Of 1875
had no constitutional power to displace ,
State government elected by the people in
1879 and inaugurated in 1873 or to retire its
claims, or to substitute for it usurpation.
q That Legislature did not declare the
validity of the Kellogg government, but
merely accepted it as the acting government
until such time % the Federal Congress,
where the question Of its legality was pend
ing should settle it.
g. Even this resolution OF sunsrance WHICH
expressly ,oithheH any approval Of the Kellogg
government was passed by State Senate OF
which majority were usurpers, IS destitute
of legal right as Mr.. Kellogg himsef-by the
remnant Of the peoples House OF Representa-
tives, which House Gen. De Trobriand had
expelled in January, 1875, from the iegissa.
tive halls Of the State, and composed. not OF
representatives elected by the people, but OF
Wheeler Congressional Committee. Passed
by Legislature thus composed, it WAS signed
by the usurper Antoine rs Lieutenant Cover
nor, approved by the usurper Kellogg 81
| Governor, aud promulgated by the usurplne
Secretary Of State.
Az its best, it recognizes the existence OF 8
de facto. not the legality Of de jure govern
ment, and was passed, signed, approved and
promulgated by the very usurpers whose
legal status you seem to think 1t recognizes
What provision of our law. State or Federal
constituted this usurping government, tn
Judge Of it's own legality or authorizes thu
subversion Of de Jure In iaVof OF pastafs
de fdc!o government?
It must also be remembered that the ad
vocates Of this adjustment declared that
referred solely to the difficulties growing on
of the election Of 1874, and had no referepc
to those Of 1872; and, besides, that tn
Wheeler Committee. in their report to Con
gress, declared that they had not investigated
the election Of 1872, and that their resolution
recognising Kellogg they based not on facts o
law, but on their surmises and opinions OF VIVA
the people of Louisiana were Wiling TO ac
cept, and of which they knew sbsolutel.
nothing. If they had sought the desires Q
the people, they could have found ample evl
dences in their stubborn and heroic resistanc
7 TO two years of oppression and wrong, in tn
? formal resolves Of every parish and commu
, nity in the State, and in their imposing up
heayal Of September IA, 1874, which swep
away. as with the hand Of fate, every vestig
8 of hated usurpation.
t As to the action of Congress- I need No
. remind YOU that the House impeaohed Judg
DureIl because of the "midnight order,
and seated Gen. Sheridan on the ott1oial re
turns, which evidence my election; that til
Senate has refused to admit Mr.. Pinchbach
has announced that the Kellogg government
8 was not elected, and that the declarations
the Lynch Returning Board were false an
: without the semblance of integrity. Log
cally and legally, there is but one oonoloslo e
from the findings and action Of Congress, an
that is the overthrow of the usupation. l
seating Mr.. Morey, on the 9Th inst, th
House did not recognize MIR. Kellogg othe
Il than as acting Governor. They expressly e1
: plunged all that would imply their recognitio
J Of him de jure.
0 therefore, as Governor elect OF Louisiana
> in the name of the people. do deny that the
q right to govern themselves has been los
T. either by their own acquiescence or by II
: Wheeler adjustment Of the Louisiana Hou
of Representatives, or by any action OF Il
=. Federal Congress.
= On the 9th of January, 1876, a conventio
will be held in this city, and the people re-
,r resentatives, many of them already elects
aud instructed, will demand of the FEEDER
Government the overthrow of the usurpatit
which its Executive alone has created, al