The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-01-13
The President and Louisiana-Is Thsre
Remedy

in the administration of the government he
would shave no policy contrary to the will Of
the people" 1t was an expression that was
successful for it echoed the common thought
at that particular juncture. Just then the
people had been very much excited by Pres
idental policy of another sort There had
been President in Office whose policy
was felt to be too much his own who seemed
too obstinately inclined to act on theories Of
government which had, as the people fancied,
little other recommendation than that they
were the conceptions of the Executive himself
or of his more immediate personal adherents
1t seemed in those times to men of all parties
in the North that o strict administration Of
the law in regard to the South was best, and
that in cases of appeal Congress would be o
better dependence than any scheme of policy
concocted in the narrow mind of an obstinate
man. Apprehension of ''my policy" went so
far, az we all know, that politicians believed
they could carry an impeachment on the in
dignation it had excited, and we
saw reference to that extreme re-
sort of the constitution. 1t was with
peculiar pleasure therefore that the people
heard from a new President declaration
which imported especially that he would
avoid the particular errors Of his predecessor;
that whatever he might do or fail to do, as he
could scarcely be perfect. he would not excite
the country nor alarm the just susceptibilities
of the people by acting on his personal views
rather than on the law; that in the nice
phases of reconstruction the sill Of the peo-
pie, as found in the law, would be his supreme
guide, and one for which he would never fail
to abandon any theories or convictions or
personal inclinations of his own that were
inconsistent with 1t.
In presence of the indisputable facts of to-
day it must be conceded that Grants pledge,
| if not insincerely made, was made in the
light and incapable spirit Of q man who did
not comprehend his position. Andrew john
son at his worst was never in so bad place
with regard 70 the solemn obligations of his
Office as Grant is in now. If it could
have been shown on any evidence whatever
that johnson had done, or only proposed to
do what Grant has not only done, but what
it is notorious that he has done, and what he
does not deny, then Johnson trial before the
Senate would have closed with his removal
from Office in degradation and ignominy.
But the worst Of Grants improvement on
the career of his predecessor is apparently to
come. johnson not only committed great
errors, but he insulted the country with
elaborate arguments in support Of them,
which would have amused people by their
similarity to the endeavors to convince the
'eleven obstinate jurymsn'' if the sub
ject had been one in which the ma
ton was less seriously interested. Itappears
that Grant is to initiate the infatuation
of johnson in this respect also He is to put
the country down with o message. His
''whiskered pandours and his fierce hussars'
have ridden over the law in New Orleans. At
the request of Kellogg his troops have turned
out Legislature, as at the request Of Durell
other United States forces turned out the
Governor whose place this Kellogg now oc-
cupies. Kellogg, it must be remembered, is
Governor only by favor of the President He
is Governor because for some inscrutable rea-
son his occupancy of that Office squares with
Grants policy. He never was elected to the
Office, as has been clearly shown in Congress-
and the President has admitted that be did
not believe Kellogg was ever elected. But he
is sustained in Office against the will Of the
people, and, thus sustained, this man Of straw
is relied upon to give the authority that is
wanted for ejecting from their places in the
Legislature the elected representatives of the
people. %. He1 he b: fsaily been Governor Il.
authority would have been insufficient but
then the responsibility might have been his;
doubled weight on those who put in
such a place this ready tool But all this
having been done-elections popular sover-
eighty, law, right and constitutional form hav-
ing been trampled under foot-the President
} proposes to send to Congress a message to
sustain and justify all this by showing that
somebody had been killed and somebody else
! threatened in that State. He will shake up
once more that Mumbo Jumbo of Southern
} outrages which, during the fall elections, was
SO freely used in the hope that it might
, frighten the Northern people into voting the
republican ticket, but which SO conspicu-
ously failed. But if it did not frighten the
country then it may now, daubed with fresh
blood. If it could not carry the elections it
, may make a diversion of popular opinion from
this outrage against Legislature. Alas is
there no ingenuity in the world? Can not
some tyrant find q new pretext? Life was
unsafe in Rome also. Between the proscrip-
tons on one side or the other no one was safe,
and that was why the man Sin whom there
were many Mariuses" had to put oil under
his foot and have his own way. 1t was the
same in Paris also; and Louis Napoleon
turned out an Assembly only "to save
society" 1t is an exaggeration of Andrew
Johnson or a servile copy of worse cases.
Ip b;s cpoech nj the meetinO ON Monday