The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-02-04
Senator Thurman On the Military
Usurpati0n In Louisiana.

| Kellogg had to the office Of Governor was
| given him by the President Of the United
| States. He said he traced the beginning OF
| this trouble in Louisiana TO Washington City
| and read from telegram to Atty-Gen. Will
| Jams, dated Dec. g. 1872 directing Packard
| 70 enforce the DEGREES and mandates of the
| United States Court, no matter by whom re-
| sisted. He argued that there was no resist
ance to the Federal Court, and all correspond
ence previous to the telegram did not contain
a word to shoW that the lawful DEGREES Of the
| court would be resisted. Under the midnight
order, made not in court, not by court,
| but by this man Dure1, who was in con-
| spiracy with Packard, the State House was
| seized and batteries planted around it to
keep the people of Louisiana from entering
| 1t. Durell would not have made that order,
and Packard would not have executed it, had
not kilograms from Washington assured them
| they would be sustained.
He next referred 10 the Lynch Returning
Board and said the report OF the committee
OF the Senate as well as the able speech of
| the Senator from Wisconsin (Carpenter)
showed it had not even the color of author
ity, much less the legal right, to count the
vote in 1872. Their action was a usurpation.
tie then read from Carpenters speech and
the testimony taken by the committee in re-
gard to fraudulent afiidavits and what use
was made Of them by the Lynch Board, and
said every member of that Board was re-
warded with a lucrative office by Kellogg or
by the Legislature OF Louisiana.
lie next referred to the appeal of McEnery
and the people of Louisiana to the President,
and the telegram of Atty Gen. Williams to
McEnery, telling him he need not visit Wash
ington with the Committee of Que Hundred,
as the President was unchanged, and the
sooner the people there acquiesced the sooner
order would he restored, and said he knew Of
no despot on the face of the globe who would
refuse to hear men under such circumstances.
That telegram was to the effect that the
Presidents mind, right or wrong, was never
to be altered. McEnery asked to be heard;
the Legislature asked to be heard; the
people asked to be heard, but they were
not. Packard was heard; Casey, the brother
in-law of the President, was heard, but the
people were refused. He argued that this
Louisiana case could not be touched without
touching pitch. There was nothing but cor
ruption in it everywhere. Durell escaped i'm
peachment by his resignation, yet the usurpa-
ton inaugurated by him was still maintained
and the people of Louisiana were smarting un-
derlt. They would not be American citizens, if
they did not smart under it Because they
felt aggrieyed by all these wrongs they were
pronounced banditti by the Lieutepant-Gen-
eral of the United States army, whose tele-
grams to the President were as if he were the
satrap OF some Persian Emperor. Was not
such state Of things calculated TO disturb
the people Of Louisiana? The usurpation
there was such as no people on the face of
this earth could rest easy under. Since kel-
lo.g's Inauguration the securities of the State
had fallen from 20 or so down to %. The Sc
curities of the city of New Orleans had fallen
from so or 90 down to so or 40. Bank shares
aad railroad stock had fallen in correspond
ing degree. In the district of Natchitoches
the tax reached per cent. of the assessed
value of property, and yet people were eX-
pected to be quiet and content with a taxa
ton of more than five times the average tax
in Ohio They were expected to remain quiet.
If they did not, the Northumberland of the
United States army proposed to the President
that they should be proclaimed banditti. He
(Thurman) never expected TO see the day in
what was once called free America when such
things as these would take place and any
man calling himself a freeman defend them
ana were being repeated now and the same
power which upheld them then was uphold
ing them now. Another fraudulent Return
ing Board had dropped out twenty-nine Con-
servatiye members of the Legislature. and
the army of the United States was uphoiding
that act. The attempt was now made to divert
public attention from this enormity by cavil-
ing about the mode in which the House Of
Representative Of the State was organized.
He argued that the five men who were elected
were legal members of the body, duly elected !;
if they had not been, the Returning Board
would never have referred their cases to the
Legislature. They had just as much right in
that House as lie (Thurman) had the right TO
take part in the proceedings OF this Senate.
His colleague (Sherman) had said twas right
| to eject those five men. He (Thurman) would
| like to know how his colleague would feel if
| Gov. Allen, of Ohio, should send posse
| to the Legislature of that State ard take out
| five Republican members The Constitution
| of Louisiana required that each parish in the
| State should have at least one Representative,
| and this was TO be the judge of election,
1 1,rtn flo, nd ratt Of ON
! bers. There were 106 members present in the
| House committee of the House of Repre-
sentatives had reported that fifty-three were
| Republicans and iifty-three Democrats, but
| sworn statements of Wilt and others, who
are familiar with the politics OF those pres
ent, showed that fifty-four were Democrats
and fifty-two Republicans. There was no con-
test for the seats of the five men elected; they
| were simply omitted by the Returning Board,
| and that omission excluded them. That
| omission was violation of the sworn duty OF
| that Returning Board. Those men were ad-
| Judged to be intruders on that account, and
marched out by an officer OF the army oil the
| United States. Was thata republican govern
ment? The Returning Board might just as
| well have omitted fifty men as five. When
| the Senator from New York (Conkling) was
| last sworn III as member of the Senate his
friend by the side Of him, an ex,
Vice President CHamlin), said he had
known of an instance where Senators
| were sworn in on the simple announcement
| of the fact. All knew that the Senator had
| been elected, and when it was suggested thai
! he be sworn in all said Amen. His colleague
! (Sherman) might Just as well have said thai
| President Grant could have sent file o.
soldiers down here and put the Senator from
| New York out. Ii President Grant had beer
a Democrat, under this new doctrine he nigh
have marched the Senator out. His colleague
=
that Mr. Vigers, Clerk of the former House o
| Representatives in Louisiana, WIS not allowet
to organize the House on the 4th inst. III
| was not the Clerk of the House which Assem-
hled that day and had no light there. Th
| Constitution of Louisiana did not even provid
that he should call the roll, but only that h
should provide a list of members. He had n
more right in that House on the 4th inst. thal
any other citizen OF Louisiana. His colleagls
(Sherman) had dwelt with great force upo
the fact that the yeas and nays were refused
Had it come to this that if the Speaker of
| State Legislature made an erroneous rulin
an army officer of the United States coul
enter the halls of the Legislature and tax
such Speaker out of the seat?
Mr.. Thurman next referred to the mess nc
of the President of the United States in repl
to the resolution of the Senate of the Sth inst
and said there never was paper SO full {
omissions of material facts ever emanate
|
would not speak direspectfully of the Pres
dent, but his message was open to criticism
The resolution passed by the Senate requeste
! the President to inform the Senate whethC
any portion of the army of the United State
or any officer or officers, soldier or soldiers,
SIch army, did in any manner interfere or il
termeddle with, control, or seek to contro
the organization of the General Assembly
the State of Louisiana, etc. The Senate ha
the right to suppose that, if military interfe
ence had taken place, an official report va
on file in the War Department The interfe
ance was on the 4th inst, and sufficient tin
| elapsed before the message was sent TO Il
0 Senate to enable the officers iii New OrleaI
to make a report Instead Of sue
| report there was a telegram from &c
Sheridan: there was no report from Gen. {
: Trobriand, no report from Gen. Emory-on
5 a one-sided telegram from Gen. Sheridan,
which the most material facts were omittt
and a proposition made which was entire
= indefensible. What account had Gen. de Tr
BRAND to give for his actionss Where W;
the order of his superior, Gen. Emory? WI
did Emory issue such an order, and VIII
: steps had the President taken to bring the
!; offenders to justice: Upon all these poin
q the message was as silent as the grave. II
President replied that the army was not ma
up OF lawyers, but in no country of the wor
was ignorance of law to be pleaded As an e
e cuse for the commission OF crime. II Senate
o desired free institutions to be preserved
9 was time to teach the army, from the highe
9 10 the lowest man in it, that there was such
I thing as law. and ignorance OF it was no d
S fense for violating IT, They mus. be taug