The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-02-12

words from that gentleman now !0>~eAc'ail"e0
Mr.. ARMSTRONG: "Those are my views
now: but Virginia is a crippled deotor .na'
must make some compromise With her creoi-
tors" IL, ), ,so
last extremity were his words, ana upon
The faith of them the people lent thelr
money to the State
Adjourned at 800 P. h'' ~; HUs7EH
having the floor.
Another Capital Article from 'ne he"u'
ing Republican Paper I'm New Eng
land.
from the Boston Advertiser lutn.J
TIE SOUTHERN QUESTION::
The House Committee on Louisiana Al
fairs have returned to Washington, and may
be expected to make an early report OF Tue
results of their investigation. The special
committees who have taken testimony I'D Ala
bama and Mississippi are also e1sected 10 re-
port within few days. The report OF the
Arkansas committee is alreldSpuolished.
These reports will bring up the whole soutn-
ern policy of the ADMINISTRATORS review
and criticism. The time is short Tor DEBATE II
ANYTHING is to he done. Serious and critical
as the matters are they must be disposed OF
summariIy or left to seethe and tester
through another year. The subject Is not
simply party question Of supreme moment,
but its relations to the peacean& prosperity
of the country are 80 immediate hat it will
be the height of IN wisdom to attempt to
wrest the circumstances to party advantage.
| II since 1861 there has been subject before
Congress requiring to be considered and set
| tied as pure question of constitutional
right and patriotic duty this Is such ques-
ton. The attempt to settle it upon any
other basis will be sure TO entail incalculable
mischief, and must fail.
! If through INSTRUMENTATION concerning the
facts, or rash mistakes, or culpable neglect,
the Republican party has heretofore gone
wrong, it has nothing to gain by persisting
for the sake of consistency or for the sake Of
saving anybody's feelings. Its plain duty is
to face about without delay, confess its er-
| rors, and earnestly set about correcting them.
Whether or not at this stage Of the case
such course will save the party, 1t is at all
events the only chance of salvation. The
people are now so aroused to the omnous
significance of the present condition in the
South. and so resolved to know the very
truth, that 1t is vain 10 imagine they can be
pacitied by misrepresentation. At the grand
assiZe of the national election they wifi sit in
! Judgment on the case, and the whole teStl-
m,ny from all sources will be heard. Ii the
representatives Of the Republican party are
anxious to have their work stand in that
| trial it must be 50 reasonable and just that
| it will deserve TO stand. 1t Is idle TO expect
| the present excitement 10 blow over. No
! compromise will put it out Of sight. No set
Element will avail to prevent re0peniDg Of
the issue unless it be so clearly right that 1t
cannot be attacked without attacking the
common rights and the common security Of
all the people under the Constitution.
BY force of circumstances Louisiana occu-
pies representative position. The Republic
can policy will be judged by what it attempts
! for the reciicltion Of the situation in that
State. 1t matters little what may be done in
| other States; until Louisiana is rigbted
! there can be no peace. 1t is of little use to
say the President has thrown the response
bility on Congress, and Congress has neg
| Executive and a Republican Congress.
| Whether the one or the other is response
bile, or they share the responsibility, the
r publican party is responsible and can.
not escape, nor ought it 10 expect to escape,
being called to account. One thing is
plain-that either the President or Congress
Guild at any time have corrected the mis-
takes committed In louisiana and neither
has done it. Posting the blame from one to
the other does not in the least relieve the Re-
publican party from its predIcament. The
past negligence is shameful. Continued
negligence will be fatal. The American PEG.
ole are not yet so indifferent to their heritage
of constitutional liberty that they will stand
BIZ unmOved while State as indel. endent in
its self dominion as any other OF the thirty
six is repeatedly forced by the army OF the
United States 10 submit to the (raudulently-
imposed rule Of the minority. No excuse or
aDology for such acts is of any account when
&c is not accom- panied by prompt correction
OF the wrong done.
Tue Republican party and the country is
now looking to the committee which has
Just lett New Orleans for either ample and
conclusive proof that kellogg is by right
Governor of Louisiana. and that the Con-
>rrvativeS returned elected to the Legisli-
tue were rightiuIly declared by legally =
constituted authority from taking their seats.
or the proposal of a direct and efficient
measure to di>posSeSS the usurpers aud re-
store the offices, executive and legislative,
10 those whom they belong. What The
persons so restored may do is nothing TO
t; the purpose. For their conduct in office
they are responsible only TO the people
Of Louisiana, not to The President nor
| to Congress. What measure The committee
| shall propose it is not for US to say, but for
them. We know there are great perpleXi-
ties and emaarrassmentS connected with this
question. The difficulties are vastly greater
/ now than they were two years ago, but less
now than they will ever be again. In our
| judgment the simplest way is tbe best, and
the simplest way would appear to he an iu-
struction in some form to the President that
IN the judgment of Congress the use of the
army to Sustain in office men who were not
elected, or to keep out Of office men who
were elected, is repuSuant to the principles
OF republican government and to the sent-
ment OF the nation. If it is necessary to de-
sigpate the particular cases, let it be done.
The Republican majority in Congress is
restricted to the alternative Of showing that
the grievances complained of BY the people
of Louisiana have no warrant in the facts,
or Of redreSsing these grievances so far as
! the National Government is responsible for
them. The politics Of these people have no.
thing to do with toe question. The Repub-
licans of Louisiana acquire no rights on ac-
count of their republcapism, and the Demo-
Gratis lose no rights on account of their de-
mocracy. 1t is not for Congress to con-
slider what stripe Of politicians the people
ought to have chosen for legislators, but
| who, in fact, were legally chosen. We
SHOULD have been glad if: the people
of Louisiana bad chosen a kepu oicau
Cover nor, and so we should have been glad
if the people Of MASSACHUSETTS bad chosen a
Republican Governor. But we believe that
! IN both instances they failed to do il, and we
no more approve the imposition Of Gov
ernor not chosen in The one case than in The