Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-02-11
senator Conkling In Defense or the
Administration. c4

uosbingtOn Associated Press dispatches
g The o9th and 30th ult. give the follow
~ inr report of Senator Conklings speech
- The Senate on the Louisiana question !:
- Mr. Conkling began by saying that the
srama which entertalns the senate must
we its run, and that a time had now come
men silence only serves to prolong the wran-
va The Presidential contest for 1875 has
I'm opened in the Senate The way In
which nv amendment was received by the
Senator from Ohio (Thurman) told us in
stontIy that we were to be charged all along the
lire. Every Administration supposter was
raady to vote for the resolution if made court
aons The course of the President was pre-
indoed. The Opposition had almost the en-
!!ire newspaper press of the land with Them
,Her # had become notorious that our ac-
ION would be anticipated if we longer de-
Iayed the resolution was passed The plain,
manly message came, and now lies upon our
fable. Then discussion should have ended,
b"t if did not. The Senator from Missouri
zane forward with his resolution, and so the
machine for grinding out political capital
rms on. Senator Thurman occupied the at
,ention of the Senate for hours yesterday, and
| nthers are doubtless waiting to take
H Hu' Mace tomorrow. He is the recognized
leader of the Democratic party, but he did
not tell us what to do with the great Louis
| lana question 1t was for the Senator from
Ohio fThurman), to whom the nation looked
more than to any other man, to originate the
policy of his party. The honorable Senator
iThurman), when commenting upon South
ern outrages, said, in effect, If such was the
condition OF society in the South, it was time
that the party which had been in power
through the war and since the war should
give way and let another party come in.
There was the clew which unraveled this web
That had been the gospel Of the Democrats
since the beginning: make reconstruction
a;1,,ra WA "a q miscarrIAUp
agitation; disturb, ferment and revolutonize,
and the time will come when the country,
weGried and worn with commotion, will ac-
cept anything for change. The sole policy
of the Democracy seems to be to oppose
measure which originates with Repub-
leans. The honorable Senator from
Ohio, in his argument, went back to
the election of 1872, and made that
period background for the events Of three
weeks ago. Who made the election in 1872 a
fraud? It was Warmoth, the leader Of the
Opposition in louisiana the champion of the
Democracy, who was to carry the state Tor
Greeley, and thus help to make him President.
The election of 1872 in Louisiana was an organ
lied fraud The testimony before the Senate
Committee showed that Warmoths control Of
the election machinery then was equal to 90
900 votes. In every form in which this ques-
ton had been tried the decision had been
against McEnery The courts both houses Of
against McEnery. No responsibility for the
doings in New Orleans on the 4th of January
touches the President OF the United States
The first information he received in regard to
them was simultaneous with the information
given to all citizens at large. The newspapers
of the following day were his first informers
If there were those in Washington who knew
that a revolution was to be attempted on the
4th Of January the President of the United
States was not one OF them.
Mr.. Conking next referred to the reasons
which induced the President to send Gen.
Sheridan to New Orleans. and said before this
letter of the President directing Gen Sheri-
dan to 90 South the President had been COM
PEELED to listen to tales of suffering to which
no man could be deaf. They did not concern
the election, but they concerned the lives,
homes and property of those who had never
been false to their countrys flag, and under
that flag, were hunted as II they were wild
beasts. These entreaties summoned the
Chief Magistrate to his feet. One of these
entreaties had reached him but three days be-
fore 1t came from one who for twenty
years, had been a resident OF Shreveport;
judicial officer, not appointed by the Presi-
dent but appointed 10y the court. He said
troops were stationed in Louisiana, and
their presence there was lawful, be-
cause the slender remnant OF our army
must be stationed somewhere. 1t must be
stationed in some State, and, no matter where
found, its right to be there was unquestioned,
and its withdrawal from New Orleans would
have been possible only with Chief Magis-
trate in open cOnnivance with murderers and
traitors What would Gen. Washington have
said about ordering troops away from New
Orleans, where the air was murky and heavy
with violence, and stationing them some
where where all was peace? This question
was presented to Washington when four
counties in the western part Of Pennsylvania
resisted the whisky tax. An Inspector and
Surveyor were resisted, and Washington or
dered out and put on foot $1,000 men, and
went to command them himself. The revolt
was abandoned but armed men trod the soil
OF Pennsylvania to preserve peace and prevent
any further outbreak.
The Senator then referred to the seizure of
arms in New Orleans in September last by
the White League, and said they had never
been given up, although the President, by
his proclamation, called upon the insurgents
TO lay down their arms and repair peaceably
to their homes. Yet, after more than three
months had elapsed, they stood defying the
Federal Government The arms not re-
turned consisted of two mountain howitzers,
IA Springfield breech loading rifles, SOL
Winchester rifles, GOA Enfield rifles, ninety
three Spencer carbines, and 1874 bayonets.
These arms were carried by these men to-
day, and they were in rebellion against the
PROCLAMATION commanding them to lay them
down. The Chief Magistrate required no de-
Tense for allowing soldiers Of the Union TO
remain in the State of Louisiana after the
lith of September, when they had been sum-
inoned there 10 arrest a business SO bloody.
torty-eight hours before the message Of the
President was sent to the Senate the
honorable Senator from Missouri (Schurz),
declaring he intended to speak with
calmness and mpartiality, told the
country he was then in possession
OF all the information necessary to form his
Judgment, and proceeded to arraign the Pres
ldent as the ioer OF the deeds in Louisiana
on the 4th of January.