The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-03-23
THE ILL-oMENED SURRENDER

Z oANSiA
: craft may have been drifting about for some
Q days before he can balance himself on the
? restless deck and take the great luminary's
: meridian attitude in order to determine how
8 far he IS from the equator on one side and the
pole on the other. His log, his chronometer
and his compass may all deceive, and his cal
culations may be inaccurate, but in the king
: of day there is neither varableness nor
shadow Of turning
Since last Novembers election the political
aff4iIs of louisiana have been obscured by
darkness, storms and fogs. No one can tell
to-day exactly where Louisiana is or to what
quarter she is drifting We can put a finger
on the great chart Of nations and say where
she ought to be, but il would puzzle the most
skilful Of political nayi gators to say exactly
where she is
Toreview briefly After selecting candidates
for the Legislature with unusual care, and
after thorough discussion of State aft airs
through the press and orally before the peo-
pie, the Conservatives and Democrats of Lou
| isiana referred their to the ballot-box
There was interference and intimidation Of
Federal troops III some parts Of the State, and
there was in some sections complaint of inter-
ference and threats; but neither cause pro-
duced any marked effect on either side The
| election was equal to the average ia fairness,
no violent disturbance having occurred on the
day of the election and very little at any time
| before or afterwards.
At this peaceful and fair election the Con-
servatives won clear and manifest victory.
the legal fruit of which was majority of
| twenty-six in the House Of Representatives, a
majority on joint ballot, the State Treasurer
and numerous local advantages.
Next came in the Returning Board, pre-or |
daned to defeat the will of the people, to |
overcome their votes with objections, frauds |
ard chicanery, and to prolong indefinitely the
power of its inventors The board did their
work deliberately, sternly, remorsely, without
the slightest indication Of a desire to be lust.
without reason or conscience or decencv,
giving an exhibition of brazen, soulless i'm
pudence surprising anything witnessed in
any free country in any age. In a report
mate cunning the Conservative candidate for
Treasurer returned as defeated, and only a
minority of Conservatives were returned as
elected to the House Of Representatives.
Next in order of time was the memorable
meeting of the Returning Boards House,
the legal organization Of the same with Mr.
Wilt as Speaker, the seating of several mem
bers whose cases had been referred to the
House by the Returning Board, the expulsion
of these members by the officers and soldiers a
Of the United States army, acting in pursu-
ance of the orders of President Grant and ;
with his sanction both then and'at all times
since then, the gross insult on the same day
given to the remaining fifty odd members,
their prompt protest aud resentment and
heir abandonment of the hall where thew
could only sit with bayonets hourished over r
hem, the emphatic approval of their fellow D
citizens and constituents, and their refusal to q
eturn, in which they persisted until the ses-
ion was ended
The remnant Of the House re-assembled,
'ut had no legal quorum cit her on the day Of
he pretended election Of Hahn as Speaker or IA
{ any time afterwards.
Nj antime and pending the daily meetings
the Conservatives in caucus and the daily
emblarce of legislation at the st. Louis
Totol, fraction of a Committee of Congress,
of two Republicans and ore Dam
crat Investigated the facts relative to the
tate election in November, and reported
,e.n in substance as above, pronouncirg the
,iion Of the Returning Beard unfair, arbi-
AIRY, unjust and fraudulent.
This report not suiting the Radical palate
he rest and ma ority of the same committee,
insisting of three Republicans and ore Dem
rat, came here and made more prolonged r"
Id elaborate, but more partiz III and unfair at
vestigation, but arrived at substantially the
me conclusion as their tellow-commis- ,
oners had done, that the Returning Board =
ID cheated the Conservatives out of the law
! results of their victory T
Trus ting to the honorable reputation of the
embers of both branch committees, their
tervention was solicited by many Conser-
tives in the hope that arbitration would re-
1t in an honorable adjustment. It was at
time the intent or wish of the Conserva- Pa
'es to appeal to the commissioners on any
alter not relating to the election Of 1874 It
IS an appeal from the arbitrary action and
ludulent award ofthe Returning Board, and
,m that only. Nothing else was complicated C.,
tn their proposal. They only engaged to
ld themselves by the committees award SO
as their own election was concerned. MI
Out Of this proposal grew the Kidding, n
uble- dealing obscure, indefinite Wheeler
npromise proposition, which was full of
'p-holes for trickery and fraud, coupled 4
ii compulsory recognition of the usurper
logg as the Governor Of Louisiana. y
of
This was rejected as was proper, and hig
r counter proposal made which was as TIRE,
nm pt1v rejected And bara tba parotio-