The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-03-31
LETTER FROM GOV, McENERY.

To the Editor of the Bulletin:
The advocates of the Wheeler compromise
imagine that they overwhelm all the unan
sWerable arguments against that supremes
act of folly and unwisdom, and utterly put tt
flight the opponents of that measure by utter
ing their incessant cry, addressed to anti
compromisers: ''You are only sentimentalists
your arguments are only sentiment, you are
not practical, and deal only in the advocacy
OF distractions of right, and that We
(Wheeler compronisers) are the only practi
cal politicians Of the State, ETC.
This is the sum and substance of thei,
reasoning, without being able to demonstrate
a solitary practical good that is to result from
the adoption Of this surrender of the rights
and liberties OF the people who, for nearly
three years, havessteadlly, vigorously and he
roicaily contested the usurpation of Mr. Kel-
logg, and which which will never be rec
ognized as legitimate government unless
made SO by the action of Conservative mem
bers OF the Legislature who have embraced
the Wheeler compromise
| For once I admit that there is great deal
of sentiment in the peoples opposition tc
the Kellogg government sentiment
which draws a clear and distinct line of de-
markation between right and wrong; that
sentiment which applauds patriotic opposi.
ton and resistance by all the means within
their power to usurpation denounced by
the whole people of the Union; that senti-
ment which upholds the right of local self
government against the entertainments of the
Federal and centralizing power at Washing
ton; that sentiment which actuates the whole
people Of this Union in their stubborn and
unyielding preservation of the States within
the sphere OF their own constitutions and that
of the Federal Union; that sentiment which
hates and resists tyranny and despotism, and
consecrated by self-sacritice and untiring de-
votion to right, principle, justice and liberty;
that sentiment Of sacred regard for pub
lie liberty that moved and actuated
the founders and architects of this great
Republic, and finally, that sentiment of man
Illness, OF honor, OF truth, Of public virtue.
OF principle. that scorns every arrangement
which ignores these highestsmoral attributes
OF humanity, and substitutes in their stead
an lnordinate desire for temporary ends,
wounding our manhood and furnishing our
honors. Sentiments, and kindred sentiments
like the above, freely own, influence me to
oppose the Wheeler arrangement, pregnant as
it u.s. from beginning to the end, with sur
render OF the great cause of the people of
Louisiana.
Here I can but recall a great and noble
sentiment spoken by the immortal Webster,
OF laying the corner stone of the Bunker |
Hill Monument. He said: Human beings |
are composed not OF reason only, but of i'm
aglnatlon, also, and sentiment; and that is |
neither wasted nor misapplied which is appro-
prlated to the purpose OF giving right direc-
ton to sentiments, and opening proper
springs Of feeling in the heart"
BY the incubation Of sentiments such as l |
have briefly and hurriedly given in this com.
munication, the whole people of this nation
were deeply and thoroughly aroused, and
'tung to the quick by the outrages inflicted
lpon suffering Louisiana by the hand of Fed
eral power, until we could exclaim, in the
language OF the same great man | have
quoted, spoken on the same occasion:
"Let us thank God that we live in an age
when something has influence besides the
'ayonet, and when the sterne5t authority
Ices not venture to encounter the searching
power of public reproach. Any attempt of
he kind | have mentioned should be met by
me universal burst of indignation, the air
# the civilized world ought to be made too
warm to be comfortably breathed by any one
Who would hazard it" {
Such was the sentiment of the illustrious
age Of Marshield uttered on the 18th day of
une, 1925, and could he have lived to wit
less the destruction of one State government {
nd the setting up Of another in its stead, '
olely by the employment of the bayonet, and
till later the invasion of a hall of legislation,
nd the expulsion Of members by the same
leans, the grand old man. with his " heaven
orn genius" in Faneuil Hall would have Y
lectrifed this country with sentiments that
o compromise could ever conciIiate, smother {
r suppress. JOHN MCENERY.