St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1875-01-08
The Trouble at New Orleans.

| 1t is Il matter of very serious regret
that ten Years after the CLOSE of the WAL.
armed interference seems necessary i'll
order To sustain law and order III the
capital of sovereign state. Yet we
doubt if il comes within the province of
people ut this distance from the scene
of action. 20 criticiSc very sharply the
action of Gen. Sheridan at New Orleans
the other day. The carping pre>>-the
newspapers that ar.. bounding the adj
miniStration. and doing more to prevent
Il pcaceahlc solution OF this difficult
problem of reconstruction than I'LL other
influences combined aic loud i'll
their pronunciation of the action of Gen.
Sheridan. We believe they are ut least
haStN in their Judgment. The Boston
.JouynaI more conservative and candid.
SAYS this:
1t appears that when the Louisian;r
House of Representatives assembled l02
members were prcScnt-52 Republicans
and 30 Democrats. Four contested ga
SIS had been referred 10y the Returning
B"aId Ia the Legislature. Scarcely had
the roll been called when Il motion WAS
made To choose Mr.. Wilt. Con>crva-
tive. Temporary speaker: il WAS carried
on declared carried. Wilt sprang To the
chair, wremchcd the gavcl from the old
Clerks hand. and thcncctorWard the
Wilt party had il all their own way.
They filled mp the contested seats with
their own men. who were on hand for
the movement, and formally chose Wilt
IS Speaker. There l. 10 manner of
doubt that this was an Illegal. high
handed and iniquitous proceeding. by
the statutes. We are told. ii WIS the du-
ty of the Clerk OF the former House 10
preside till the Speaker was elected ::
but he was thrust aside 10y Il sur
reptitiouS act. No one. either, will pre-
tend that there WAS ANY legality III the
manner in which the contested eases
were disposed OF 10y the Wilt men.
1t is 10y no means an easy question: to
decide what the Republicans ought to
have done ut this point. 1t may he
said that if they had acquiesccd in this
hIaZcn piece of trirh"rN. the White
Leagues. who were near at hand. would
have completed their programme to the
letter, and another revolution. SuhveI-
siVc of the laws and defiant of the Fed
cral authority. would have made Lou
i>:Ina Il rebel state for the second time
Even in that event the question arises
whether il would not have been adViS-
able To let these pretended Cou>crNa-
lives appear i'll the wrong before the
whole country. i'll order that the for
bearance of the Government. and the
rightfulncSS of the position of the New
Orleans Republicans. might stand us
titled in the view of all fair minded
men. Gen. Sheridan has assumed COM
mand of the Department of the Gulf.
announcing the existence i'll Louisiana
cot Il spirit of defiance of all lawful au
thority and an insecurity of life which
is hardly realized by the General Gov
crnmcnl OF the country ut large.
This il Il very grave cNjgcncN. We
confess we do not like some of its feat
urcS. 1t may have been necessary to
call upon the military To the extent that
was done. but We would rather have
seen il proved by stronger REASONS. We
have no respect Tor the course of the
Wilt party, hnt we doubt if it WAS
sufficient to Justify the summary invest
mcnt of the whole State with military
control w hich is what Gen. Sheridan'S
action amounts to. We have all con-
iidcncc in that officers military genius.
but we should have had more confidence
in his present mission if he had been
regularly designated to his command
through the General of the Army. In
short. this is Il reveIsion to war times
which we regret to SEQ and which does
not seem to have been neccssitated by
the events that have thus far come to
light.