The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-01-28
THURSDAY, JANUARY %, 1876
From Forney's Presc.
The President S Special Messaee,

to Congress in regard to Louisiana will |
not settle that affair, but it fixes and de
fines his position, and probably the
policy of the Republican party. Here
AFTER or as long as he is the Executive
ofthc nation, and as long as the laws
rassed by Congress for the enforcement
Of the Fifteenth amendment to the Con-
stitution Of the United States aud for
the protection of citizens Of every class,
remain on the statute-books. he is re-
solved to persorvo peace at Tho Soutl,
TO reprcss insurrection, and to guard
aud defend the victims Of the armed
and secret organizations which wgr
openly upon the State government Of
Louisiana, and in effect upon that ol
the nation. The Union must aud shall
be preserved, and its preservation meaus
that Of the rights Of its citizens. lie
will keep within the strict letter of the
law, and that law gives him abundant
scope for the employment Of the military
power. lie earnestly desires the
Southern people to live together in
amnity and obey the laws, and he has
inplored them to that effect, but in thc
absence Of reconciliation and tranquility,
he has only one duty, and he will per-
form it. To use his own vigorous words
''to the extent that Congress has con-
ferred power upon me to prevent it,
neither Kuklux klans, White Leagues.
nor any other association using arms
and violence to execute their unlawful
purposes, can be permitted IN that way
to govern any part Of this country.
Nor can | see with Indifference Union
men Or Republicans ostrsc.zed, persocu-
ted, and murdered on account OF their
opinion, as tLcy nov are in some local.
ties" This is the only excuse or justi-
fcation the Presideat has to make for
the recent employment OF troops at New
Orleans--the only sep he throws to the
bowling Democratic Cerbo.us-unless.
indeed, the narration of events IL
Louisiana since 1868 can be called an
excuse.
Most of these are famiiior to news
paper readers. They show that the dis
sensious IN Louisiana, the murders and
massacres, and the "ban titti" ol
Skeridan's despatchcs, are not the re-
suits of any recent interference bv the
Executive or usurpation on the part Of
the Republican party in that State.
They are things which existed before
reconstruction, and have continued since
il down to the present day. They be-
gan in 1866, although the President
does not mention it, when the men Hho
Row form the White League, in which
Congressman Phelps sees no harm
assassinated The Republican members Of
the Legislature of Louisiana in the Capi-
tol building of that State and in the
streets of New Orleans, while Andrew
johnson, besotted aud imbecile, sat in
the White House at Washington au IN.
concerned spectator. They continued
in 1868, when the St.t,, cynfessedly Re,
publican, was by murder, intimidation
and fraud, made to give a majority for
Horatio Seymour OF 1922 votes.
They were repeated in 1872, when the
adventurer Yarmouth went over to the
virtuous Conservatives, by whom he
was raceivel with open arm, and
promised a seat in the United state
Senate as his reward for cheating the
Republicans out Of the fruits Of a vic
tory won at the cost of their blood aud
the peril Of their lives. And here we
arrive at the immediate cause of the
present trouble in Louisiana, and Of ;hs
necessity for General Sherdan's
prsence in New Orleans on January /.
The conduct Of the election of 1872
and tie manner in the frauds sf the FG-
sionsts, as they we're then eallsd. we're
frustrated, are tod in the Presidents :
message. Suffice it for us to say that
Kellogg proceeded in a regular and
judicial manner to secure his rights
and that they were confirmed By Fed
eral judge under the laws Of the United
States, made expressly for such cases
Since then Kellogg's government has
been recognized as legal by the Prcsi
dent and resisted and opposed by the
Conservatives, their opposition taking
the form of numbering Republican
parish officials in numerous cases, an d
OF negroes (seVerty-one on one day in
one instance) in Others. For these
facts, which are of the most explici,
nature, we again refer the reader to the
message. They include the uprising Of
the l4th of September lrst, and the
events on and Immediately preceding
4th OF January.
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