National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-01-14
THE MESSAGE.

Words that burn with the everlasting and
indomitable force and the deep impress of
truth facts that may startle while they
convince, anda fearless, earnest devotion
to duty expressed in every line, go to make
up the contents of the special message of
the President sent to the Senate yesterday.
Originally intended as a general discussion
of the Southern situation, it has been ap-
propriately used, after immaterial amend
mentr as a reply to the Senate inquiry re-
garding the alleged interference by United
States military authorities with the organi-
cation of the Louisiana Legislature. What
may be truthfully said of one may be truth
fully said of all the White League States,
though it is true that recent occurrences
have attracted particular attention to Louis
lana. Without sophistry and without at.
tempt to conceal anything that has hap
pened, the President has grappled with this
complicated question in a manner which
will renew the confidence in his clear sight
ed integrity, hitherto so generously accorded
to him by the people. 1t is plain, blunt
document, and, withal, one that is entitled
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suit of careful research and determination
to expose the entire naked truth. Sur
rounded, as this question always has been,
by clouds of Misrepresentation, serving to
deceive many who naturally inclined to fol-
low the Administration with a cheerful
support of all its measures, the concise his
tory of the case, as given in the message, will
now serve, in turn, to reinstate the South.
ern policy of the President in general pub
lie favor. The recital Of incidents showing
the real condition ofaffairs in Louisiana, the
quotations from the charge Of Judge Woods
to show the cruel treatment and heartless
manner in which citizens of our common
country became the victims of organized
assassination, and the exposure of the sys-
TEN by which Republican voters have been
deprived of the right of suffrage, is a fitting
preface TO the unprecedented and bipartisan
explanation of the acts of the military au
thorities. That the President firmly be-
lieved VIM. P. Kellogg was legally elected
to be Governor will surprise no one who
has watched his course or who has any def
mite and reliable information regarding the
comparative strength Of the two parties in
the State. That he relied upon the deci-
sions of the proper judicial tribunals as the
basis of his recognition of Kellogg as Gov
crnor has been well known, as well as the
fact that he has all along been inclined to
hold Congress to an indirect responsibility
for its neglect 10 provide some means by
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agreeable necessity of assuming extraordi-
nary power in deciding the relative merits
OF the contending sides in this great ques-
ton. In short, there is nothing in the mes
sage that can be possibly construed as in
consistent and even the enemies of the
Administration will be forced to admit that,
while surrounded by complications and
assailed with suggestions designed to mis-
lead, while his political friends have hest
tated, divided and quarreled, and while
the country at large has been most
egregiously misled by the reports Bipartisan
correspondents and the misrepresentation
Of the so-called Independent Press, the
President has pursued persistently the
Straightforward path Of duty. guided by
the determination to do exact justice to all
as it was given him to understand the de-
mands Of that justice. The message is not
a defence of his course. 1t is merely and
truly an explanation of it. Nor is it a de-
fence of the action of the military authori-
ties so much as it is an explanation of the
causes which, in the minds of majority
of the American people, will justify that
action. He truthfully says that the mill
tary officers at New Orleans are not law
yers; but catching the true inspiration of
the subject, he proclaims that they acted
as conservators of the peace, and might
have added that the thoughtful people of
the country will thank them for doing so.