Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-01-12
from the Progressive Age.


The following is the full text Of ExJudge bib
ble's letter. portions of which have appeared in the
dispatches of the associated press.
NEW ORLEANS, La, January
To Charles Foster, Chairman of the Sub-Com-
mittee OF Louisiana Affairs.
DEAR SIR 1t was my duty to appear before
your committee during its session in New Orleans
as counsel for the State organization of the repub
licsn party. In that capacity have endearorea
what could to present the strongest case for our
side. You are aware also that have held and
now hold an office under the adm nisration of
Governor Kellogg. In this relation have con-
sistently supported the State Government since its
accession to power. ia 1871, and have done what
ever could to aid in such financial and political
reforms as it has been the policy of this Govern
ment to effect. Consistent and conscien ious in
this course have no regrets to express, no fur
theI explanation to make but To-day, looking at
the situation in Louisiana from higher stand
point than that indicated by past relations to the
Government, considering the troubled state of
affairs, not as politician, bnt as citizen Of the
commonwealth, feel constrained to offer your com
mittee the following suggestions: 1t seems to me
that Congress aud the country at large will be I'M
able to solve the problem presented by the Louisi-
and case unless they consider that everything
that has occurred in this State since the election
Of 1872 has been revolutionary, utterly beyond
due process of law, and yiolatve Of those funda-
mental rules and principles which underlie re-
publican form OF government within the purpose
templating this question it will not do to lose
sight of the extraordinary condition ofpotcal So
ciety in this State in 1872. resulting from the sud
den change in the relation of the two races and
the somewhat crude and altogether partisan effort
at reconstruction, an effort which was more or
less a failure because it contemplated the esta5-
lishmcnt of government upon abstract theories,
and lost sight of the actual al, polit ical, and
economical surroundings. There existed at that
time and has since the close of tho spirit of
..tzI
Republicans. This intolerance, which too often
found expression, unhappy, in acts of intmida
ton, oppression, and violence, had produced its
counter-results in the enactment by the Repu Bill
can Legislature, elected under the reconstruction
acts, Those harsh election. registration, constab
ulatory, and Metropolitan Police laws which have
been so severely and in some respects so justly
animadverted upon by the Republican press
throughout the country. These measures OF the
Republica party had vested in the Governor of the
StSte degree OF power scarcely exercised bv any
sovereign in the world; and yet the passage of
these laws was justifahc in degree by the neces-
sity of aifOrding protection to THO weak and untu-
tored blacks, whose political rights constant
ly threatened by the more powerful class and
large portion of the whites. The Governor elect
ed under the reconstruction laws was and contin-
ued to be until his detection the trusted leader of
the Republican party, as represented in the Gen
eral Assembly. Up to the time he abandoned his
utilization he continued to have the unusual au-
he determined to unite his political foi tunes with
the opposition, he took to them that which made
his accession valuable to them-almost absolute ex-
ecutiye powers. The Republican leaders in this
State, aud among them since sincerely and tru-
ly believe that our party had large majority in
1872, and that Governor Kellogg and his associates
on the State ticket would have been elected by
such majority had the election been fair and
honest; but they were actually chosen BY the votes
actually cast by q reduced majority. We charged
then, and have ever since continued to charge and
we have conclusively shown to the Senate com
mttcc that Governor Yarmouth, in alliance with
the Democracy used his unusual executive power
in the appointment of officers who manipulated
the registration and election so a. to change and
alter the result. TO crown all, when the election
was closed he attempted to pack the Returning
Board, and to effect this epd he overthrow the To-
cal judiciary by violence. These first meas
ures and subsequent acts were beyond the consti-
tuition and beyond the law. They revoiu
tlonary in the fullest sense Of the term. 1t was
during this period that ] said from the bench
while examining issue that arose out OF the dis
turbed condition OF affairs that the coup detat Is
not an American institution. Since that time
surrounded as have been by much violence
and wrong doing l have sometimes lost faith III
my generation, but now when calmly and hope
fully look to the future and contemplate the time
when these Louisiana troubles shall be remember
cd by republican people only as y horrible dream
still believe that truly comprehend the spirit
Of our republican government, Revolution and
violence beget counter-revolution and other yio-
lence. Out Of these efforts TO strange the voice Of
q majority of the people of the State sprang the
eXtrao mary and no less reyoutlonar proceeding
which resulted IN the installation OF the admins
ration CT Governor Kellogg. Had the first effort
succeeded there would have been established
government by fraud and revolution. The seq
AMI effort did succeed and Government was
established by ieyQlutson and armed Intervention