The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1875-01-21
Grants Defense.


The President has played lbs last des-
perate game, and, like Thackeray at the
conclusion of his "Vanity Fair" We can
put up the puppets, for the little play is
/ played out. We print this morning tht,
message of the President concerning the
! appointment of the Louisiana Legisla-
ture by the army and navy of the United
States. The outrage is sustained in the
message, but the undertone, even the
monotone, of apology for such Il fagrans
violation OF law, apparent in every para.
/ graph OF the document, is, in the first
| place, the most creditable feature of the
message. 1t indicates that the President
still has some regard for the opinions of
the people of the United States, ap,i that
| qualms of his political conscience are
still possible. In the second place il is a
conclusive and final confession of guilt.
I AS we read the message we must remem-
Der that it is hot only the last plea of
Grant, but the last plea of the Republi-
can party. A Republican Cabinet aud
| the leaders of the Republican party
were taken INTO counsel. Republican
Senators and Republican Cabinet oiii-
GERS and Republican Representa-
tives "clapped their intellectsn upon
this defense of the Louisiana out
| rage, and by it their party is TO be judged.
A guilty conscience sends the President
! back to the Durell- Kellogg outrage-to
the time when Judge was aroused at
midnight, we might almost say, to recog-
nize Governor of Louisiana who was
not elected. The Senate resolution, to
which the Presidents message is an an
swer, did not call for any information
upon the original Kellogg usurpation.
In that outrage the people OF the coun-
try have acqu;esced. They are only saw
ing now we don't want it repeated. It
is significant that the first half of that
dying wall is devoted to the defense of
the Kellogg Durell lawlessness. As the
country understands that tolerably well
already, and as statements concerning
that affair are not just now germane, we
pass them. We might discover with the
naked eye in this final defense of the
Republican party embodied in this mes
sage nearly all the charges to be brought
against the President and his army and
navy, but one could not with a micro
scope detect justification for the un-
precedented act of tyranny in Louisiana.
Grant says, indeed, concerning the
Durell usurpation that the interference
of Judge in State elections is "new
and startling idea; > that the Judge "made
grave mistake that orders of this
Court were illegal" that the election
was q a gigantic fraud" and having ad-
mitted that he supported this gigantic
fraud by the use of the army anu navy,
we are prepared TO hear him say of the
military violence on the 4th of January
that he is "a well aware that any military
interference by the officers or troops OF
the United States with the organization
of State Legislature or any of its pro-
ceedings, or with any civil Department.
the Government, is repugnant to our
ideas of government" that he can "con' =
ceive of no case not involving rebellion
or insurrection where such interference
by authority of the General Government
ought to he permitted or can be justified"
that each branch of the Legislature is
judge of the election and qualifications
of its own members that it is exceeding
ly unpalatable to use troops in anticipa-
tion of dangers; that the army is not
capable of judging how far it can go in
the maintenance of law and order, and,
confess: "Lieut.-Gen. Sher-
idan was requested by me to go
to Louisiana to observe and re-
part Radu the Ni Sifuptt9dRu utt 9du tbbfre bbf end if III
Grant weds the admission of the fact of
the outrage to the confession of having
that the President would say
concerning Sheridan's barba-
rous and bloodthirsty proposition to de-
clare the white Democrats of Louisiana
'' banditti' and to treat them as such.
He did. He said that Sheridan's modes
would, if legal, soon put AN end to the
troubles and disorder in that State. That
is, kill all the Conservatives and the
could have peace. Mer-
ciful President!
The message bears the traces of vari-
Gus handiwork. 1t is confession, apol
ogy attempt to smother an outrage two
weeks old by reports of lawlessness sew
eral years old, and is a valuable docu-
ment in that it will help to explain to
the American people why the army and
navy, commanded by the President,
should not appoint State Legislatures
Cincinnati Enquirer.