The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-01-23
THE NEW ORR Fans BULLETIN SATURDAY, %

list OF members, expressly provides "tha,
aotnng 10 this act shall be construed to con.
nlct with article "a Of the Constitution.
1t is therefore clear that the Louisiana
Legislature stood, on the day of its meeting.
IN the position of Congress and all the othe,
Legislatures in the country. It was in full
possession OF the "ancient, natural and nm.
doubted privilege of organizing itself in its
own fashion, and deciding for this and all
other purposes who were its members and
who were not The law ordained that only
the persons named on the lists of the Re-
turning Board should take part in the oreani
zatlon but the execution Of the law Law with
the Legislature. No power on earth was COM
petent to superlntend, revise, or check its pro-
ceedlngs. If, as the Radical members assert,
mere was unfalrness in the election of the
speaker, 1t was thing which has happened
for which, like any other fault OF
folly, there is no remedy beyond an appeal to
pubic opinion.
Ii 1t had proved impossible to elect a
speaker, owing to the unnecessary turbulence
or absence Of members, it would have been q
state OF things, however discreditahle, which
has been witnessed by the Federal House OF
Representatives and in the General Court OF
Massachusetts,, for days and weeks together.
If persons not qualified to vote in the organi-
zation, it was to the House itself, after the
organization, that complaint should have
been made. The spetitiop" addressed by
the Radical members to Kellogg was an alb
surd and ridiculous document, which that
person had no more right to entertain or act
on than the writer Of these lines. No Gov
ernor or President has right to have hand,
| act or part in the organization Of any legsla
tive body, or in controlling or directing its
proceedings. It is not amenable to him in
any manner or form.
If any one portion of legislative body
finds itself oppressed or outraged by another,
| it must, under the immemorial usage of civil
lied constitutional States, appeal to the
| honor, patriotism, and sense OF justice of its
opponents, and if this fails, if right and JUS
| tice are sacrificed to party, there is. as Cush-
| ing finely says ''no alternative but to appeal
| to that tribunal which revises the decisions of
all others-the tribunal of the future, eter-
nally and everywhere sitting in judgment on
| the past, whose judges are the people, and
whose judgments are recorded in public opin-
| ion" This is no rhetorical dictum or bit of
sentimental vapor. 1t is doctrine which
lies at the very foundation Of free govern
ment for if the Legislature is not independ-
ent or irresponsible, the executive is or may
quickly become despotism.
When Kellogg therefore, presumed to act
on the Radical petition, and called in the aid
of the troops to enable him to coerce the ma
| jority of the members of the House, whether
| that majority was real or ostensible, he COM
mitted high crime and misdemeanor, for
which he ought to be punished. The notion
which Gen. Sheridan seems to entertain that
| the Governors demand for Federal troops
justified Gen. De Trobriand's action in the
House may be put in the same category with
| the notion that American citizens can be out
lawed by Executive proclamation.
AS regards the proper mode of dealing with
this question on the part of the public, it is
| difficult to know what to say. The Louisiana
problem in all its odious deformity, has now
| been before us tor over three years, and if,
during that period, there had been the slight
est sign of desire or intention on the part of
either the President or the majority in Con-
gress to set up an honest government for the
good of the people of the State, we should
| counsel the greatest forbearance toward say
mistakes the Administration Or its agents
might make-toward even such hideous mis-
takes as this last one But, az every man at
the North knows in his heart, the history of
Federal interference in the affairs of the State
| is the history of the connivance of a great
Government at the efforts Of small band of
rascally Adventures to live by fraud, corrup-
ton and intrigue.
The first great scandal in the dismal tale
the abduction for twelve days, ON board the
| United States revenue cutter, of enough mem
bers of the State Legislature to prevent the
formation Of quorum, in 1872, by the Fed
eral Collector Of the Port, Casey, the Presi-
dents bro.her-in-law, was fitting beginning
of all that has since occurred; and that like
the latest outrage passed without one word
OF rebuke from Washington When we ask
what the Republicans, either in or out of
Congress, have done to put stop to this
shameless caricature on civilized government
the answer is-nothing, absolutely nothing.
They have remained silent and often APP
proving spectators, and now, when the climax
has been capped, and the thing has become
SO bad that it is furnishing solid and valuable
capital to the Democrats, good Republicans
will not touch the matter because the Demo-
Gratis are excited about thunder the argu-
ment alb ira infdeliuna. So that it is very diff
ticult to see how the reform is to be brought
about, or why the firm of Kellogg, Packard,
Casey l. Co. should not carry on business in
Louise ma forever.
The last few days have, in fact, furnished
us with an astounding illustrator OF the ex-
tent to which the ignorance or Indifference of
of large numbers of intelligent men has gone
in matters pertaining to the very foundations
of the Government, in the inquiries We hear
on every side whether there may not be cir
cumstances which justify a brigadier in
going into Legislature and selecting for
military arrest the persons whom he thinks
ought not to be there. One might as we'll
ask whether it might not be good practice for
a doctor to make an iucision in one of the
valves Of a patients heart, and whether it
would not be we'll to wait for the diagnosis
before condemning the treatment.
AS regards the people of Louisiana, we
trust they will remember that the most effec-
tual aid they can render to the right-minded
men at the North by putting an end to the re-
CINE which has made their State the scandal
and disgrace of constitutional government is
by maintaining perfect order. II they do
this. their deliverance, though it may not
come this winter, is sure to come before
long.
The Cincinnati Butchery.
N-. Editor - The Cincinnati Commercial
in 1ioiouS1v miSrpn-