New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-02-26
THE CHIEFTAIHs AND THE HEEcHNE]

We have all along charged that the
Democracy were opposed to any reduo.
ton of the powers and prof Is of the State
administration. They have only wished
to drive out the incu mbents and install
themselves. 1t is with them as with the
rascal Beadle, apostrophized by King
Lear, ito hold his bloody hand" be-
cause in his heart he would have perpe-
trated the very ohense for which lie
welded the scourge.
One reason for this opinion of the De-
mocracy has been found that when MIR.
Penn took upon himself the regalia of
executive Office until Mr.. McEnery could
be inaugurated, neither of the Demo-
cratic leaders, civil or military, announced
by proclamation or other publication
that they intended to renounce any
executive patronage, to reduce any SAL
airy, or to cut off any perquisite of Of
fee. They played for all that was in
sight, and would never have abated a
nickel Of what they expected to win, and
indeed thought they had won.
If any further evidence of the insincer-
ity of these patriots whose reformation
was limited to busting Republican incum-
bents, we find it in their present position.
The Returning Board appointed under the
law signed by the Fusion leader, Governor
Warmoth, awarded certificates of election
to some forty or fifty Democratic members
of the Legislature. These members at
tempted to organize the Legislature by an
election Of Speaker and other officers, and
by the exclusion of Republican quorum
claiming the same right to organize. The
Republican claim having been sustained
by the federal government, the Demo-
cratic members, about whose election
there is no dispute, have withdrawn from
the Legislature, and refuse to represent
their constituents unless the Speaker and
Sergeant-at-arms chosen by them shall be
installed in the control Of the House.
The Democratic members of the Senate
have not even this slender excuse. They
expected when elected to sit under the
Republican President, and with the other
Republican officers of the Senate. But
they too, refuse to take their seats, not,
we suppose, because they do not approve
the organization of the other House.
What then? Because, we imagine, the
presiding officer Of the Senate should in
their opinion be Democrat instead of a
Republican! Yet they were elected under
q Republican writ of election, and no one
heard them disavow the legality of their
own credentials until after they had been
awarded them by the Returning Board.
We challenge American history for an ex-
ample in which members of deliberative
body with accepted and undisputed creden-
tails have refused to take their seats because
others, whom they claimed as colleagues,
had not been admitted TO seats. Why
this following after the Chevalier McEnery,
or Prince Witt, even to the abandonment
OF constituency Of common people? 1t !
looks SO much like the old feudal times. |
1t is all very loyal to read about the bare
legged gillies, who would follow some |
or what-you-may-ca lien
highland chieftain, to az or exile, but
'eally it should be remembered that such |
hings have had their day in other coun-
ries, and that here, in a republican coun-
ny, every representative is responsible to
he common people, who elect him, and
S not supposed to belong, in political
e the Democratic noblemen,
Who claim hereditary right to hold
flee, and assert this right by force of
rms, and the fidelity Of their henchmen.