, 1875-02-17
The LAWS"
PRESIDENT GRANT IN LOUISIANA.
From the Spectator
rs PUBLISHED
EVERY WEDNESDAY, n SATURDAY.
From the Spectator. J

IAASA VIZ PCS"HN
General Grant has possibly made a
mistake in Louisiana, but the censure
poured upon him in this country is, we
think, undiscriminating and exaggerated.
The dispute in which he has interviewed
appears to have this origin. After the
war had ended, the North, instead of
governing the South as occupied territory,
through q stern, but equitable military
system, decided to disfranchise many
Whites, to enfranchise all the Negroes,
and then to allow the States to rule
themselves as before. The result of this
scheme in many States was that the Ne
groes, but just emancipated, put their
trust in INSCRIPTIONS White adventures,
some native and some Yankee, who, with
the aid of the Black vote, misgoverned
the States, oppressed the Whites by par
doning Black offenders, and under differ
ent pretexts piIlaged the Treasures. So
great became the mischief, that in some
States the Whites attracted or coerced
sufficient Negro voters to replace their
own nominees in power, and that in all
States the Whites formed Leagues, with
this for their main object. In several
States, however, Arkansas and Louisiana
being among the worst, the Carpet-bag
Governors chung with desperate tenacity
to power, and played tricks with the
Returns, till the Whites, exasperated
beyond endurance, threatened to- use, or
in some cases did use, force as q corlec-
tive. The Governor of Louisiana, a Mr..
Kellogg, is accused Of being one of these
Carpet-baggers, and, now that the White
party, or p" Conservatives " as the Times
Correspondent calls them, have recovered,
by whatever means, their preponderance
at the polls, OF tampering with the Re-
turns He has procured the appointment
under a new law of a Returning Board,
which his opponents say is a mere ma
chine for packing a majority, which his
friends say is a necessary instrument for
preventing the White Leagues from CO.
ercing majorities in electoral districts,
and which is possibly intended 30 serve
both ends-that is, to pack the Lagisla-
ture by excluding representatives from
districts more or less under White in
timidation. At all events, after the late
elections, the conservatives had, as
tlCy GilouSuC3 u hdlOIily III JIG AAOus6
of Representatives, but the Returning
Board declared so many seats vacant (fve)
that the Republicans would have bad a
small majority. The Times Correspon-
dent gives the figures obscurely, stating,
in one paragraph, that neither party had
a quorum (54), and in the next, that 1O2
Members were present, and twice alter
ing the apparent numbers of the Repub-
licans but we suppose him to mean that
in the Louisiana House, as in the French
Assembly, q vote to be valid must be
passed by half the House plus one,
and that neither party could command
SO many without the rejected Mem
bers. The Conservatives on the first day
Of meeting were only SO, the Republi-
cans only 40. The five rejected gentle
men accordingly took their seats, though
protested against, and voted with the Con-
servatives in the election of Speaker,
and the Liberals thereupon retired in q
body from the House. The Conserva-
tives thus organised by the help of the
illegal votes were proceeding to business,
when General de Thobriand, second-in-
command Of the Federal force under Gen
eral Emory, appeared with twenty sol
diers in The House, and produced Govern