New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-03-14

| 0rIY ana k0PG t10 peace, OUT 0AoPl0oeui
waited on him. The Governor Of ulino
message. Mem asked grand jury to indit
him. meaning to trail his plume in Ii
degradation of judicial accusation. III
press was shocked at the employ ent {
soldiers at q 6re-next to Legislature
fire is as bad place for soldiers a. can bt
This was all very ominOus, but Sherlda
rose pbGaix like from the ashes and tn
nation held him dearer than before.
was widely and bitterly condemned an
lives and property he saved; he bided hi
time then, and the time came when thoe
who stoned him would have gathered til
stones again to build HIM a monument
Very likely he can wait for the truth to b
known now. He has himself done nothin
up to this time in New Orleans save {
assume command and retain it,
What he said to his superior officer wa
not included in the approval telegraphed t
him by the Secretary of War. say this
measuring my statement; l say it Will
there still rings IN my ears denunciatiOn Q
the administration because of the approx
ing dispatches the Secretary Of War re
turned to Sheridan. On the sixth of Jan
uary the Secretary received from Sheridan
| this dispatch:
There is some excitement in the rotundi
of the St. Charles Hotel tonight upon tn
publication by the newspapers of my dis
patch to you calling the secret armed or
ganizatiOn "banditti.' Give yourself N,
uneasiness. l see my way clear if you viii
only have confidence"
A man begirt on every eide by difficulties
and dangers, confronted by o public temper
90 malignant as to vent itself not only II
violence, but in petty social affrOnt-a mar
far from his superior and mlsrepresented
every hour the telegraph can work, fears
that truthiess dispatches ted out through
the press may have unsettled the
confidence of his chief, aud 40 he tele.
graphs IF you will only have confidence
see my way clear" On the spur of the
moment the Secretary answers:
"YOur kilograms all received; the Presi
dent and all of US have full confidence, and
thoroughly approve your course"
There, an administrator less sagaciOus
than the Secretary of War, lawyer less
astute, would have seen, when he came to
read his dispatch deliberately, Was peg to
hang an accusation on. approve your
course" Might that not mean all the sug-
gestiOns that Sheridan had made to his
superior officer! To undeceive Sheridan
and all others, if such could be deemed the
meaning, that same day he reviews and re-
,vises his dispatch thue:
photographed you hastily to-day answer
ing your dispatch. You seem to fear that
We have been misled by biased or partial
statements Of your acts"
| emphasize it "yOur acts" Not what
you may have suggested to your superior
officer, whether by written or oral CONVEX
satiOn, but your acts" are the words of the
Secretary.
"Be assured that the President and the
Cabinet cOnfide in your wisdom and rest in
the belief ehat all acts of yours"
Thus twice distinguishing. first between
acts of Sheridan ana the acts of all others,
and second, distinguishing against every
thing OF Sheridan's save only his acts
'Rest in tho belief that all acts of yours
have been and will be iudicious. This l
intended to say in my brief telegram"
Much presumption of reason must
be reversed. as much presumption
Of innocence has been violated throughout
this discussion, in order to stretch these two
dispatches Of the Secretary of War so as to
make them testify approval of mere sug-
gestiOns by General Sheridan not of any.
thing he purpOsed or meditated doing him
self, but Of expedients Congress or the
President might see fit to ad0Rtss These
were impulsive and informal remain made
IN the freedom and confidence of ~ 6nal
Intercourse made by telegraph it ia kue,
out no more amounting to acts of Sheridan,
han If meeting the Secretary of War in the
street the words had dropped from his lips.
Sheridan did suggest impossible and violent
nodes Ut proceeding: aud as constitutional
awyer he could not obtain diploma, and
hardly the degree of L. l. D from any chary
college in the land. 1t has been charged
lpon him that he branded the people of
louisiana at large as "banditti" An i'm
'etuOus Governor of Western State said,
g 10 hat
every man in three States as a bandit" Ii
10 did SO, he did wrong, he did grieyous
7ronP; he was as violent and unjust as
ONE Senators have been; but can not so |
cad his dispatch. Let me read it aloud:
New ORLEANS, January 5, 1915.
on. W. W. Belknap Secretary of War, Washing.
ton, District CT Columbia:
/ think that the terrorism now existing in |
louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas could |
e entirely removed and confidence and |
air dealing established by the arrest and
rial OF the ringleaders of the armed White
leagues. II Congress would pass bill
eclaring them banditti they could be tried
? a military commission. The ringleaders
this banditti, who murdered men here on
Re fourteenth Of September last, and also
ore recently at Vickeburg, Mississippi,
lould. in justice to law and order and the
eace and prosperity of this southern part
the country, be punished. 1t is possible
lat If the President should issue an order
'clarlng them bauditti, no further action
P. Fl. SHERIDAN,
Lieutenant General, United States Army
If Sheridan here calls banded murderers
'anditti,' what code has he offended. The |
spatch applies the term to notorious male
etors, to men who murder, rob aud burn;
q those who object are angry, and such |
eridan has offended. If there were in |
ct no such malefactOrs, he has described
BODY, he has stigmatized nobody. If his
'fds 90 hit existing persons, he may not
much Of soldier, but as a phrase.mon
r he can not be despised. Rhetorcians !
d word hu nters have reason to tremble :
: their laurels-Sberidan is q dangerous -,
in the field. He may not be =.
oat III things. but he is clever in names. :
Q have heard a great deal about blood {
riding at this dispatch; l hope all this
ne blood curdled at the inhuman and !;
stardly massacres for whose despicable | !
thors Sheridan has found name.
me right OF Sheridan has been chal- =
ged in this chamber ito breathe the free :,
OF republic" Mr.. President, that de- -
ierare, apOstate generation of Americans, :
lch, knowing the services of General !
srldan, shall judge him unfit to breathe =
free air of republic" ought to burn =
memorials of our fathers by the com. y
n hangmap. dance On the tomb at Mount q
rnon, ana fling down the Obelisk on Bun. :;
; Hill. We have been reminded that ="
lis cavalry officer" bewed his way to re- =
vn with his bloody sword" believe u
did His sword was red not with the =
cd OF the innocent and the unoffendipg. -
with the blood of men in arms, men
bodied under the uplifted banners of re- =.
t, striving TO dismember their native -
d, to perpetuate the crime and curse of :. :.
-ery. to destroy the farest fabric of free ~
eminent that the world has ever seen. =; "a
ridan's sword was not the sword OF an ~
lssin, stabbing the humble and the help g,
G..fA L. 4 L