Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1875-01-19
THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE.

otu iustdut, skluS lOE alhblou 40 " duy
interference by military officers or any part of
the army of the United States with the or
gauization or proceedings of the General As
senbly of the State Of Louisiana, or either
branch thereof, and also inauiring in regard
to the existence OF armed organizations in that
State hostile to the government thereof, and
intent on ovcrturning such government by
force" Upon the first point the message will
be found to add nothing to the stock of in
formation already possessed by the public in res
gard to occurrences in New Orleans on jan
uary 4. the day appointed for the assembling
of the State Legislature, while as to the second,
although the President acccumulates a mass
of statements in regard to the operations of
the "White League" in Louisiana, he fur
nishes no proof of any intent on the part of
that organization any other to overturn the
State government by force. In both respects,
therefore, the message signally fails to offer
any apology, much less justification, for in
reference of the military forces of the United
| States with the organization Of tho State
Legislature.
| The President begins with a reference to
what he calls s'the bloody riots of 1866 and
| 1868 to show that the disorders there are not
due to any recent canvass, or to any late &C.
ton of the federal authorities" OF the dis.
orders themselves, it is needless to say he re.
peats as true the version of the republican
| State campaign committee, with which the
public at large have been made sufficiently
familiar through the "bloody shirt" and "out
rage" speeches Of Messrs. Morton, Logan and
others through several successive political cam
paigns and the answer to all of which is that,
whether true or false, it is wholly beside the
present question. That question, as the Pres
! ident himself states it, and as embodied in the
| Senate resolution to which the message pur>
ports to be response, is as to the interference
of the military forces of the United States
with the organization Of the Legislature Of
| Louisiana. by the constitution of the United
States and of every individual State in the
Union, Louisiana among the number Legislative
bodies whether State or national are made the
exclusive judges Of the election and qualiica-
tions of their own members. So universal is
this principle that the very enforcement acts
themselves exempt from their operation and
| from judicial cognizance the case of members
| of Congress or of the State Legislatures.
No amount of lawlessness or bloodshed in
the State of Louisiana, even if the President
| had been able to accumulate tenfold the
amount Of evidence that his message contains.
and it all were true, would take the case of
| Louisiana out of this principle, or make the
soldiers of the United States judges of the
election qualifications of members of that
body. The simple fact is, and the President
| does not attempt to disprove it, that the orga>
nization of the lower House of the Louisiana
under Speaker Wilt was broken up, GER
tain number of members who had been ad-
mitted by the House to their seats unseated,
| and another House constituted under the
| speakership of Ex-Governor Hahn by the d.
| rect interference of file of soldiers acting
under the orders of Gen. De Trobrand, upon
| the information of certain General Hugh j.
| Campbell, of the State militia, and at the re-
| quest of Governor Kellogg and the petition
| of portion of the Legislature elect. That
| is the whole case, and it comes neither within
| the letter or spirit of the only clause of the
constitution Of the United States which per-
mits the interference of the military forces Of
| the United States in the internal affairs of
State, viz. : for the purpose Of suppressng do
nestle instruction or violence upon the regu
sition Of the State Legislature, or of the Gov
ernor when the Legislature cannot be con-
yened. Neither of these contingencies pre-
| scented itself There was no Insurrection, no
violence except that of which the military
forces of the United States were guilty no
requisition from the State Legislature, none
from the Governor in the only contingency in
which he is authorized to make requsiton,
viz when the Legislature cannot be con-
vened.
The only defense that the President offers
for this daring and high-handed invasion of
the privileges Of the Legislature of Louisiana
which are in turn the rights Of the people of
that State and Of the whole United States, is
that ''the army is not composed of lawyers
capable of judging ut moments notice of
just how far they could 60 in the maintenance
of law and order" We suppose not but we
suppose the army to BIO commanded by men
sufficiently instructed in their own duty, their |
country's laws and the rudmcnts of civil lib |
erty, to know that if they were ordered to-
morrow to disperse at the point of the bayonet
either House of Congress, obedience to their
military superior would be treason to their
country. If every fact relied upon by the
President were true, it would constitute no
justification of the part played by the soldiers
of the United States in the organization of |
the Louisiana Legislature.
The tale of "outrages" recitcd in the mes |
sngs proves nothing beyond the utter failue of !
radical administration in that State, and the |
impotency of tho government which Judge |
Durell set up and the President has kept III |
place.
The tone of this part of the message does
not rise above the level of campaign docu-
ment, or prosecuting attorneys special plea.
It is the brief of an advocate whose business |
is to make out case, not the judicial sum-
ming up of a magistrate charged with the
impartial enforcement OF the laws. The most
characteristic part Of the message is that in
which the President refers to the disregard of
his former recommendations by Congress, and |
seeks to shift upon the shoulders of that body |
the responsibility of whatever has occurred.
Congress may be- and doubtless is, greatly to
blame for the present condition of Louisiana,
but the failure of Congress to do its duty can
not excuse the President for palpable viola>