New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-01-19
OUR EXPLANATION,

calls upon the REPUBLICAN to help it GU
of its difficulty. We fly to the rescue.
| We are charged with inconsistency, il
that we said on one day that the action O
the House, in going into an election O
United States Senator, was founded upor
the assumption that the Legislature of 1877;
was incompetent to discharge this duty
There must be some such alleged defec
in Pinchback's election to give rise to thu
idea that vacancy exists. AS the Demo
crat will probably concede the point thai
its select circle of political friends deny
in toto the validity of the Legislature o.
1873, We will pass from this starting
point to the alleged inconsistent remarks
which were published subsequently:
Strong ground was taken against the
Wheeler compromise by the convention
and the House OF Represen tatives responded
F.! BIZ electi1g to the Senate the very man who
! led the friends of that measure.
While, therefore, the Democrats have
blundered and lost, the Conservatives have
| gained an advantage. They have COM
mitted the whole Democratic party to the
adjustment and the validity OF the Kellogg
| government.
We think the nearly unanimous nomina-
ton Of Nh. Eustis in the Democratic-Con
sentative caucus, sufficient to justify the
first paragraph which is reproduced above.
II the members Of the House had shared
the antipathy to compromise which was
exhibited at St. Patricks Hall; they
would hardly have taken up the man
most influential in securing the success
of that measure. If they had agreed with
the State convention, Mr. McEnery and
Mr.. Booth, they would have chosen Mr.
Mari. As they did not agree with those
apostles of Democracy, they chose Mr..
Eustis. We hope we have made this
point quite plain.
Now comes the knotty point The lille
gality at one time, and the legality at
another Of the Kellogg government Any
honest Democratic member of the House
may hold, and we can respect him for his
opinion, though not agree with him, that
the Legislature of 1873 was an illegal
body. Did not the whole party and press
declare so at the time, and did not a VEN
cradle insurance president rent Odd Eel
lows Hall for convocation Of opposition
Solons? We remember that the silver
tongued orator, Governor Warmoth, &C.
tually persuaded sundry members of our
Senate to take their seats in Odd Fellows
Hall. The election of DR.. McNillen to
the Senate was the only important act of
this moot Legislature which has been
practically adhered to- The theory of the
Democratic party, prior to the adjust
ment Of 1875, denied in toto the
legality of the whole State government
the legislative as well as the executive de-
partment. But they take different view
of the Legislature of 1876. That body is
deemed entirely competent to discharge
all the duties devolving upon a Legislature,
and among other things it appointed
committee, composed a, first all Of DEM
ocrats to wait upon Governor Kellogg and
ask him if he would sign Mr.. Eustis'
credentials as Senator. Why should the
House apply to Mr. Kellogg for an execu-
tive certificate if he were not Governor?
Why not ask Mr.. McEnery, the Mayor,
or anybody else whom we all know is not
Governor, to give the instrument? Plainly
because it was wanted in case where the
signature Of the Governor of the State
alone would have any validity. 1t is thus
made plain to the dullest comprehension
that the alleged illegality of 1873
had been cured before 1876 and. it
is moreover well known to every
intelligent reader in New Orleans that
it is held by the Conservative members of
the House that the compromise of 1875
wrought the wonderful change. They
therefore rewarded one of the prime
movers in the adjustment by Offering him
the highest position in their gift, and APP
piled to the only man in the State who
could do so to certify to their action.
This change from Illegally to legality is
as plain to a man of common sense as the
plan of salvation-as the promised change
from mortality to Immortality, from the
corruptible to the incorruptible.
We have merely given in this explana-
ton the Democratic Conservative prin-
ciple of action. The Republicans claim
that the Legislature of 1873 was as valid
as that of 1876, and that Kellogg has been
our duly elected Governor for more than
three years. It will be seen that both |
parties are agreed as to his present status. |
The rumor recently circulated by q |
Washington letter writer that Minister !
Foster would relieve Minister Schenck |
proves happily to have been untrue. 1t
is probable that General Schenck will be
recalled from the Court Of st. James, but |
J. w. Foster can not so easily be
spared from Mexico, and it would be bad |
policy to make such change at this time,
when an American advisor having the ex-
perience and sagacity shown by Mr.. Fos-
ter's diplomacy is so much needed in the
Mexican country.