New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-01-11

We do not know that the nomination OF l..
c. Billings "a Unitede States Judge for the
District of Louisiana. in place Of Durell who
resigned to avoid impeachment, ought TO
cause any surprise. Billings was deeply IN
volved in tire worst of the scandal0us transac-
tons which resulted in the intrusion Of kcl-
logg into the GovCm0rshp. lie was con
ccrped in the manufacture of the IA
nous midnight order which overturned The
State Government. He was discrcditably
employed at Washington as Kellogg's
counsel when the whole structure of that
administration built up by fraud and violence
was menaced By a Senatorial investigation.
1t was he who wrote Kellogg not TO lot his
Registrar of Voters, Blanchard, 90 before the
Senate Committee, because his examination
"might turn out badly" 1t was he who pro-
posed that instead of allowing the Committee
to question witnesses who knew too much TO
be safe, the Kellogg cOnspratOrs should trust
altogether to the VOID decisions of the Louisl-
ana courts and " the interests Of the Admins
tratiOn party 1t was he who instructed kcl-
logg to telegraph to Senator Carpenter, " The Re
"publican interests require the immediate seat
&" ing of Pinchback = and wrote to his Dear
" Governors" 81 think if the mattcris pushed TO
an immediate vote on jas. enough Of case
we shall win" III short, the documents cap
tured at the New-0rleans state House during
the conservative occupation of the building IN
1874 show that Billings was the confidential
agent and negotiator between kellogg on the
one hand and Senator Morton and Attorney
General Williams on the other, in transac-
ton which no good citizen of either party can
lita nd =
ment.
These facts may be reasons to the Senate
for rejecting the nomination, but they are not
reasons to Gen. Grant fOr not making II. All
the operations of Kellogg in Louisiana have
had the Presidents hearty approval and assist
auce. and while it is no doubt true that since
the disclosures OF repeated Republican mveStl-
eating committees a great many honest friends
of the Administration who formerly defended
the Louisiana policy now look upon 1t as Il
lamentable blunder, If not something worse
we must remember that there is no reason to
suppose Gen. Grants views have been modified
in the slightest degree. He acted on the mid
"night ORDER" and ii is natural that at the first
opportunity lie should reward the lawyer who
aided the Judge in making it. He cordially
approved Durell's restraining order in the case
of Antoine VS.. Warmoth, of which the Senate
Committee declared that they knew mo Ian
"guage too strong 10 express their condemna-
" ton of it," and hence after the Judge las
been virtually driven off the bench for signing
il he naturally promotes to tie vacant place
fine counsel who drew it up. III this instance
Gen. Grant is Indicating" not merely
Duren and Kellogg hut himself.
Personally Mr.. Billings is unfit for judge.
| OF his ability as a lawyer we do not speak !;
hut his associations disqualify him for the
! bench, and especially for the bench OF the
Louisiana court where partisan politics have
figured too largely already. He has been all
through the troubles one Of the most active
Dolticians of the Casey aCkard-kelloge-
Norton faction, and an intimate friend of
| Norton in particular who was DurelPs assignee
in bankruptcy and whose transactions in that
capacity were the cause of so much scandal 1t
is not at all unlikely that the affairs of this clique
may require Judicial action; it is almost GER
tain that questions OF party politics will be in
volyed in some OF the proceedings OF the Dis
trict Court in Louisiana, rs they are in all the
! Southern States; and what respect can posi-
! bly be entertained in such cases for the rnl-
ings of Judge so deeply cOmplicatedf But
! if these considerations arc not enough Tor the
| Senators, we beg them to read the Louisiana
| Report of their own Committee, and remember
that the outrageous orders therein denounced
with lust indignation are the handiwork of the
man whose name Is now submitted To them
for confirmation as judge OF high Federal