The New Orleans Democrat. (New Orleans, La.) 1875-1876, 1876-02-22
IMPEACHMENT.


ture. urging them to take grent care that nothing
il done TO excite. opposition at the North; that
quiet at the South Is ae CRY s 1Gps 90 eod do
no good, and oil rash conduct or speeches. couia
only do HARM"
The New Orleans Republican OF the
10th publishes the foregoing. and the
Bulletin, few days ago, published an
extract from the Washington CORE
spondence Of New York paper. about
the same in sentiment. The burden OF
all these extracts is, that the people
must be submissive to the usurpation,
and suffer Kellogg and other officers
who have been guilty Of high crimes
and misdemeanors, to go unwhipped OF
justice.
The immediate effect OF producing
articles of this character now, Is to
cause the House Of Representatives to
hesitate and doubt, and thereby to en-
barrass the movement looking to the
impeachment Of Kellogg and others.
1t is in this view that we notice them
at ALL The idea that the impeachment
OF Kellogg and Antoine, who are usurp-
ers, without moral or legal title to the
Offices they hold, for crimes or INSIDE
meanors, would injure the Democratic
party North, Is an unmitigated absurd
ity. Impeachment Is constitutional
method of proceeding against guilty Off
Gals, and has been repeatedly resorted
to. BY the State constitution the effect
Of impeachment is to suspend the &C
cused officer. The law provides for the
succession to the Office Of such accused
officer pending the impeachment. Ii
the Governor and Lieutenant Governor
are impeached q. e., accused by the
House, then the Speaker OF the House
becomes the Governor. If the peoples
representatives impeach the usurpers
for crimes, and Mr.. Speaker Estilette, in
virtue Of his Office becomes the Gov
ernor, who could complain that the pro
ceeding was revolutionary? Wherein
would 1t concern the Democratic party
North? How could General Grant
interfere, when in December, 1872,
he made haste to recognize Pinch
back as Governor, vice Warmoth
impeached. We say that this matter
concerns the people of Louisiana alone,
and that it is in no respect the business
Of the Federal Government, or OF any
political party In the North or in the
South. We stand, on principle, with the
National Democratic party, but in mat
ters Of State policy, which concern only
the wronged, oppressed and outraged
people of Louisiana, we must judge for
ourselves, and not be governed by the
opinions of any party, or any set OF men
outside of the State.
The memorial Of the people Of Louisi-
ana has been on the table Of Congress
for weeks. Our representatives have
been doing all that men could do to
obtain action upon it. Amnesty, cur
rency, and other matters have occupied
the attention Of the Democratic caucus,
while the appeal Of Louisiana, OF
right sovereign State OF the
Union, asking for the right to
govern herself; asking not fol
Federal Intervention, but for the re.
moval of Federal coercion; asking that
the usurpation which the Federal Judge
Durell, the Federal President Grant
and the Federal army have imposed upon
the people Of the State shall be nc
longer recognized and supported by the
| Federal Government, has found nc
response in the hearts Of the Northern
| Democrats, who owe their seats in Con
gress to the revolution that swept ovel
the country, caused by the events of the
fourteenth of September, 1874. They
insist that the Wheeler compact recog-
nizes Kellogg, when the men who made
it and the people Of the State tell them
it does not recognize him, and that
they have not acquiesced in the usur
patton. II they will not listen to us
now, what can we expect when the KEEL
logg Returning Board shall again count
out the elect Of the people, and declare
defeated Radicals elected We have
asked for bread, and they have given us
a stone. Louisiana must take care
of herself. The wrongs We
suffer are unbearable. We have
appealed to the State and Fedora
courts, and justice has been denied us
We appealed to the ballot box, and oul
victory was turned into defeat by thu
Returning Board, and De Trobriand's
troops, by Grants order, and at thu
call, and for the use Of Kellogg, en-
forced the fraud. A compromise wa'
patched up, and reform promised, ant
yet the Radicals insist on the Returning
Board, and on all the laws which place
the people at the mercy Of the usurpers
There is no hope for a fair election
and return unless Kellogg and Antoine
and Anderson be re moved; and thei
removal is demanded, not for partisan
purposes, but for the preservation o
the peace Of the State, for the lives ant
liberties of the people, and for thu
general welfare Of all citizens Of thu
State, of all political parties, as we'll al
for the vindication of the public justic'
which requires that malefactors shall
be punished.
Our representatives can guarantee thu
peace Of the State and the execution O
the laws, and can secure a fair election
and return, by impeaching these guilt!
officials. With the Executive office ant
the Jud iciary in the hands Of homes
men, the Returning Board and the OPP
pressive laws, which have enslaved thu