New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-03-13
Law ANp REASON WILL RULE,

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and assuring them of the positive sue
cess of the Nichols government, are but
the illusions of men who do not stop to
reason-men who regard the fulfllment
of their hopes as necessarily consequent
to the expression of their desires. No
credence should be given the dispatches,
but the facts looked into briefly.
A Returning Board, legal and consiitu-
tional, rendered its verdict. Louisiana's
electoral vote was conceded to have been
the pivot upon which turned the national
election.
To avoid all possibility of civil war
Congress created a commission of fifteen
men to inquire into facts, to listen to ar
guments, and to decide finally concerning
the votes of all disputed States. That
tribunal, after complete RENEWAL of all
the main points, after hearing the great
est lawyers on either side, and after a
careful scrutiny of evidence and due de-
liberation, declared the action of the Lou
isiana Louisiana Returning Board as final
and decisive, and announced as their IT.
revocable decision that the eight Repub-
lican electors were the duly chosen ones
in Louisiana, and must be counted as
such. Accordingly, Governor Hayes was
given the vote of the State, and chiefly
through its means was made President of
the United States. He has been peace
fully inaugurated, and is now performing
the functions of his Office. His Cabinet
has been confirmed, and meets for the
first time to-day
Upon the very threshold of the new
administration rests the difficulty of the
Louisiana case. For two months now q
status quo has existed, injurious to all
men, irrespective of party, prostrating all
interests, and destructive to the welfare of
the entire State.
Immediate action must be taken, and
will, we hope. The question for Presi-
dent Hayes to decide is, can he, consist
emily with honor and justice to himself
and his party, pursue any other course
than to recognize Governor Packard, and
sustain him with all available and legal
means? Take a hypothetical parallel
case to ours. Suppose the Democrats of
Ohio to have risen in arms, and by
formidable array and strategy to have
captured the court buildings and offices
of the capital of the State. Suppose
that the offices thus seized were guarded
by armed men night and day; that the
Republicans, though in majority, were
powerless, and the ousted and legal au-
thorities unable to act; that this state of
affairs was to continue, and that armed
men paraded and patroled parts of the
city; and that for two months an urdis-
turbed condition had lasted, and the
usurpers had had full sway and control.
Precisely similar is the aspect in this
State. The organization known as the
White League, fully armed and equipped,
numbering over fifteen hundred, de-
manded and took the Supreme and other
court buildings, drove out the judges and
seated their candidates. The proper Of
fcers are excluded from their places, and
body Of pretending officials main
tanned, surrounded by Winchester rifles
and muskets.
An examination of the returns shows
that Governor Packard ran ahead of
Hayes; that the same four men who de-
cided the electoral vote to have been Re-
publican, declared S. D. Packard Cover
nor; that Hayes obtained his position by
the promulgations of the Returning
Board, and under the same claims Pack
ard believes he is lawfully Governor.
Hayes has without molestation quietly
assumed all responsibilities of his Office.
Packard is powerless to start his govern
ment, because of opposition from armed
men, and the lack of Federal aid to dis
perse them. Nationally no violent demon
STATIONS of resistance to Hayes; in one
State secret pledges Of even bloodshed be-
fore submission to government legal,
but displeasing to the wealth and intelli-
gence.
The further we carry our inquiries the
stronger and more inseparable is the bond
between the two Hayes and Packard.
The failure to recognize the latter will
be the equivalent to invalidate the title of
the former and be fraught with infinite
danger.
We hear much talk of compromise.
Compromise for what? Because a few
men falter, and as they think to insure
peace, desire an agreement, are we to re-
gard their treaties Bargains are for
Europe not for Ameriea-for monarchies
not republics
For the reason that conflict may ensue
if Packard is acknowledged; because he
needs support and aid to maintain himself
as executive, is he to be abandoned under
the name of compromise? VIII Presi-
dent Hayes sacrifice right because the up
holding Of it is accompanied with pessi-
bility Of turbulence; will be deprive Of
strength his own position by listening to
the appeals of timid men who for promised
harmony lay aside the rightful dictations
Of their mindsY It can not be. Reflect
ing ones know and feel the pressing neces-
sity for settlement and the recognition
/ of Packard r,aoi,,tainino, him ,,hy,s;oo q,