Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1877-05-04
louisiana.
HOW TUE COMMISSION ACCOMPLISHED lis WORK
A BETTER STATE OF AFFAIRS LOOKED
FORWARD TO.

LOulslafia.
HOW TUE COMMISSION ACCOMPLISHED lis WORE
a letter STATE OF AFFAIRS LOoKEI
FORWARD TO.
Correspondence Boston Herald
NEW ORLEANS, April 20, 1SI.-The Com
mission leave pretty well satisfied on the
whole with the condition of affairs here, and
disposed to take to themselves rather more
credit than belongs to them for the settle
ment. The truth is they did not produce
the result, for the Packard Legislature had
air ady begun to crumble by piecemeal when
the.: came, and if they had not been sent,
the situation to-day would not be very diff
ierent in respect to the two rival govern
ments from what We now see. Probably
there would be even less left of the Packard
concern than is assembling this morning in
the State House to rail at President Hayes
and make impOtent threats OF revenge. The
Commission has done really excellent work
however, IN developing state of feeling
favorable to the pacifcation of Louisiana
in rcconciling all the respectable elements in
til, Republican party to Nichols rule and
in obtaining honestly meant pledges from
Governor Nichols and his associates to sus-
tain the President in his Southern policy
and to give the negro equal protection in his
political and civil rights and an equal share
of the school funds for the education of his
children. The Republicans, thanks to the
Commission, are not in the position of con-
quered people with no rights that the vic
tors will be bound to respect. They will be
a power in both branches of the Legislature,
and as the small majority opposed to them
is bound to divide into two elements, pro-
gressiyc and reactionary, their position will
really be controlling one if they behave
decently and honestly accept the situation.
The first week was consumed in convinc-
ing General Ilawlcy and General Harlan
that there was really no possibility of
setting the Packard government on its
legs and persuading the people of the State
to submit to it. Both these gentlemen had
strong sympathy with Packard ; believed he
had fought Hayes battle here that he
would have carried the State with fair play,
and that he vas in a strictly legal sense the
governor. They held out for him until the
conclusion was forced upon them that there
was no way of enforcing his authority except
by large standing army. Judge Law
renee, too, leaned toward Packard's side. as
was natural in an earnest Republican but.
being in the habit of weighing evidence and
looking at facts without bias, he was ahead
of Hawley and Harlan in making up his
mind that the real work of the commission
was to find a way TO slide Packard out as
gently as possible. Governor Brown was
on the Commission to observe its working
from Democratic standpoint. lie rendered
useful service in consultations with his
party friends here, who naturally had more
confidence in him than in either of the
Republicans. The really efficient member,
however, was Wayne McVeish, shrewd,
clear-headed Pennsylvania lawyer. who
knew every point in the situation before he
came, and had definite, practical views of
how to best unrayel the the snarl He was
constantly in consultation with the leaders
of one party or the other, now closeted with
Nichols in a bedroor: at the hotel. and now
locked up with Packard in the besieged
State House. 1t was he who devised the
scheme of 'rectifying' the Nichols Legis-
lature as substitute for the rejected Evarts
plan Of making consolidated Legislature of
the undisputed members of both bodies. lie |
saw that there could be no real settlement
that did not leave the Nichols party in
power, and put them on their honor to use
their power with fairness and generosity. |
SO he got the Nichols men to propose his
plan, which hazarded nothing for them, but
nevertheless had the appearance of conces-
sion, and he worked the Commission up to
the point Of giving it an informal in1orse-
ment
The Commission L.. won the respect and |
good will Of the people here, excepting, of
course, the immediate following of Packard,
who got worked up by the prospect Of hay
ing to shift for themselves into condition |
bordering on lunacy. The respectable class
es were suspicious at first They had seen
50 much of dicker and compromise proceed
ing from committees and commissions that |
they had no confidence in this last effort to |
straighten their crooked affairs by federal !
interference, but when they saw that the |
members were earnestly striving to secure |
the full establishment of the Nichols gov
ernmcnt, they raised their estimate and grew |
cordial
There are two questions growing out of
the tedious controversy now practically end
cd which interest Northern Icopic-W hat !
will become of the Republican party in this
State and, What will be the condition of
the negro population? The Republican par
ty, as an organization, is dead, and it has
no mourners, except the men who held Of
fee under it. 1t proved an utter failure, and
its death was essential to the political health
of the State For nearly ten years it had
entire control, backed up as it was by the
military power Of the United States. but it
did nothing but demonstrate its own cor
ruption and inefliciency, The sole idea of
its leaders was to mass the ignorant negro
vote in the control of few white politi
clans by keeping alive race prejudices and
n system of terrorism among the
blacks
The party was not nearly as strong last
fall As 1t was eight years ago, many of Its
shrcwdest managers having drawn oil into
position of indifference Packard is an ADLER
man than Kellogg, and is probably honest as
far as taking brbes or plundering the treas
ury is concerned, but his support ran down
to Il miserable remnant of greedy. disrepu-
table camp followers. In place of the Re-
publican party there is already crystalzing
4 Hayes party, containing the most euter-
prising and progressive elements CT the
organization and many of the
former Republican leaders No matter what
name it takes, this party will be in active :
with the President and with the
Republicans Of the north who sustained
bin.
As to the negro, he has had his swing in
politics, and has shown that his forte is in
handling hoe and not ballot lie will
continue to vote, however, and will he safer
from molestation and bulldozing then here
toiorc: but he will be influenced II good
deal, as he ought to be, by the respectable
white men OF his vicinity. In the heavy
black parishes the negroes will probably de-
vide, some following, as before, their eolored
leaders or their old carpet-bag friends and
some siding with the parties who employ
them. In the white parishes the cclorcd
vote will not be of much account. The ne
gro will continue, believe, to be an indie
pendent clement in State politics. and will
be numcrously represented in the Legisla-
ture, but he will never again attempt to
subordinate the white race and to divide
parties on the color line That sort of thing
is definitely played out
POLITICAI4 NOTES.
At the present time fifteen States ol the
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