New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1877-03-04
PUBLIC OPINION,

Ab1A1O VI 4A4OAs
The telegram by which Governor
Packard has been informed that the4roops
will not be used to establish or pull down
either claimant for the control of the
State" seems very free translation of the
views of President Grant. We have well
understood that the President has deter
mined not to allow the situation to be
changed by the breadth of hair until
the electoral agony should be over. We
can well understand that he would not, in
''the few remaining days of his official life"
inaugurate orders which might, in their
consequences, reflect complaint upon
himself, without affording the opportuni-
ty to vindicate his own policy. The
young gentleman who signs the dispatch
as secretary has employed phraseology
not consistent with the doctrine laid
down in the inaugural of President Grant
nor with his known rule of action. He is
reported as having said:
That he feels it his duty to state frankly
that he does not believe public opinion will
longer support the maintt nance of State
government in Louisiana by the use of the
military, and that he must concur in this
manifest feeling.
An opinion 80 gratuitous is wholly ir-
relevant to the official position of the
President That officer has nothing to do
with public opinion until it is properly en-
bodied into law. The only authority of the
executive is based upon that constitutional
command that the government shall
guarantee republican form of govern
ment in every State when formally called
on by the proper authorities to do so.
The personal opinions of the executive are
Of no more consequence than those of
General Augur, or any other officer Or
dered to execute the law. Mr.. Secretary
Sniffen does not, perhaps, know that the
Democracy has relied upon the election of
Mr.. Tilden for the precise reason that he
would rely rather upon those versions of
public opinion than upon the obligations
of the constitution. The intention of the
trainers was that when the ostensible
authorities of a State called on the
Federal government to repel an in
vasion of English, or Canadians, or
Indians, or the domestic violence of
slave instruction, the Federal gov
eminent should not say we are not
convinced that public opinion requires any
intervention on our part, and content it.
self with an armed neutrality. The ex-
traordinary position of the dispatch
quoted is that unless the troops of the
United States are attacked, or q mob shall
arise to sack the city, no steps will be
taken to comply with the obligations i'm
posed upon the executive by the constitu-
ton. Here we have two sets of claimants
for official authority. Both can not be
right. The conflicting jurisdictions con-
stitute anarchy, and anarchy is not re-
publican form of government.
We have never bargained for Presi-
dent who looks to any other public opin-
ion than that certified by the forms of
AHN' W. NuA 4Sb bAAdb PdD4AS
opinion in which majority of the voters
of Louisiana are not allowed to express
themselves can be a sound rule of action
or instruction, nor can we believe that
the amanuensis who has expanded a
simple maintenance of the situation until
the relief guard shall come in into an
essay on the force of public opinion can
bind President Grant in the contradiction
of his own doctrine and in the adoption
of that for which the White Leaguers de-
mand to elect Mr.. Tilden as the successor
of President Grant. We rather suspect
this telegram to have been somewhat
changed at nurse. 1t wants the spirit and
nervous force of the battle orders of the
greatest modern captain. We shall ex-
pect different version of public opinion
in the course of the ensuing week.