Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-01-03

of the attempted burglary.
Between Fred's boasting and m,
sly teasing, poor Frank will never bt
allowed to forget his instrumentality
in introducing me to such "a pcrfec
treasure"
AN INSTRUCTIVE DEBATE.
A very readiblc and instructive de.
bate on the Louisiana question oc
CURED In the Senate the other day
between the republican and demo
cratic leaders of that body, to-wit
Sherman and Bayard, whichsswe sub.
init below and commend to the care.
fal attention of our readers. Sena.
tor Bayard said:
l believe it is a terrible catalogue
of lawlessness and crime, sickenine
in its details and most saddening ii
its results. But does not that Sena.
tor see, and will not the country see.
what has been the cause of such a con.
dition of things, and what mockery
it is to term that government oi
laws in which such condition of
affairs can become possible? Why
sir, what is the necessary, the logical
result in any mans mind when such a
document is presented as the history
of the domestic and internal affairs OF
the State of Louisiana-murders al.
legged by the wholesale, whippings,
scourgings, poisonings, all sorts of
loathsome and detestable crimes, and
this running through q period of
nearly two years? What is the ques-
ton that any man asks of himself
when crime has been committed ?
It is, how was it punished, or why has
1t not been punished Where is the
law? Who is the delinquent? "The
judge is condemned when the guilty
is absolved," is a maxim older than
the language in which we speak.
Grant that every word Of these af-
iidavits is true, horribly and strictly
true, of what q system are such acts
the .fruits2 What Governor of a
State, what member of any State gov
ernment in this Union, except Louis
lana, would have assisted in prepar.
ing compilation which not only at
tests the wretchedncss and misery of
his people, but shows his own crimi-
nal negligence and failure in his duty
to protect them? Who would array
this record of their misfortune and
his own delinquency for ther con-
demnation and his own defense?
The fact is known to the honorable
Senator from Ohio and to every man
in the land that the most shocking
and cruel murders or murderous as.
saults were charged under oath
against men walking at large in the
city of New Orleans, almost within
hearing of the charges so made
against them, and not an attempt was
made to arrest them, not an exercise
ofauthority to bring them to the bar
of that law which they were alleged
to have transgressed!
1t is a strange commentary upon
the whole of these proceedings before
the New Orleans returning board
that Notwithstanding the numberless
crimes sworn to in their presence no
one of the State officials present, or
the distinguished witnesses, including
the Senator from Ohio, seems to have
sought or suggested the arrest Of any
person. **
| have said all and perhaps more
than intended to say in regard to
this testimony, the source whence it
came, and the channel through which
it was communicated to the Senate. /
am far far from denying both the
power and the duty of the President
of the United States to communicate
to the Senate, and to both Houses in
deed, all facts concerning the condi-
ton of the country which he thinks it
for them to know. 1t is in
his discretion that they shall be COM
Their Weights to be de-
cided first by the Senate and House
of Representatives; their weight is
also to be considered by that honest.
and intelligent public orinion by
which, in the end, all our acts must
be judged, and by which men and
parties in this country must eventual
ly be sustained, or, being condemned,
must fall, =
Senator Sherman said:
Mr.. President, the Senator from
Delaware Mr.. Bayardl has APP
preached portion Of this Louisiana
which think ought to be
discussed when fairly presented. do
not know that ] ought to discuss itI
now, although l am somewhat pre-
pared to do SO. When 1 went there
| frankly confess that the trouble with
me was, after ascertaining the facts,as
to the remedy and as to the persons
who ought to be chargeable with the
grievous nature Of things / found
there. At first it was very natural to
put the question put by the Senator
from Delaware, why does not the
Governor of the State of Louisiana
put stop to these outrages; why
does not he, armed with executive
power, with the courts mostly republic
can,put stop to this lawlessness, ,mur-
der and violence? That was qnes-
tion that would be put by every hon.
est man who viewed for the first time
the actual spectacle of outrage and
wrong among the people there, seeing
men in the streets Of New Orleans, as
l did, who it was said were murder
ers, guilty of most foul murder. It
seemed to me the first inquiry should
be, why does not the Governor of the
State, why does not the authorities of
the State, seize these men and in some
way punish them according to law i?
Upon that point am prepared
to show statements made by the
officers whose duty it is to execute
the law, that they have done all
that the law allows, all that the
law would permit. I can say to you
that this day there are in the very
hotel where all our committees, both
Of the Senate and House, meet, and
where they will hold their sessions,
men who arc known to have human
blood upon their hands and upon
their souls, and they walk openly up
on the streets, well dressed, like gen.
tlemen. only repeat what my friend
from Delaware has said, when say
the question presented itself,2why are
not those men arrested? have no.
ticed in tho papers within day or
two that two or three men have been
arrested, charged with murder, in
courts but under the laws there, Of
tenders cannot be arrested outside OF
the parish in which the offense was
committed, unless it is shown that
criminal proceedings have been CON-
mcnced in that parish and are pend
ing in that parish. The proceedings
to carry man from New Orleans to
| the parishes for trial can only be In