The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-09

may the neact OF man SINK Wltnln MN.
We had reached this revolving condition
when the hitherto unbrOken success OF kel-
| lOgg impelled him to the most dangerous OF
| steps-the seizure of our private arms; This
| was the last straw. Those whom he had
| come to regard as his COwardly serts, rose in
| their might and strangled his sO-Called gov
eminent to death in an hour.
| Federal bayOnets then OverpOwered our peO-
| pie and replaced the form Of the dcSpOt, but
| its was annihilated, and from that day must
be dated Louisiana's redemption. without
| the act of that day, we should have continued
| in slavery.
| Previous to the fourteenth Of September,
| then there had been two divisions Of our peO
pie, First, the peace party, the aw-abding
| party. when there was no law y the "COnserV-
| ativc element" Second the White League,
the party of resistance, the extremists"
Previous to the fourteenth. the first named
element managed to control, and bad steadily
run on to worse, without oven an occasional
| ripple of good. On the fourteenth the star OF
CONSERVATISM -sO-oalIed-paled, and resist
anCe tri,mphed. But federal bayOnetS glis-
| tened Ger the field, and sO-Called "COnserva-
| tism" again reared its head, and it hantant|y
asserted itself up to and including the
| Baton Rouge Convention, whore ii even de
mandod a recognition Of its name In the ensu-
| ing campaign. Hence the cOgnOmen Dem
ocratic- Conservative party the heavy tail
| to our kite.
Well. under this name the people went into
| the struggle at the ballot box, and they won,
| Uucnce; the struggle was ono Of freedom
| against deepntism. of virtue against COrrup-
! ton, Of property against thieves Of Civiliza-
| ton against harbarism, Such were really
| the issues, and when men tell me the white
people Of this State would not have sue
| Ceeded without the word Conservatism" at
| taChed to the word Democratic, | tell them 1t
| s worse than poor compliment to the race
| it Is lido ~.
No the fourteenth of September had done
| two great thin s; it had secured Demo
| cratic ma nrity in the House of Representa-
| tiyes at Washington, and it had consolidated
| the white people of this State and our success
! at the polls was a f0rng0ne conclusion. But
| there we're individuals demagogues and self
| ish sChomers-who had their axes to grind.
| and they kept up such noise about "COnser-
vatism' as to brighten our Democratic man
ayers from their proprcty; hence the long
and ridiculous title under which our banner
was raised.
We won the fight, but Wells. Anderson 4
| Co. would not admit II, and the early DAYS Of
January, 1877. found Nichols and Packard,
with their respective legislatures. each claim
| ing to govern the State. Where now were the
Conservatives and the EXTREMISTS -
What relation had they to each other, and to
| the existing status ] mean the leaders, or
more properly the managers The fight at
| the polls had been won. hut who was going to
| d the work of winning the more important
| fight before us?
The situation was plain. Packard had bar
ric tded himself inside the Slatn-House. filled
with armed men, and he had the troops of he
United States to back him. All the wilos and
arts. the "peaCeful' and legal" ways Of So
| called Conservatism, could avail nothing
AGAINST him. He had even filled the room Of
the supreme Court, h's right arm, under the
constitution with armed men. We could
| easily inauguratc Nicholas but we must lup
off paCkard's right arm at the same time
Could we do it peacefully" "legalIyY Not
bit Of it, Could or would so-CaIIed "Conser-
| tism do it No, IL was not in their linz How
then : This was work for extremists, - for the
"White League; and on the ninth day
of January, 1877, they did the work
we'll; they established the Nichols govern
mont at the point of the hayonpt. Els
tabished 1t, did | say? Yes, but not SO
thoroughly. not beyond aIl cAviI or care.
as they could and would have done that
day If sO-Called "COnsorvatisn" had not in
terinred again just as the Supreme Court was
taken The military men in control knew
that all they had to do was to Opon one ON
hrasuro on the Packard fortress and demand
instant surrender, and surrender il would be:
and they SO advised the civil authorities I'M
der whom they We're acting; but the "Con-
snrvatiycs," so-called, were ut work again
and the half loaf was adv sell and accepted
The idea was that Grant would be mad if we
troubled Packard. and then call the fat would
be in the fire. SO they called off the troops
aud inaugurat"d campaign Of sO-call"f
diplomacy. We had cut off PHCkard's right
arm the Supreme CORTLAND Grant had not
.lmH II ,,'E"L nag nov even Er9Wl,q put
wIIlplH 'H7ultS NJ N'"'i, hanuS ihIgnI ipl'oW
| AIInv and nnintaJ a ,ywn NJ panI5ard;e XIII,
Wonderful Iatuty! Fatal lack Of political
eognritvl In Grants nfInr oiIonno on thn
subject of e,,izing the surname Court thr'u,yh
force of arms thn "rxtrnmieis" arunGd
Grants entire Willingness that Packard
shouId fall IIn had mover said more than
that his trnons 4hould intarnnea TO eton actual
conflict, and to tn" military mind there was
Statr-IEouee than in taIijny Tine Srrnrome
Court. This was a logical conclusion Has
it ever been supported by subsequent revnla
ton? Yes; Il gentleman of high standing
here was informed by one Of Parkards chief
legislators Louisiana man that for three
days subsequent. to the seizure of the SUI
prone Court, they hourly expected the de-
mand for surrender, and that they would
surely hay" surrendered Mt any time in fiji
teen minutes. After that, as they found MS
for bargain, instead of fight, of course they
determined t" mold on
This will be marked hv the future historian
ac 4, ,r,,ut i,nnnrtont cnnnb In tI, l,ict,r,, ~