Louisiana capitolian., 1880-02-28
IN CONTEMPT.
N. o. States.

The monotony in the proceedings
of the House of Representatives on
Saturday, was interrupted by the
introduction and adoption OF reso-
luton declaring certain Republican
members to be in contempt Of the
authority and dignity of the House,
for having signed, in their capacity rs
members, a memorial to the Senate of
the United States, in which language
was used which reflected upon the
legality of the election of the majority
of the General Assembly.
As a sample ofthe tone and character
of this memorial which was designed
to counteract the joint resolution
lately adopted, protesting against
the recognition Of Kellogg, we give
the following extracts:
Had the part been free from OPP
preston and exempt from fraud
throughout the Staten December last,
your memorialists would have been
able to address you officially us the
Legislature of Louisiana, and not as
the powerless minority of that body,
representing hundred thousand
practically disfranchised voters.
You are asked by men who occupy
seats in the Legislature by no better
title than such frauds as we have
hereinbeiore enumerated to act upon
representations which they have the
assurance to offer as the voice of the
people of this State.
1t is not necessary to carry the de-
tails of fraud through the several sen-
atoriaf districts into the prcsentupper
house. 1t is sufficient to say that that
body, equally with the House ofRepre-
sentatives, would have Republican
majority had the late general election
been other than an organized fraud
in all but " small section of the State.
1t is perhaps but logical that men
whose occupation OF majority OF
seats in the legislature is solely due
to dishonest and undemocratic prilc-
tees should submit memorial in be-
half of II senatorial claimant whose
title is us barren as many ottheirown.
The act fairly consits with the
local democratic system of ffabricating
official title, Mt any cost Of good faith
and to the good fame Of the Common
wealth, and of insisting upon their
legitimacy by memorial, by armed
mobs Or by any other method, which
may best serve the end in view. But
the fact nevertheless remains that q
majority of the voters in Louisiana,
to whose party we belong and in
whose name we esteem it to be our
duty to pronounce, as represented in
the seat wherein w. p. Kellogg sits,
and, were they represented as justly
and properly in this Legislature as
they were in that elected in 1876,
would reaIlirm by a majority no less
than in 1877 their confidence in and
the rightful claims of their elected
senator, w. =. Kellogg.
Such false and slan1crous assertions
unsupported by a scintilla ofevilence,
are well calculated to arouse the
Indignation of the whole people who
are thus maligned aud lnsulted. 1t
is not surprising therefore that the
House of Representatives should have
taken cognizanco of thus remarkable
document and required its signcrs to
purge themselves of the well founded
charge Of contempt,
From the explanation of most OF
them it would seen that they had
affixed their signatures to the memori-
al without knowing it's exact purport.
They relied upon statements which,
they assert, misrepresented to them
it's contents.
That some of the members who
signed the memorial may have been
ignorant of it's contents is possible
But that the whole party signed it
without inquiring as to its contents,
is absolutely improbable, and the
scene in the House on Saturday was
a fitting exposure of scandalous
attempt to renew the old charges
against the white people of Louisiana
and to back up Kellogg by the old
methods of the Radical party.