Year: 1868

The protest of Gen. Mcmillan, of Carroll,
against the interfereneeAef the military au-
thority in the organization Of the House, was
excellent as a sentiment, and it was emil
nently proper that osher members of the
House should secoDdit, as they did, and thus
signify their sense of the dignity. and inde-
pendence of the Legislative function But
viewed simply as a declaration of the actual
status of General Assembly called into ex-
istence as this was, it was either too late or
too soon. Gen. Buchanan has as much right
to conduct the ceremony of organizing the
legislature, as he has had to interfere in any
branch of civil affairs since he assumed COM
mand as much right as any district COM
msnder has had, since the passage of the
original reconstruction act, to enter the
domain of civil functionaries If his
action in this case is without right, it can
only be so because the law from which he
derives his present position, and under
which he processes to act, is itself unau-
thorized and incapable of c6nferring the
power which he exercises. If he
usurps, his usurpation is simply the
sequence of congressional usurpation. The
greater swallows up the less. To protest
against the less, after having approved and
accepted the greater, is absurdly Illogical
According to the legislation of Congress, un-
der which State reorganization has been
carried on, there is as yet no civil government
in Louisiana which is not provisional, and,
therefore, subject to military interference.
Until the ratification of the fourteenth amend
ment and the admission of senators and rep
resentatives from the State into Congress,
this dd interim order of things must be recog-
nized, unless the congressional theory of re-
construction is repudiated If the State gov
eminent is not provisional, then the order of
Gen. Grant constituting Warmoth and Dunn
governor and lieutenant governor is fragrant
outrage upon Its integrity.


But the time is near at hand perhaps when
the protest of Gen. Mcmillan, if repeated
would not be an anachronism, even in the
mouths of members of legislative body
created by military agency acting as the par
amount power in the State. When Louisiana
is admitted on the terms laid down by Con-
gress, if she is then really State in the Union
on an equal footing with other States, and
not mere bogus organization to furnish the
dominant party with rotten borough, the
military authority can have no more business
with her affairs than with the affairs of New
York or Ohio, and no more right to
proceed, of its own motion, or under
mandate of Congress, to touch the least
of its functionaries or the most unimportant of
its laws, than to depose the governor, disperse
the legislature, and repeal the whole statutory
code of Massachusetts,. But the radical ma
jority in Congress will not readily reconcile
themselves to this termination Of military in
reference, that is TO say of Congressional
interference through military medium. The
proposition recently presented in Congress 20
furnish arms to the militia was thinly dis
guised measure for arming one class and dis
arming another class at the South in the in
terest of the radical party. A more detest-
able form of Congressional interference by
military means could not be imagined A like
disposition to perpetuate military domina-
ton for the benefit of the ruling faction
is eYlnced IN General GrantS lnstructons
to General Mcdowell to surrender civil au-
thority to Arkansas when he deemed it safe
to do so. Thus military supremacy continues
in that State, notwithstanding that she is ad-
mitted to Congress and this body pretends
to recognize her as a State in the Union. The
right of the people of State so clearly guar
anteed by the Constitution, to keep and bear
arms for the defense of their persons and the
maintenance of their rights, is one that Con-
gress regards with natural jealousy as incom-
is impossible, therefore, to foresee the deliv-
cry of these States from congressional inter-
ference by military means while the faction
now controlling Congress has an interest in
continuing it.