Year: 1874

Louisiana, and is tolerated or condonsd,


where is it to end? Why may not the inham-


mable South burn like o midsummer prairie
fire2 Why may not the success of an isolated
movement like that of Penn so arouse the war
spirit Of the suspicious, dissatisfied and dom
inant North that in the end the Southern
States will suffer greater and greater evils?


These questions General Grant answers by
his proclamation commanding the Penn
government to separate and to respect exist
ing authority. We do not see how the Presi-
dent could have hesitated about his course
He has made many mistakes in re-
construction, and especially as concerns
many respects the responsible author of this
revolution, especially by his course in Arkan-
sas. He acquiesced in all the iniquities of the
Kellogg administration, and shares with Con-
gress the sin of having turned away
from the entreaties of the suffering
State, even when championed by the
eloquent voice of Senator Carpenter.
year ago he had a great chance to do
right and in doing right to redeem
Louisiana. But through his Attorney Cen
eral he spurned the prayers of the State.
The logical result of that selfish apathy is
written in the painful history we print this
morning The revolution has been nourished
by the President and it is his work.


We do not see how the President can do
otherwise. However much we may SYM
no +b1a u;tb tho revolutionary noovament
and however anxious we may be to overthrow
Kellogg and all phases of Kellogg domination
in other States, the Union must be preserved,
there can be no union without law, and there
is no law where We see successful revolution.
In this case the moral right is with Penn, the
forms of law with Kellogg The followers of
Penn, those who belong to white leagues and
other organ zatons, made the mistake of revo-
lutionists- precipitation. They should have
waited They should have trusted to public
opinion, to the softening influences of time, to
the sure growth of generous sentiments in
the hearts of Northern men. They should
have triumphed by moral suasion, for every
hour Of their misery was an eloquent appeal
to the North. They should not have invited
the sure and swift answer of the sword. We
ministration to be in q position where by its
own folies it will make the right wrong and
the wrong right. But it is o dilemma
which must be firmly met. We can under
stand the difficulty and delcacy Of the Prasi-
dents situation, arising, as we have said, from
his own acquiescence in the disgraceful Lou
isana rule-by clothing with the forms Of law
this infamous regime. But the constitution
prescribes and the courts have written his
duty. The late Chief Justice Taney, in
the Dorr rebellion case, decided that
when o conflict arose between rival State
governments the President should decide
which Governor was lawfully in power and
sustain that power by the federal authority.
1t is unfortunate that the President should be
committed, as he is, to the Kellogg usurpation
But the die has been cast His proclamation
commits the government to the suppression
of the revolution. Our hope is that the peo-
pie will accept the necessity and duty OF the
hour, and, for the sake of the whole country, to
suffer and wait little longer, trusting to the
constitution and The peaceful methods of the
ballot for their final deliverance.


As it Is we must sustain the President. 1t
is his duty to preserve the Union. The Union
cannot be preserved without law, and there
can be no law with revolution. In this he
speaks the voice of the American nation,
which will respond to him as it responded to
Lincoln when Fort Sumter fell