Year: 1877

that may be pertinent to the clrcum.
spection and security of any measures
he may resolve upon. It will
be readily understood that the
service desired of and entrusted to
+ this commission does not include any
examination into or report upon the
facts of the recent state election, or of
the canvass of votes cast at that elec.
iton. Sofar as attention to that subject
may be necessary the President cannot
but feel that the reports of the commit.
tees of the two houses of Congress, and
other public information at hand, will
dispense with and should preclude any
original exploration by the Commits.
sion of that field Of inquiry; but it is
most pertinent and important in com.
ing to decision upon the precise
question of executive duty before him
that the President should know what
are the real impediments to the regu


lar, legal and peaceful procedure un.
der the laws and constitution of the
State Of Louisiana, by which the an.
0malies in the government there pre-.
sented may be put in course of settle.
ment, without involving the element
of military power as either an agent
or a make-weight in such solution.
The successful aScertainment of these
impediments,t the President would con.
lidently expect, would indicate to the
people of that State the wisdom and
mode of their removal. The unusual
circumstances which attended and fol.
lowed the State election and canvass,
from its relation to the excited feel


ings and interest of the Presidential
election, may have retarded within
the State of Louisiana the persuasive
influences by which great social and
material interests common to the
whole Epe0ple of "A State and the
pride of American character
as a law abiding nation
ameliorate the disappointments and
dissolve the resentments of close and
Jealous political contests. But the
President both hopes and believes the
great body of the people of Louisiana
are now prepared to treat the unset.
tied results Of their State election with
calm and c0nciliatory spirit.


If it be too much to expect a complete
concurrence in a single government
for that State, at least the President
may anticipate a submission to the
peaceful resources of the laws and the
constitution of the State of all their
dissensions, at once relieving them
from reproach and their fellow citi.
zens of the United States from the
anxieties which must ever attend a
prolonged dispute as to the title and
administration of government of one
OF the States of the Union. The Pres.
ident therefore desires that you should
devote your first and principal atten.
tiOn to a removal of the obstacles to
an acknowledgment of one govern.
ment for purposes of an exercise of
authority within the State, and rep
resentation of the State in its relations
to the general government under sec.
ton 4 of article 4 of the constitution
of the United States, leaving if neces-
sary, to judicial or other constitutional
arbitrament within the State, the
question of ultimate right.


If these obstacles should prove in.
superable, from whatever reason, and
the hope of a single government in all
its departments be disappointed, it
should be your next endeavor to &C.
complish the recognition of a single
legislature as depository of the rep.
resentative will of the people of Louis.
lana. This great department rescued
from dispute, the rest of the problem
could gradually be worked out by the
prevalent authority which the legisla.
tive power, when nndisputed, is quite
competent to exert in conflicts in the
coordinate branches of the govern.
ment. An attentive consideration of
the conditions under which the Fed.
eral constitution and the acts of Con-
gress provide or permit military inter.
vention by the President in the protec'
tion of a State against domestic vio'
lence has satisfied the President that
the use of this authority in determin-
ing or influencing disputed elections in
a State is most carefully to be avoided.


Undoubtedly, as was held by the
Supreme Court in the case of Luther
vs.. Borden, the appeal from a state
may involve such an inquiry as to the
lawfulness of the authority which in
vokes the interference of the Presi'
dent in supposed pursuance OF the
constitution, but it is equally true that
neither the constitutional provision nor
acts of Congress were framed with
any such design. Both obviously treat
ed case of domestic violence within
a State as of an outbreak against the
law and authority Of the established
government, which the State was un.
able to suppress by it's own strength.
A case wherein every department OF
the State Cover nment has disputed
representationand the State therefore
furnishes to the federal government no
internal political recognition of auth.
ority upon which the federal Execu.
tive can rely, will present case so
difficult that it is Of pressing impor.
tance to all interests involved and
should be avoided. A single legisla.
ture would greatly relieve this diff.
Guilty, for that department of the State
government is named by the constitu.
tion as the necessary applicant, when
it can be convened, for military inter.
vention by the United States. II,
therefore, the disputing Interests can
concur in or be reduced to single