Year: 1877




The policy of sending a commission tc
investigate and report upon the political
complication in Louisiana seems TO place
the Administration in dilemma which il
is to be hoped will only be temporary. II
appears to- be the most judicious plan
that can be adopted, and yet It has its
perilous side. OF course the Nichols
faction want the troops withdrawn; but,
should the President withdraw the
troops, there is good prospect that the
two factions will come to blows, and
then the troops must step in again, and
things revert where they were. The
Nichols faction have an armed force al
ready in possession of some of the public
buildings. Meanwhile Packard has or.
ganized force in the city and country
parishes, so that there is every prospect,
If the troops are withdrawn, that there
must be bloodshed and general uproar
and outbreak, in which Packard would
be quickly wiped out; and after that re-
suit the openly. determination to
retaliate with incendiarism might be car
ried out. The President, therefore, in
view of the gravity of the situation, is
warranted in exhausting every means of
settling the question before removing the
Government police who have maintained
the status quo since Mr.. Hayes was in.
augurated. In sending this commission
to Louisiana 1t is hoped and expected
they will find some legal and peaceable
means of settling the trouble. The
President has listened to the unofficial
statement of partisans on each side,
made in great heat, from their own stand
point. A commission of cool, moderate
men from both parties may discover
some mutual ground of compromise be.
tween the opposing factions, and some
legal method of solution. In examining
and reporting upon the two factions of
the Legislature, the condition of the
judicial status, ths}0cal administration,
and in ascertaining which Government
the people are obeying, and to which
the taxpayers arc contributing, it is by
no means impossible that some ground
of safety may be found between the two
extremes. From this point of view the
commission plan seems eminently de-
sirable and jddicious.


1t has its perils, nevertheless. Com
missions are always slow, unwieldy,
long-winded; and this particular com
mission may consume so much time that
it will find itself in the extra session be-
fore it has arrived at any definite con-
clusion. This will give the Implacables
in both parties just the opportunity they
desire to attack the Administration, and
to renew the disgraceful scenes which
characterized the closing hours of the
last session. They are already organiz-
ing their forces for such an encounter,
and they will enlist in their ranks the
White-Liners of the South and the Bour.
bons of the North, the machine.men who
are opposed to Mr.. Hayes policy and are
Just as much Bourbon in their instincts
and actions as the ultra Democrats, and
the mob of disappointed office-seekers
and spoils hunters whose schemes were
thwarted on the one side 10y the defeat
of Tilden and on the other by the opera
tions of CivilService Reform. These
men, caring nothing for peace, justice,
equity, the law or the negro, will seek to
embitter and reheat the public, and SO
keep the country in turmoil all summer,
hoping in the general confusion and dis
order to secure plunder and office, or,
failing in that, to plunge the country
into the horrors of civil war. 1t is by
no means certain that the President will
not need the strong and united efforts of
all friends of reform and Of all the law
abiding, conservative people of the
country to indorse and strengthen him
and help HIM defeat the Implacables of
both parties -ChicagO Tribune.