Year: 1874

The Responsibility for Louisiana.


Louisiana Is in such desperate, but fortu-
nately not hopeless, condition that whoever
cares for the welfare of the State should not
hesitate when his merely personal sacrifice
would promote it, 1t is in MIR. Kelloggs
power to give the State government which
the people are willing to accept, but that gov
ernment is not his own. He must be perfectly
aware that he and all who are associated with
hlm IN Office have been repudiated by the peo-
pie, and that to the interference of the au7
thority of the United States he owes his
present place. Were it not for the presence
OF United States troops in New Orleans, and,
what is more important. the national power
and dignity they formally represent, nothing
would save him from abject and ignominious
fight.


But these facts Mr.. Kellogg thinks proper
to Ignore There are two persons who claim
to be Governor of Louisiana, of whom he,
unfortunately, is one. His competitor, Mr..
McEnery, has offered to resign and to allow
the people to elect new Governor But
MIR. Kellogg declines to accept this offer. He
first asserts that Mr.. McEnery has nothing to
resign, which is begging the question. Mr..
McEnery claims that Mr. Kellogg has nothing
to hold, and his view of the political situation
is sustained by this fact, that but for the pro-
lection of the soldiers Mr.. Kellogg would
probably be somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico
to-day. The country only knows that there
are two Governors in Louisiana, and it be-
heves that, in the apparent impossibility of
deciding which is legal, new election is de-
manded by the general good. In the pres
ence Of this emergency Governor Kellogg
ought not to depend upon bubbles. He
should not say that "no new election is
needed, inasmuch as the constitution of the
State provides for an election for members of
the Legislature early in November next, and
the Legislature that may then be elected will
have it within their power to remove any or
all of the State officials and supply their
places by men of their own choice" This
would be plausible were it not for the fact
that the McEnery party affirms that this new
Legislature would be but the creature of
Kellogg, and that its members would be
chosen under the infamous election laws
which the September revolution intended to
overthrow. Nor is it question as to whether
Lieutenant Governor Antoine would be a
proper person to succeed Mr. Kellogg, as he
illogically infers. The people of the United
States want both State governments to resign
absolutely, and to permit new and fair elec-
ton which will, it is fervently hoped make
further disturbance and bloodshed impossible.


General Butler, who ought to have some
knowledge of Louisiana politics. doubts that
any government exists in Louisiana which
is legal He afirms that there is no evidence
that either Of the rival governments has been
properly elected, or that Congress or
the President can choose between them.
His remedy, like our own, is
new and fair election, and in
the meanwhile the resignation of both sets
Of State officers The assertion of Senator
Morton that these troubles in Louisiana are
caused only by hatred Of the negroes and of
the white republicans has too much of the
demagogue spirit to be acceptable to the
people. The citizens Of New Orleans who led
and approved the revolution are not to be
treated as if they were the Ku Klux of Ten
nessee. There are greater elements of the
trouble than those of race or politics, and
these it is the province Of statesman anship to
recognize. The designations of McEnery
and Kellogg are demanded by the in
terests of the whole country, as well as of
Louisiana, and Mr.. Kellogg's declination to
''step down and OUT will be, under the pres
ent circumstances, only proof of his unftness
for the Office. Both of the claimants are
called upon to resign in the interests of peace
and prosperity, and their patriotism will be
tested by their responses A new election
must be had before tranquility in Louisiana
can be assured.