Year: 1874

There has never been time when it was
more in nportant than it is now for the people
of Louisiana to act with self-restrant and
discretion. 1t is not too much to say that
their very existence as O community depends
upon their conduct during the next few weeks.
If experience is worth anything az a teacher,
they have certainly had enough of it. Ever
since the war ended, their enemies and plum
derers have been able to keep them i'll sub
lection by dextcrOus use of the passionate
outbreaks of few of their citizens. Their
uprising in September last brought down upon
them once moro the heavy hand of the Gov
ernment, and checked the current of sym
pathy felt toward them by thousands Of people
in the North From that time until the cleo
ton their behavior was singularly Judicious.
They preserved their temper and self
control under almost insuffcrable provo
cation. While the officials of the Gov
ernment were using the courts and the
administrative offices to defraud them, and
their swift servants in the army were dis
gracing their uniforms by arbitrary arrests
and imprisonments, the people OF the State
submitted with the best judgment possible,
and declined to accept the challenge to dis
order thus thrown down to them. In spite of
all the efforts taken to vitiate tho result OF
the elections, they went to tho polls, and the
Conservatives, 70 far as our information cx-
tends, appear to have won decided victory
on the State ticket, and to have gained ma
jority of the Legislature. But, following the
precedents of years past, the Kellogg party
have so manipulated the returns as to entile
their own partisans to the certificates of cleo
ton. This, of course, seems intolcrable, and
if there were no other recourse for people
thus outraged, they might be justified in
taking revolutionary measures against the
men who have made their authority illegal
by violence and fraud.


But the people of Louisiana are in no such
condition. Their case is by no means hope
less. There is strong sympathy felt for
them all over the United States. A large por-
ton of both Houses Of Congress is inclined to
do them justice. Even at the worst, they have
only to wait single year, and they can ap-
peal to majority at Washington more preju-
diced in their favor than the present one is
prejudiced AGAINST them, and inclined to do
them much more than justice, and their OppO-
nents much less. But it is by no means GER
tain that they will have to wait so long. A
Committee of the House of Representatives is
now in New-Orleans empowered to examine and
report upon the actual condition Of affairs in
the State. 1t is composed of three of the
ablest, most independent and honest men in
Congress. They will be hard to deceive and
equally hard to cajole. If both sides 60 be-
fore them and tell their story, the side which
is in the right will 30 appear in their report.
1t will have great weight at Washington, and
still greater in the country at large. If the
Conservatives of Louisiana do not receive full
Justice in the report Of this Committee, it will
be mainly their own fault.


1t depends upon the men of strength and
character in the opposition to see that at this
critical time the violent and disOrderly men,
bers of their own party shall be shown that
they must behave themselves. For instance,
The Bulletin is an organ in full fellowship of
the extreme Conservative party. Its editors
are probably more or less amenable to party
discipline. Yet they have done the State more
harm by their assault upon Warmoth than they
can do it good in lifetime. Ono of them
paid the natural penalty Of his violence, but
it is of infinitely more importance that his sur
yiying associates should be made to see the
fatal consequences of their action. If it is to
be accepted as O matter of course that any
man who advocates the civil rights of negroes
in New-Orleans is to be furiously abused, then
challenged to fight, and then cudgeled in the
streets, the Conservatives of Louisiana may as
we'll understand at once that tho efforts of
those ut distance who wish to guarantee
them fair play are in vain. The character and
record of WarmOth have nothing to do with
the question. The only pertinent fact Is this.
He wrote q moderate and sensible letter against
the prescription of negroes in the street cars,
and in consequence he was forced to kill
Conservative editor to save his own life.


We wish we could hope that this occurrence
was O mere accident. and not the promise of
worse to come. The disposition Of Gen. Grant
and his Cabinet is unfriendly toward the op-
position in Louisiana. If they give him
good opportunity he will have no hesitation
in taking rcpressve measures in that State.
1t is not necessary to imDugn his perfect good
faith in saying this. He is doubtless convinced
Of the integrity and devotion of Kellogg and
his party, and of the total depravity of those
who oppose them. lie would rather take the
word of Merrill than that of Gen. Emory.
because one is partisan and the other is
not. lie would believe Casey before Richard
Tayler. He has not any especially clear idea
of the limitations of his authority. and he
does not get any very sound suggestions from
Attorney General Williams upon such points.
lie is more ready to act than he is to think.
1t behooves the opposition party in New
Orleans therefore, now more than ever before.
to exercise that forbearance and good sense
which were 30 strikingly shown during tho
month of October. under circumstances Of