Year: 1873




| right of self-defepse, as any othel


man has. You must get over the idea


which is unworthy of you, that you neec
special protection. You have bsne. VOL
| have muscle, you know how to load q
gun. you know how to fire it. and tbs
sacred right of selfdefense, the highest OF
all rights, right which is above all con
stitutons is possessed by you as well as by
anv white man. The Republican party OF
the North, and the great majority OF the
people of the North, without respect TO
party, look upon the war as having settled
forever certain propositions. One Is that


there shall be a united country; another
that there shall be no slaverF, another
that evey man shall stand equal before the


law; and the whole North will stand by the
enforcement of these ideas to the death.
At the same time YOU mus. do just


wha: we have done. YOU must not


your particular interest, and tor this OBJ
vious reason. you colOred men. above all
citizens of the United States, are interested
in an impartial administration OF justice.
Interested more than any other part OF the
people in holding the executive, holding
the government, holding the federal and
State courts TO the exact letter of the law.
If you do not do that. if, in dealing with
the affairs of Louisiana, we do not adhere





setting precedent for our own overthrow.
Our people at the North do not want to
protect themselves by usurpation OF The
courts or anybody else. Their theory Is
that the law. fairly administered. will pro.
tee. everybody. If We were to go behind
our constitutional power and pass laws for
our own protection, that would react upon
che Republican party North. They say IN
the Northern States that you colored
men. have to keep one thing promi'
nently in view. and that is that for
you. legal protection i. is neces.
sarv the Republican party should
remain in power for the next fifteen OF
twenty years. ii. therefore. you down here
pursue course we can not ylndlcate at
home our party goes overheard, and then
YOU would have Democratic administra.
ton which would use every precedent we
had set to Oppress you. IL is. therefore.
absolutely essential you should keep within
the limits of the law. II there is neces.
Congress will pass them. If the constitu.
ton is not sufficient let US amend the consti.
tuition: but it is absolutely essential to keep
within the law. The trouble with Judge
Durell's decision is just here, in my judg.
ment: That he had no jurisdiction what.
ever in this matter. It is even doubtful
question whether he had jurisdiction over
the bill in the form in which it was fled
namely, as q bill to perpetuate testimony.
Conceding, however, that he had, the whole
scope of the bill was to perpetuate testimo.
nv. and he had no other power. When he
atterward seized the State House by. an
order made out of court, without due form
OF process, not sealed by the court, not
signed officially. and not directed in the
name Of the President, as it ought to be !:
and when afterwards, in Antoine's case, he
issued a mandamus on officers of the Legis.
latare. he was clearly going outside his
duty. The act of Congress provides that, II
any man shall lose an office by reason OF
the refusal of votes on account Of the race.
color. and previous condition Of servitude Of
the persons attempting to cast such votes. he
NAV bring suit in the United States Court
to obtain his office: but this must be suit
supported by fact. If Kellogg had brought
hi. suit stating that he was elected or
would have been elected Governor. if the
colored men had been allowed 60 vote. and
had proved that fact and had asked tor a
decree awarding the office TO him, the fed
eral court would undoubtedly have had au.
thoricy to grant that decree. But the sei..
ing of the State House and the mandamus.
ing Of the officers Of the General
Assembly was an entirely different
proceeding. OF course this is taking
a birds eye view ofa very broad subject.
| know nothing about your case except as
j. was presented in Washington. Mr.. Ray
came there elected your Senator; Mr.. Nc.
Miilen came there elected from the other
side. Each had the Endorsement of his
friends that he was fit to be Senator. and
if he was fit to be a Senator he was Il. 90
manage this case. We said to both
these men and to Warmoth: " We
wan: to learn the entire facts: we
can not go. 20 Louisiana, because it is
so near the close Of the session, but our
clerk will issue you subpenas in blank for
any number of men you want. Send COR
any witnesses you have Of any testimony
bearing on this contest. We won't limit
you at all. Send for the whole State Of
Louisiana if you like We. therefore, pre-.
sumed that the case was fairly presented
to US. A number of atfidavits were pre-.
sented to show Judge Durelrs au.
thorty. 1: was asserted in kellOgg's
bill that about ten thousand men
had been deprived Of the right to
vote on account of race, color and previous
condition Of servitude. We opened some
thirty or forty of these affidavits, and not
one showed this fact. We handed them to
inc. and they brought them back ne xt morn
ing and said none Of them showed it
Another, thing. the election was held under
your State law-an outrageous law. but
still law which must stand until repealed
or amended. That law provides that the
returns of election which come up from
the precincts shall stand as evidence unless
the officers in charge of the election shall
certify that force or fraud was used to ma.
terially affect the result. Only two or
three returns we're accompanied by this
sort of thing, not enough to affect the re-
suit We were satisfed-I think all Of us
certainly was, that if the election
had been fairly controlled Kellogg would
have been fairly elected, but the difficulties
thrown in the way of the registration Of
colored men, the outrageous fixing of the
voting places in inaccessible places, had re-
versed the will of the people of this State
and had produced result which the people
were absolutely opposed to. In other words,
we came to the conclusion that Kellogg
would have been elected if there had been
fair election, but that in the way the cleo
ton was in fact conducted, he was not
elected, and McEnery was. We brought it
to Just this point. The man who ought to
have been elected was not, and the man
who was elected was elected by fraud.
Now what could we do! can illustrate
our position very well by this case: Sup
pose a man makes will, and wants to
leave his property to his son John. but
fraud or undue influence was used, and
to read William. John can go to
the court and prove the fraud, and
the court can wipe out the will, but it can
not make will for John. This was first
our position. We could wipe out McEnery's
because we were satisfied it was
obtained by fraud.


MIR. Chester-That is true with regard to
wills, but in this enforcement act it says
that the jurisdiction of the court shall apply
to all cases of equity arising under the
jurisdiction.


Mr.. Carpenter-There is one provision
authorizing candidate who has been de-
prived of his office by the exclusion of vot-
ers from the polls on account of race, color