Show THE SPECIAL MESSAGE our oun renden will have read the special mes message sal 1 m 6 of president grant to t congress upon louisiana afna afra af lairs irs I 1 so far as it has come to us as published in tho the NEWS last evenin evening entire it appears to be a lengthy and voluminous document as a J being required to justify unprecedented e d ent action on the part of the federal fe leral army and the administration in time of peace might have been expected tho the president evidently thought I 1 it required a good deal of quotation and argument to prove that tho the administration was right and consequently the they y have been supplied rot not having the message on online 4 1 re we shall not enter into un an elaborate a t 0 analysis of it but bu shall shail frest rest gon eon cow con tent with referring jig to eom bom e of th the more salient points as they appear ap pear jn our di pitches dispatches the ono document commences I 1 with A am ad confession a confession of lawlessness i aness turbulence bloods bloodshed hedi riot rib als dis disorder order conspiracy fraud nottie forgery forg 1 intimidation these are nol not all nil of recent cause causa noi not all of f recent occurrence but they have characterised characterized the political aa auau hark of lo 10 louisiana wisiana singe binge its organization under the reconstruction acts act JI soon aften aftel the thelise close of the war this thiet Is ia certainly discouraging after ten years sear s of reconstruction b by y a party with a powerful po erful majority jory jori backed by the whole power pow er of congress aad the boxi country and with v a president wo prides himself apoll ofle rigorous execution exe cutlo n of the behests behesta beli bell ests of cop cow congress gress there is surely something rotten in the state when things come to this pass where is ia the thi great greaf error brior Is it tile the people of louisiana or is it 1 l the administration or are they thes both to blame have thy thoy both zotie zofie astray from the tile good old paths one thing may way be sald said saidy that if after tiva nive years of bloody war ten years ot of turbulent rees reconstruction ast and aud fifteen years of enormous debrand debt and aud grinding taxation anything nike alke like ilke a military government is needed republicanism Is ii a failure and intelligent and candid men will not be in lii a hurry to de claie ciare the people all to blame biame and the federau federal ulers rulers and their hangers bangers on entirely free the message that thai some of the ibe jud jeal ical ca al proceedings of tile tiie party in power delre we re illegal and ond grave mistakes wele were made but ex auses tile the illegalities and mistakes on tile the grounds pf af judicial doblere discretion and aud latitude and aud popular an ar chy the president however I 1 acle amed dulion dullon upon sustained susa ined and enforced these proceedings as though they were perfectly legal and eminently bently Y proper p cr all he be knew was wag that aller these s e illegal orders of court were resisted and with characteristic executive blindness all ali lie bad had to do was to enforce them thim rather weak this the message declares the whole election of 1872 as to both parties a gigantic fraud without ally aily trustworthy returns nevertheless the president sustained the party patty side of this gigantic fraud bather rather weak here the message message refers to outrages upon white aud and blaek black republicans as though no outrages whatever were cerp perpetrated upon democrats ar conservatives when the message just before states that the election frauds were great on both sides side la Is it to bp be inferred that the republicans may act very rascally over the ballot box but when nhen it comes to other brimes crimes to acts aeta of violence the republicans possess all the virtue and the democrats or conservatives are aie ale the only criminals cri M rather weak here in the tho message the president disclaims responsibility for the dl dispersion isper of tue legislature by the federal military jan fth neither dues does lie ho justify such action excepting jn in cases eases of rebellion du or insurrection but in this special instance circumstances seem geem to exempt the military from any intentional wrong certainly circumstances sufficiently antly palliative would be everything required to justify any stretch of federal authority ra ther weak here bere the message says that nobody was disturbed in the legislature except those who had no right to be there but those who were disturbed and others assert the contrary if f the assembled were no legislature but only a mob how could the legislature call on the federal troops for aid if as the message says the troops res bonded first to the call cali of the democrats and next to the call of the tile republicans what right had the army to respond to the calls of parties and factions and make itself the tool toot or master or both in one of each party in turn rather weak here in the message the president says sass lie he is convinced that the action of the conservative members wa was wag only a part of a premeditated conspiracy to secure the control of the legislature depose kellogg 1 1 and revolutionize the state gov government r n but has the federal administration the ahe authority whenever it chooses to fi a legislative I 1 L conspiracy is under way in a state to enter the halls of the legislature 0 of that state declare it a mob and dissolve di s s 0 I 1 T e il rather weak here heib pa particularly r t 1 c u 1 a ali y when we rec ree recollect that the message c confesses n nesses t tho the 4 0 1 republicans tad iad p ii b ll 11 ns as untrustworthy arid and fraudulent Nit bet udit in preceding ac sections c t i n i a as s t the h e opposition the message pays there therm would have hati been no trouble if those who now complain of illegal interference had bad allowed the organization of the Legis legislature legislate latu re I 1 in na a lawful manner which N being interpreted means that there would have been no trouble troubie if the democrats dr or conservatives serva tives had bad let the republicans have their own way entirely entire jy ce certainly r not there jq q never any trou brou ble re there is only one side bide to a question rather bather weik weak i hee The message white washes sheridan dani dany andi and though bonfe confessing that ills his suggested summary y modes of procedure cannot be adopted does it regretfully et fully with the apologetic and semmi remark that itie itle they h would w 0 if legal soon put au an end end to tile the troubles and disorder in that state very true trueso so would an earthquake if 1 it was big enough to swallow up the state and the people thereof but in this passage the wish is very prominent that such modes were legal and the inference is that if congress would do its part towards tov ards making them thenn legal grant would not hot veto the measure nor hold hoid back from its ita rigo rigorous rous execution the express expression lon ion is if legal not if statesmanlike not pot if wise not if just not if rights simply sim ply if legal that is only make a law and that is enough this whis reminds us of that genius of a ruler who wished all his people had but one neck that he might m g b t destroy them at one blow and thus rid himself at once and entirely of all trouble troubie on their account c Poly pois bodied they might be je but beaded he wished them made if somebody had only made that little favor for him how happy he would wo u id have been so says sheridan declare these son Som southern thern oppositionists under martial law aud and give le ave them to me 21 of course then he would soon give a good account of their scalps and without much ceremony and then amen let us have peace what peace el the peace of the grave the pence peace of death the thel peace of extermination the peace of annihilation and the president evidently is anxious for fon the chance to authorize and approve of such summary methods of federal pacification of 0 state troubles ies iea Is this american republicanism lican ism Is this the path and p progress ess and t triumph of american lir liberty br ty was NV as it for this our forefathers f fought foug lit and bled and died Is it itt for this that the country has spilled its blood and suffered itself to be weighted down with debt and taxation in all these troubles he message says nobody Is to blame except congress and the turbulent elements surrounding the federal army in its work of reconstruction and the president wishes congress would make his duties perfectly clear in regard to 6 louisiana this last suggestion is as sensible as any part of the message for the president pr esi est apparently is not blessed with w ith the clearest cle cie aest vision the soundest judgment orthe wisest discretion in things outside of military matters in the message is thoroughly partisan from beginning to end the republican party is not to blame biame or if it id 18 to blame a little it is to be support supported edail edall all sli the same like support Is to be given in every southern state te at the discretion of the administration to the party and the opposition is to meet with the same discouragement this implication in the message of tile the innocence of the republican party in the crimes complained of at the south is in striking contrast to the report of the subcommittee of tile tho congressional committee at now kow orleans which Is that the last elections were exceptionally fair negroes were not intimidated nor were their ivil civil rights interfered with the majority of the subcommittee committee sub concluded that the conservative voters were intimidated at the polls by the republican U S marshals and troops and not the republicans by b y the conservatives the sub com coln also report that the conser atiles u undoubtedly undoubted ly carried the state by a large majority and had a decided majority in the legislature beyond question they did not in e the negroes the subcommittee pronounce the action of the returning board upon which grant rf relies relles iles lles as illegal and say that the mel V white hatt I 1 league gue I 1 Is a much stood and misrepresented of courser by y rabid republican partisans partisan being quite a different organization to what it Is ia described by them being represented by the best men of the community and anding lawlessness of any kind this report Is ia a hea heavy ay blow tor to the message and leaves a very slender base for justification of the thet recent rem remarkable action of odthe thew the ther administration and the army in regard to louisiana |