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CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



decided pointedly (and the decision was gh . i: 

 by Chiet-Ju-tice'Taney) that whut constitutes 

 State government in a |>olitical i(i:. -tn.i. to 

 be decided by Congreai, under the t'on-t;tu- 

 tion of the United SUte*. All that the reso- 

 lution seeks is to determine that ., .. -I'IMM." 



Mr. Butler, of Massachusetts, said: -Mr. 

 Speaker, I have given some attention to this 

 matter of the troubles in the State of Louisi- 

 ana as a part of my official duty as a member 

 nt t)n- Committee on tlie Judiciary, and 1 de- 

 sire that the House will bear with me for a 

 moment liilf I state the reasons why I shall 

 oppose this resolution for investigation, while 

 1 think it is the duty of Congress to do that 

 which in it lies under the Constitution to 

 arrest th* existing state of things in Louisiana. 

 : liere was an election held in Louisiana 

 on the 4th of November last. I have no doubt 

 that one government has the majority of tin- 

 honest votes. I have no doubt that the returns 

 show the Warmoth government, as it is called, 

 elected. I have no doubt that set of re- 

 turns is the only legal method provided by 

 the constitution of Louisiana of ascertaining, 

 when they are corrected by the proper tribu- 

 nal, which is the true government. On the 

 other side, the men who claim to be known as 

 the Pinchback Legislature have organized 

 themselves upon affidavits and certificates of 

 supervisors, not returns, which arc not the 

 legal machinery by which an election in a Stud- 

 is determined. Then, on a bill to perpetuate 

 testimony, the United States Court, Judge 

 Dnrell presiding, took jurisdiction and issued 

 a temporary injunction for the purpose of ob- 

 taining testimony in regard to those elected. 

 and keeping the returns where they could be 

 got at. But ho went further, and interfered 

 with the action of the parties who were not 

 acting under those returns, to wit, the Pinch- 

 back government. While I do not pass an 

 opinion on the action of Judge Durell, yet, 

 being the action of nn oruMiii/rd court, it left 

 but one doty to the President to do that is, 

 to sustain the judgment and orders of the 

 And that is all I understand he has 

 done. But the effect has been to bring two 

 government*, both illegal in my judgment, 

 into : --.in in the State of Louisiana, so that 

 tin- St:i>. of Louisiana to-day is in the exact 

 ribed by the Greek Word ,n,<irrhi<i, 

 without government, as Milton personified 

 chaos as anarch. 



" What is our duty ? Our duty is under the 

 clnc of the Constitution to guarantee a re- 

 publican government in form, liich hns always 

 DM8 construed to be to guarantee a republican 

 government in fact; to give to Louisiana, to 

 M (he hat, to take care she has, a n -publican 

 government in fact represent ink- the wishes of 

 the people clearly shown through an hoi,, -I 

 and fair ejection. Now, this state of public 

 affairs in Louisiana is known to everybody. 

 and the*e facts are a sufficient basis OB which 

 this Congress can a 



Mr. Sheldon : " The dispute is this : the re- 

 turns have been in the hands of one returning 

 board appointed by Governor 'VYurmoth and 

 they have made a return. An additional l':ii t 

 is tiiis: that every United States .supervisor 

 and there were two at each poll in the whole 

 at State did make returns to the chief 

 supervisor; and I am told tluit twenty-two of 

 the State supervisors have sent to the l.\m-h 

 board, which you may call the Pinchhuck 

 hoard, duplicate returns from those pari.-hcs. 

 Now, it co happens that both of those hoards 

 have examined their respective election re- 

 turns and have made returns to the Legisla- 

 ture, and both agree to a quorum in both 

 Houses us having been returned. There is no 

 dispute about that. Another fact is, that the 

 J'inchback government, so fur as Pinchbeck is 

 acting as Governor, does not depend on this 

 ion at all, hut on the previous election of 

 the State Senate, and his election by the 



. under the constitution, as Lieutenant 

 rnor; and on the impeachment of Gover- 

 nor Wannoth he becomes by the constitution 

 acting Governor of that State.'' 



Mr. Butler: "Then the fundamental diffi- 

 culty is this: the State government depends 

 upon who reads and interprets the returns and 

 certificates on the one side or the other. And 

 this is intensified by the fact that every man 

 in the Legislature sits in judgment in his own 

 cause, because he not only claims his election 

 under these returns as he interprets them, hut 

 the very body itself to which he is elected de- 

 pends on his interpretation of those re-turns. 

 And therefore, on the one side and on the other, 

 the two bodies do not decide the question 

 which sometimes conies before this House :.nd 

 other legislative bodies, whether a particular 

 member is elected. But they decide the ques- 

 tion whether the Legislature itself has any ex- 

 istence as a governing body as against another 

 body which also claims to he a Legislature." 



Mr. Farnsworth, of Illinois, said: " I doubt 

 very much myself, and it is my opinion that 

 there is scarcely a nit mher of this House who 

 does not doubt the propriety and the po-sihili- 

 ty of putting any such bill through this House 

 as the gentleman from Massachusetts refers to 

 until we do get the facts in an authentic' form, 

 which will warrant it. 



" The uprooting of the established govern- 

 ment of a State is no trifling matter. 'I 

 chickens may conn- liotne to roost in another 

 quarter. These proceedings, by which it is 

 proposed to overturn a State government by 

 congressional action before you take pains to 

 ascertain whether or not they have a legit 

 government why, sir, gentlemen may re- 

 gard it as a trifling matter as applied to the 

 State of Louisiana, but it will be no trifling 

 matter when in some future era it mny I e 

 thought proper to apply it to the State of Mas- 

 IN or the State of New York. 



" But whether there is such anarchy and 

 rach absence of a legitimate government as to 



