IS.' 



CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



" Upon what ground do gentlemen seek to 

 justify themselves in thin intervention in State 

 affair* f There are provided for, in and by t IK 

 Federal Constitution, two cases where the 

 United States have the express right to inter- 

 fere. Those are clearly written in language 

 about which there need be no mistake. They 

 are in the fourth article, and are as follows : 



The United States shall guarantee to every SUte 

 ID thii Union a republican form of government, 

 and thill protect each of them againat invasion, ana 

 on application of the Legislature, or of the Execu- 

 tive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), 

 against domMtio violence." 



Mr. Garfield, of Ohio, said : ' It seems to me 

 that the shortest, the plainest, the only proper 

 settlement of that question at this time is to 

 order that the message of the President, with 

 all the accompanying documents now lying upon 

 your table, Mr. Speaker, shall be referred to 

 the Committee on the Judiciary, and that that 

 committee shall be directed to examine an 1 

 report to this House at as early a day as possi- 

 ble, and that they shall be empowered to re- 

 port at any time. 



" I shall, therefore, at the proper time ask the. 

 House to give me an opportunity to offer n 

 resolution I have prepared, and I hope the 

 House will adopt it in place of the resolution 

 of my friend from Louisiana (Mr. Sheldon), 

 so that we may not rush into the middle, of 

 this question until we have taken the neces- 

 sary steps to inform ourselves of all the facts 

 within our reach. I ask the Clerk to read, as 

 portion of my remarks, the resolution I have 

 prepared, in order that the House may see 

 what I desire as to disposing of this case." 



The Clerk read as follows: 



Retoltrd, That the message of the Provident and 

 the accompanying documents, now on the Speaker's 

 table, relating to the existing condition of affairs in 

 the state of Louisiana, be printed and referred to 

 the Committee on the Judiciary; that the aaid com- 

 mittee be ordered to report to the House at an early 

 a day as pouible what facts, if any, there are In tha 

 oaae that require any action on the part of Congress, 

 and that aaid committee have leave to report at any 

 tlin* by bill or otherwise. 



The Speaker : " A majority may adopt the 

 subititute, but a two-thirds vote will be nec- 

 essary to adopt the resolution finally." 



The question first occurred on the substitute 

 of Mr. Oarfiold, of Ohio; and it was agreed to. 



The resolution as amended was then adopted 

 under the suspension of the rules, two-thirds 

 having voted m favor thereof. 



In the Senate, on January Iflth, Mr. Morton, 

 of Indiana, asked the unanimous consent to 

 offer the following resolution and for its im- 

 mediate consideration : 



*/**, That the Committee on Privilege and 

 peeUpoab. instructed to inquire and report to the 

 Senate whelhr then is a legal Slat, government in 

 Louisiana, and how and by whom it is constituted. 



The Presiding Officer: " Is there objection to 

 the consideration of the resolution? The Chair 

 hears none, and the question is on its passage. 



Mr. Thurman, of Ohio, said : " I do not know 

 that I shall vote against this resolution ; on tho 

 contrary, my first inipre.-siuii is to vote for it ; 

 but I think it had better be considered a little. 

 Let us see, in general, what we know on ihe. 

 subject. We know that there are two individ- 

 uals each of whom has been inaugurated as 

 Governor of Louisiana. We know that there 

 are two bodies each of whom claims to 

 be the Legislature of Louisiana. We know, 

 therefore, that there is a question, which is 

 tho State government of Louisiana, who is 

 the Governor, and who are the Legislature. 

 Now, as I understand it, the President of the 

 United States has recognized one of 

 Governors and one of these Legislatures, 

 but that recognition by the executive depart- 

 ment is not binding upon Congress. Nothing 

 can bo clearer than that. We are not bound 

 by his recognition. It may be good so far as 

 the executive department is concerned until 

 Congress shall act, or it may not be; but, 

 assuming that it may, it is not in any degree 

 whatsoever binding upon Congress. Nothing 

 can be clearer than that. Indeed, to Congress 

 more than to the President must belong the 

 determination of which is the proper State 

 government where there are two governments 

 or so-called governments in a State, each 

 claiming to be the government of that State. 



" I am not, however, prepared to say that be- 

 cause Congress has passed that act which pro- 

 vides for a particular case where a call is mado 

 on the President for the armed forces of tin- 

 Government, that authorizes tho President, 

 where there is no such call at all, voluntarily 

 and officiously (if I may so say without dis- 

 respect) to undertake to decide between two 

 rival governments in a State. I do not nn- 

 dertake to say that he can do so. In fact I 

 do not quite understand these proceeding- in 

 Louisiana, I do not quite understand how 

 without any call by tho State Executive of 

 Louisiana, the troops of the United States 

 are employed thotv, in the language of Gen- 

 eral Emory's dispatch, "to preserve the 

 peace." I thought that it was tho bus 

 of the State to preserve the peace, and that it 

 was not the business of the United States to 

 interfere to preserve the peace nntil it was 

 called upon either by the Legislature, if it 

 was in session, or by the Executive when the 

 Legislature was not in session." 



Mr. Edmunds, of Vermont, said: "The Sen- 

 ator has taken occasion to enlarge a little upon 

 what he does not understand, using his own 

 language, in the way of criticising tin- Presi- 

 dent of the United States as the head of the 

 Army in doing what he Im- done. I suppose, 

 from what the Senator from Ohio says, tli; 

 would wish the President of the United ^ 

 to shut up his eyes and stop np Ms ears and 

 fold up his hands in respect to cnrr\ in;: on his 

 iMiblie duties until the cataclysm, to u~r a geo- 

 logicnl expression, had come! nntil the < itv of 

 New Orleans or the State of Louisiana was 



