CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



195 



ernor of the State. When the Senate of Ohio 

 decides that question, its decision is final and 

 conclusive. But suppose there are two sen- 

 ates, or two tribunals each claiming to be the 

 senate, and one decides in favor of one person 

 and the other tribunal decides in favor of the 

 other, and each one of them appeals to the 

 President, then the President must decide the 

 question. That is the state of the case pre- 

 cisely. 



" I do not blame President Grant, if he was 

 called upon (although I have never yet seen 

 any evidence that he was), for deciding for the 

 time being and before Congress acted, which 

 one of these was the lawful government of 

 Louisiana. If the case was made in which he 

 had a right to decide it, and if the case was 

 made under the act of Congress which gave 

 him the right and made it his duty to act, and 

 therefore gave him jurisdiction to decide it, I 

 do not blame him for deciding it, even if ho 

 decided it erroneously, provided he did it ac- 

 cording to his best judgment." 



Mr. Carpenter: "If the Senator will allow 

 me one word right there, I understand him to 

 maintain that the case has not arisen in regard 

 to domestic violence in this State, that there is 

 no conflict there between two governments, 

 and that the President has not been called 

 upon to interfere. Therefore all that part of 

 the subject may be dismissed. It comes back, 

 therefore, to a simple question between A and 

 B contending for an office in which the Fed- 

 eral courts have ascertained a certain thing nnd 

 made a certain decree. Now, what is the duty 

 of the President ? Has he any other duty in 

 regard to that decree than to execute it ? " 



Mr. Thnrman : " Mr. President, that is sim- 

 ply shutting our eyes to the real fact. The 

 real fact is, and the real fact contemplated by 

 the President was, that here were two bodies, 

 the one claiming to be the Legislature, and the 

 other claiming to be the Legislature, and one 

 man claiming to be Governor and another 

 man claiming to be Governor ; and it is merely 

 sticking in the bark to talk about its being a 

 mere private suit between A and B. I repeat 

 that if the President was called upon according 

 to the statute so that he was compelled to de- 

 cide', then he did right to decide ; he was bound 

 then to decide ; but he was not bound by the 

 decision of this judge, much less was he bound 

 by a decision of this judge which is in direct 

 violation of the very act of Congress under 

 which the judge professed to act. I say once 

 more, therefore, that where there are two gov- 

 ernments thus set up, each claiming to be the 

 lawful government of the State, the highest 

 authority to decide that question is the Con- 

 <!&*!> of the United States, and in the absence 

 of a cK-'Uion by Congress, then it is for the 

 President to decide." 



The Presiding Officer : " The question is on 

 the resolution offered by the Senator from In- 

 diana." 



The resolution was agreed to. 



On February 25th the following message, 

 relative to affairs in Louisiana, from President 

 Grant, was sent to both Houses of Congress. 



To the Senate and Houee of Kepretentativet : 



Your attention is respectfully invited to the con- 

 dition of affairs in the State of Louisiana. 



Grave complications have grown out of the elec- 

 tion there on the 8th of November last, chiefly at- 

 tributable, it is believed, to an organized attempt, 

 on the part of those controlling the election officers 

 and returns, to defeat in that election the will of a 

 majority of the electors of the State. Different per- 

 sons are claiming the executive offices, two bodies 

 are claiming to be the Legislative Assembly of the 

 State, and the confusion and uncertainty produced 

 in this way fall with paralyzing effect upon all its 

 interests. 



Controversy arose as soon as the election occurred 

 over its proceedings and results, but I declined to 

 interfere until suit, involving this controversy to 

 some extent, was brought in the Circuit Court of the 

 United States under and by virtue of the act of May 

 81, 1870, entitled " An act to enforce the right of 

 citizens of the United States to vote in the teveral 

 States of the Union, and for other purposes." 



Finding that resistance wns made to judicial pro- 

 cess in that suit, without any opportunity, nnd, in 

 my judgment, without any right to review the judg- 

 ment of the court upon the jurisclietional or other 

 questions arising in the case, I directed the United 

 States marshal to enforce such proceps, and to ui^e, 

 if necessary, troops for that purpose, in accordance 

 with the thirteenth section of said act, which pro- 

 vides that " it shall be lawful for the President of 

 the United States to employ such part of the land or 

 naval forces of the United States, or of the militia, 

 as shall be necessary to aid in the execution of judi- 

 cial process under this act." 



Two bodies of persons claimed to be the returning 

 board for the State, and the Circuit Court in that case 

 decided that the one to which Lynch belonged, 

 usually designated by his name, was the lawful 

 returning board, and this decision has been repent- 

 edly affirmed by the District and the Supreme Courts 

 of the State. Having no opportunity orpowerto can- 

 vass the votes, and the exigencies of the case de- 

 manding an immediate decision, I conceived it to bo 

 my duty to recognize those persons as elected who 

 rrrc-ivea and held their credentials to office from 

 what then appeared to me to be, and has since been 

 decided by the Supreme Court of the State to be, the 

 legal returning board. 



Conformably to the decisions of this board, a full 

 ret of State officers has been installed and a Legis- 

 lative Assembly organized, constituting, if not a de 

 jure at least a de facto government, which, since 

 some time in December last, has had possession of 

 the offices and been exercising the usual powers of 

 government. But opposed to this has been another 

 government claiming to control the affairs of the 

 State, and which has, to some extent, heen fro forma 

 organized. 



Eeccnt investigation into said election has de- 

 veloped so many frauds and forgeries as to make it 

 doubtful what candidates received a majority of the 

 votes actually cast, and in view of these facts a 

 variety of action has been proposed. I have no 

 specific recommendation to make upon the subject ; 

 but, if there is any practical way of removing these 

 difficulties by legislation, then I earnestly request 

 that such action may be taken at the present session 

 of Congress. 



It seems advisable that I should state now v.hnt 

 course I shall feel bound to pursue in reference to 

 the matter in the event of no action by Congress at 

 this time. Subject to any satisfactory arrangement 

 that may be made by the parties to the controversy, 

 which, of all things, is the most desirable, it will be 

 my duty, so far as it may be necessary for me to act, 



