LOUISIANA. 



457 



troops be withdrawn, the Government of which 1 

 am the head would disintegrate, and Nicholls be 

 installed without violence and bloodshed. It is cur- 

 rently reported and believed here on the other hand 

 that the White League are under orders to attack 

 the State-House, and will attack the State-House as 

 soon as the soldiers are withdrawn from the city, 

 their purpose being, by the annihilation of the offi- 

 cers of this Government, to leave no Republican 

 State for your successor's recognition. The validity 

 of my title as Governor having been passed upon by 

 the only tribunal known to the State laws, and being 

 now confirmed by the decision of the national tri- 

 bunal, 1 deem it my duty to maintain the Govern- 

 ment by all means at my command. I therefore 

 most respectfully but urgently request to be in- 

 formed whether any changes be contemplated by 

 you in orders heretofore given to General Augur, 

 commanding this department, in order that I may 

 be able to take such measures as circumstances and 

 my duty as chief executive of the State may seem to 

 require ; and I aj>ain most respectfully request at 

 your hands the recognition of the legal State Gov- 

 ernment. S. B. .PACKARD. 



The following in reply was sent both to 

 Packard and to General Augur : 



EXECUTIVE MANSION, ) 

 WASHINGTON, March 1, 1877. ) 

 Governor S. B. Packard, New Orleans, La. : 



In answer to your dispatch of this date, the Presi- 

 dent directs me to say that he feels it his duty to 

 state frankly that he does not believe public opinion 

 will longer support the maintenance of State Gov- 

 ernment in Louisiana by the use of the military, and 

 that he must concur in this manifest feeling. 



The troops will hereafter, as in the past, protect 

 life and property from mob violence when the State 

 authorities fail : but under the remaining days of 

 his official life they will not be used to establish or 

 to pull down either claimant for control of the State. 

 It is not his purpose to recognize either claimant. 

 C. C. SNIFFIN, Secretary. 



The following relates to the same matter: 



WASHINGTON, March 3, 1877. 

 To Governor F. T. Nicholls, New Orleans: 



The President says he sent a dispatch to Packard, 

 Thursday, notifying him that troops could no longer 

 be employed to uphold either claimant, and that ho 

 does not believe that Packard would attempt any 

 offensive operations. 



The President sent the dispatch so that he (Pack- 

 ard) might have time to retire his pretensions, if 

 disposed. The President says instructions have 

 been issued which cancel all orders for the preserva- 

 tion of the status quo, and that neither you nor Pack- 

 ard are bound to observe it ; that he means the 

 people of Lousiana are as free in their affairs from 

 Federal interference as the people of Connecticut, 

 and that there will be no disposition to interference 

 with them, any more than with the people of New 

 York. The President concurs with us that you im- 

 mediately issue a proclamation urging protection, 

 amnesty, and peace. 



Being askert if a posse executing process of Ni- 

 cholls's court would be interfered with by the mili- 

 tary, he replied : " No more than in any other State." 

 Being asked if Nicholls's officers take possession of 

 the offices in the State without mob violence, would 

 there be military interference, he replied that there 

 would be none; that the military would be used an 

 it had been once in New York, and would be in any 

 of the States, to overcome a mob too formidable for 

 the civil power or State authorities. 



We have submitted the foregoing dispatch, of 

 yesterday, to the President ? who has revised it with 

 his own hands, and authorizes us to state that in its 

 present form it is absolutely correct. 



E. A. BURKE, E. J. ELLIS, 



E. L. GIBSON, WM. M. LEVY. 



United States Marshal Pitkin sent the fol- 

 lowing to Packard from Washington on the 2d : 



WASHINGTON, March 2d 4.45 p. 11. 

 To Governor S. Ji. Jvckard, New Orleans: 



In company with Senators Howe, Logan, and 

 others, I have just left three members of the cabi- 

 net, all of whom stated that the President's message 

 to you, of to-day, in no manner changes t modinen, 

 or affects the status quo. Any aggressive course 



taken by the Nicholls element will be promptly ar- 

 ted. Burke and others teased the President to 



rested. 



give Nicholls greater margin, but wholly failed. All 

 we asked was a maintenance of the ttatus quo till 

 President Hayes's accession. This we have. Hon. 

 W. H. Hunt accompanied the President-elect hither 

 from Ohio, and authorizes me to say to you thut 

 Governor Hayes unqualifiedly states that lie has 

 given nobody warrant to indicate what will be his 

 policy toward Louisiana. Do not permit your 

 friends to -feel any disquietude because Nicholls's 

 agents here dispatch empty fictions by the yard. A 

 member of the cabinet said to me, a few moments 

 ago, " President Hayes would impeach his own title 

 were he to refuse Governor Packard recognition." 

 This is the view not only of all leading Republicans, 

 but even Montgomery Blair editorially admits it. 

 J. G. R. PITKIN, United States Marshal. 



On the 2d Mr. Nicholls had issued the fol- 

 lowing proclamation : 



EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, \ 

 NEW ORLEANS, March 2, 1877. f 

 To the People of Louisiana : 



I congratulate you upon your law-abiding conduct 

 during the past months of unprecedented anxiety 

 and trial. 



The history of that period, so far as you are con- 

 cerned, has been but the steady exhibition of the 

 highest civic virtues. 



The situation of your affairs at this moment de- 

 mands, more than ever, the exercise of combined 

 firmness, moderation, and devotion to principle. 



We now have the assurance that our great com- 

 monwealth is about to resume her rightful position 

 in the Union of States, and in the control of her 

 own internal affairs. 



You must, therefore, continue to maintain the 

 public peace. Refrain from all violence, and leave 

 to those who are charged with the duties of govern- 

 ment the responsibility of enforcing the laws. 



In the future history of our State, let us recognize 

 and respect the fact that all class and race distinc- 

 tions before the law are, and shall remain, abolished. 



Let us honestly accord to each citizen, without 

 any distinction, the full measure of his rights, and 

 the equal benefit and protection of the law, to the 

 end unit all, under the blessing of God, may con- 

 tribute to bring about an era of good feeling, peace, 

 and prosperity. 



Now, therefore, I, Francis T. Nicholls, Governor 

 of the State of Louisiana, do issue this my proc- 

 lamation, enjoining upon all persons the main- 

 tenance of pt-ace, the observance of law, and a 

 proper regard for the rights of all persons ; and I 

 recommend the cultivation of good feeling, and a 

 spirit of harmonv among all classes. 



" FRANCIS T. NICHOLLS, 



Governor of Louisiana. 



During these weeks prior to the expiration 

 of President Grant's official term, the Con- 

 gressional Committees which had been sent 

 into the State to investigate the circumstances 

 of the election of 1876 had prosecuted their 

 inquiries, returned to Washington, and made 

 their several reports. Majority and minority 

 reports were made by both the Senate and 

 House Committees, in which a strictly party 



