quoted as an illustration of the sweep of what I might call the
_reactionary movement_. When General Shepley was military governor of
Louisiana, under General Butler's regime, a school board was appointed for
the purpose of reorganizing the public schools of New Orleans. A corps of
loyal teachers was appointed, and the education of the children was
conducted with a view to make them loyal citizens. The national airs were
frequently sung in the schools, and other exercises introduced, calculated
to impregnate the youthful minds of the pupils with affection for their
country. It appears that this feature of the public schools was
distasteful to that class of people with whose feelings they did not
accord.

Mr. H. Kennedy, acting mayor of New Orleans, early in September last,
disbanded the school board which so far had conducted the educational
affairs of the city, and appointed a new one. The composition of this new
school board was such as to induce General Canby to suspend its functions
until he could inquire into the loyalty of its members. The report of the
officer intrusted with the investigation is among the documents annexed
hereto. (Accompanying document No. 16.) It shows that a large majority of
the members had sympathized with the rebellion, and aided the confederate
government in a variety of ways. But as no evidence was elicited proving
the members legally incapable of holding office, General Canby considered
himself obliged to remove the prohibition, and the new school board
entered upon its functions.

Without offering any comment of my own, I annex an editorial taken from
the "New Orleans Times," of September 12, evidently written in defence of
the measure. (Accompanying document No. 17.) Its real substance, stripped
of all circumlocutions, can be expressed in a few words: "The schools of
New Orleans have been institutions so intensely and demonstratively loyal