Rensselaer Union, Volume 5, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1873 — Affairs in Louisiana. [ARTICLE]

Affairs in Louisiana.

In his address to the people of Louisi ana Governor Kellogg reviews at length the history of the troubles. He says: During all the excitement which preceded my installation as Governor I was desirous and at nil times expressed a willingness to have an adjustment on a fair and equitable basis. After I was inaugurated the Chairman of the Republican State Committee made an offer to leading members of the Fusion party to seat forty-five members of the lower house and a number of Senators. This proposition met the approbation of many of the leaders of the party. It was rejected, in part, on the alleged ground that we would not reseat the six expelled Senators who had deserted their seats and betrayed their constituencies by going into the Fusion assemblage. At all times after this there was a disposition on the part of the leading men of the Republican party and of the Legislature to make any reasonable adjustment. It will he borne in mind that the composition of our Legislature, alleged to be inimical to wholesome legislation, was the strong objection made to our government. Without admitting the justiccof this objection—which, indeed, is at,undautlv disproved bj-contrasting the action of the present Legislature with that of the past Legislatures, or even that of the body styling itself a legislature which met at Odd Fellows' Hall, which pissed no reform measures—we yet were willing to concede to tlie opposition such a representation as even they admitted would enable them, acting in concert with Republican members known to be in favor of reform, to secure the passage of such measures as would tend to correct existing abuses, to restore public credit, and to develop the internal resources of the State. The proposed adjustment would —have given * white majority in both branches of the Legislature, and, as they themselves conceded, would have enabled the opposition, if so. disposed, to prevent all questionable legislation, had any such -been attempted; and to insure economy, reform and the advancement of the material intercsts of the State. Repeated conferences were had with the authorized committees of the Fusionists, at their own instance, with a view to an adjustment, and I believe they will do me the justice to say that they were convinced of my sincerity in desiring such a consummation. —: During the last days of the session a committee authorized by the Odd Fellows’ Hall assemblage waited upon myself and others, and finally it was understood that a proposition to seat forty-five Fusionists in the lower House, and eleven Senators, would be satisfactory to the majority.———■ ' v ;-’T With commendable patriotism and self-sac-rifice members of the lower House, sufficient in number to make up the required forty.-fiyc, with those Fusionists returned by the legal board, came forward and signed a written pledge to resign their seats in favor of those claiming to represent their respective districts -then sitting in the Fusion assemblage. A W ritten pledge was also made by a majority of the Senate that they ’would scat nearly or quite the required number of Senators, in addition to those returned by the legal board, it being conceded, for the purpose of this proposcdadjustment,that the contesting Senators had received a majority of the votes cast In their respective districts. We had satisfactory assurances from our friends, both in Washington and here, that this adjustment, if effected, would be approved. I was well aware that my action in this maYtcr would soon tend to tiring upon me the, suspicion of my own party and every kind of discontent and misconstruction from both my friends and opponents, but I was willing to risk all this if by so doing I could reasonably expect to restore harmony and prosperity to the State. Yet, while I was doing this in’ the interests of the State, certain prominent Fusionists were endeavoring to negotiate a trade with Lieutenant-Governor Antoine, by which he and other colored men were to desert me and join them. Right at this janeture it was insisted, among other things, that the old Warmoth Senators who had befeeded from the Legislature, and had subsequently been expelled, should be reseated, and in a caucus of the opposition the question was sprung that no proposition%ould be entertained that did not include the readmission of these Senators. It was generally j admitted that several of them had been fraudulently declared elected in 1870; that they did j not represent the districts frbfflr- whieh 'they ! were Accredited; that their legislative career : had been such as give no reasonable assur- j ances that they” would work in the interest of.. reform, or that they had the pros l perity of the State at heart. Yet the combined efforts of these men, their urgent appeals to their associates in Odd Fellows’ Hall, added to the votes of those who were opposed to any adjustment at all, resulted in the adoption of a resolution by the Fusion body that no adjustment would be acceded to that did not include these expelled Senators. Here again the

influence which has been the bane of Louisiana made Itself felt, and these Warmoth Senators, who had seceded from the legal legislature in order to earry out the original compact looking to the destruction of the Republican party, contributed largely, at least, to the defeat of an adjustment so nearly reached. An appeal to arms was made. The opposition—though they had specifically declared, through the person claiming to be tneir Attor-ney-General, that they only desired to inaugurrate their government " so as to obtain’ u legal status ana make a case for the courts —procured arms and munitions of war, and made a systematic effort to organize a militia for the avowed purpose of overthrowing the established government. The militia was scattered by theJocal authorities, and,the next.day the Odd Fellows’ Hall assemblage was dispersed. The agitation which now convulses the State proceeds principally from three classes. First, a body of worthy citizens unversed in polities, some of whom did not even vote at the last election, who have been blindly misled into the belief that no portion of the present State Government was elected. Second, disappointed politicians, dependent upon office for their livelihood. Third, the men connected with the monopolies and fraudulent schemes originated lmdcr.ihe late Administration, and whose only chance of protecting their interests, now threatened by ray Administration, and of pre : venting the shameful robberies perpetrated upon the people from being brought to light, lies in agitation and anarchy. The public disorders and tlie sentiments of ostracism and antagonism engendered by these three classes, aided by a subsidized partisan press, arc a standing menacepreventing capital and labor from coming here. The tide of immigration tuftis aside from tlie tempting climate and productive soil of tills State, and tlie army of European laborers, warned away by lawlessness and insecurity, passes on to’Tcxas or the West. The State is yearning for the aid of foreign capital to renew its levees, foreign labor to revive its agriculture. But it is absurd for any community that encourages lawlessness to lio])C for the confidence of the capitalist or the aid of the industrious laborer. Nothing can save the State but the enforcement of laws that will insure to all citizens security in tlie peaceful exercise or”aß’tfieff rrbsperity can only come to Louisiana when laws are enforced, when turbulence is put down, when hostility to races end, and when all eitizensare willing to accord to each other what the law and,justice and good policy demaud. It is my earnest desire to establish a just and economical government, to restore public credit, to reduce tlie present taxation, and to promote the internal improvements which tlie State so much needs. I, therefore, appeal to all good citizens to support me in tlie execution of the laws, the preservation of the peace, and the suppression of that lawless violence which lias so injuriously affected tlie interests of tlie city and State. To this end lam determined to employ all the resources of the State, and to invoke, if necessary, tlie power of the General Government.