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 POJS^'ING or THE DEMOCRATIC AND REPUBLICAN ACCOUNTS. 
 
 Sjcecl of HON. H." BOARDMAN SMITH, of Net M... 
 
 •-a 
 In tbo House of Rcprcscutatlvcs, June 8, 1872, ou the Coudition of Affairs in Louisiana. 
 
 Mr. SMITH, of New York. Mr, gpeaher, 
 the people of this coan<ry have sufferfed too 
 mnch in SRving and guarding thftir liberties to 
 pat up farther wiih tricks and shame. Hon»st 
 ihemefilves, they damand that politicians 
 shall deal Fqaaroly with them. It were wise, 
 too, for politicians to bear in mind that they 
 are intelligent, and are just now in no hamor 
 for fooling. 
 
 I have not sought the floor, Mr, Sijeaker, 
 to defend bad men in Louisiana. The Ke- 
 publican party, born of the conscience of this 
 tsoixntry, with a muscle made hard in the 
 struggle with gi;int wrong, with a career al- 
 ways glorious and si ways triumphant be- 
 cause always just, has no use for white- wash. 
 That is a good thing lor sepulchres, but for a 
 live and giant party, it is too cheap for glory 
 and too thin for strength. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, if with the convictions of my 
 conscience I should deny that Louisiana has 
 Boffered from adventurers and villains in of- 
 ficial position, I should be pnilty of a derelic- 
 tion of duly to this House as a member of 
 your committee, and of gross infidelity to the 
 liepublioan party. That party, sir, like 
 Brutus, is just enough and strong enough to 
 condemn its first-born to death. I shall 
 not assert that the Governor of Louisiana is 
 alone responsible for the troubles in that 
 State, nor deny that he was elected by Re- 
 publican votes. But I do assert that from 
 about the commencement of his ofiicial term 
 he has been gayly coquetting with the Demo- 
 cratic party, and that Barkis has been amaz- 
 ingly "willin*," that he has appointed more 
 Democrats than Republicans to office, and 
 that with his first official miscoaduot, the Re- 
 publican party of Louisiana, ("except such 
 men as he held by personal favor and patron- 
 age,) led by pure, noble, and heroic men array- 
 ed itself in solid and determined opposition 
 to him. And, Mr. Speaker, this load of shame 
 would not have been bud upon Louisiana but 
 for the fact that the virtuous and white-robed 
 Democracy of the State at the critical mom»nt 
 rushed to his support and formed with him in 
 January, 1871, an infamous coalition which 
 held the Republican party in the Leg- 
 islature in complete subjection, and brought 
 Louisiana to the depth of humiliation to 
 which she has been plunged. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, let the wailing report of the 
 Democratic members of this committee go to 
 the ear of the country. I will not stop to 
 pay the picture is overdrawn, but I invite' 
 these gentlemen to come to the counter and 
 post the books, that the country may decide 
 who shall bear the infamy. 
 
 The Democratic Legislature of Loaisiana of 
 186G, to which was returned but one Union 
 man, like every Democratic Legislature in 
 the Union, contemptuously rejected the fonr- 
 teenth amendment," which, bear in mind, did 
 
 not impose negro 8nCfrage,but made the freed- 
 men citizens, and abolished the three-fifths 
 representation in Congre&s. Feeling "piiy 
 and kindness" for the freedmcu, as Democratic 
 wis-nesses testified before your ccmuiittee, the 
 same Legislaluro expelled the Union mem- 
 ber, who offered a resolution that the United 
 States fl»g should be hung over the Speflk^r's 
 chair, and passed, among others, the follow- 
 ing laws : 
 
 "An act to provide for and regulate labor 
 contracts for agricultural pursuits, which re- 
 quired the freadmen 'within the first ten dnys 
 of the month of January of each year,' to 
 make contracts for labor for a whole yeur be- 
 fore a justice of the peace and two diaintor • 
 ested witnesses,' the heads of families to 
 make contracts for all the members of the 
 family able to wors ; the ninth section of 
 which act provided lor a common fund,' into 
 which all furids were to go, to be divided 
 among the laborers, and by which cert^.'Iu 
 acts of the laborers are declared to be diso- 
 bedience,' Judgments under this section 
 were to be entered by the employer, but, if 
 not satisfactory to the freedmen, 'an appeal 
 may be had to the nearest j ustioe of tiie peace 
 and two freeholders, citizens, one of said 
 citizens to be selected by the employer and 
 the other by the laborer. ' 
 
 "Also, an act to prohibit the carrying of 
 fire arms on premises or plantations of any 
 citizen without the consent of the owner. 
 
 "Also, an act to prevent trespassing, which 
 seems to be intended to prevent freedmen 
 from leaving the plantations oh which they 
 were employed and from visiting each other. 
 
 "Also, an act making an important change 
 in the vagrant law of Louisiana, allowing a 
 justice of the peace, it would seem, by de- , 
 manding any sort of a bond for good behavior 
 in such an amount and with such sureties as 
 he may choose, which it would ba impossible 
 for the freedmen to procure, to 'hire out' the 
 letter for one year to a planter, or to cause 
 him to labor on the pnbUo works, roads, and 
 levees. ' 
 
 "Also, an act to provide for the punishment 
 of persons for tampering with, persuading, 
 or enticing away, harboring, feediug, or se- 
 creting laborers, servants, or apprentices, 
 very stringent in its provisions. 
 
 "Also, an act relative to apprentices and 
 indentured servants, authorizmg parish offi- 
 cers to apprentice 'all persons under the age 
 of eighteen years if females, and twenty-one 
 years if males,' under the conditions stated. 
 In all cases when the age of the minor cannot ^ 
 be ascertained by 'record testimony,' th«s>'^£i«r 
 cer 'shall fix the age accord'" ^ )" 
 idence before him.' -iwdly.-*"-"" 
 
 "The 8ec(md ' 
 bindinp' ' 
 O' ' 
 
2 
 
 "Also, an act to punish in certain cases the 
 employers of laborers or apprentices, inten- 
 ded, it would seera, to revive the old slavery 
 regulation that colored persons should carry 
 'written certificates' or 'passes.' " 
 
 Here, sir, was the nest-egg of a new "irre- 
 pressible cocflitjt," and of new wars for our 
 children to fight out. 
 
 More than a year before had the prophetic 
 Lincoln suggested the giving of the right of 
 sutfrage to the blacks of Louisiana, as in 
 some hour of danger they might "aid in 
 nreseirving the jewel of liberty in the family 
 
 freedom." 
 
 The committee of this House appointed to 
 investigate the massacre of 18GG, at the head 
 of which was the gentleman from Ohio, [Mr. 
 IShellabarger,] always just and generoas, re- 
 ported — 
 
 "That it was the determined purpose of 
 the mayor of the city of New Orleans to 
 break up this convention (of 18C6) by armed 
 force." * ****** 
 
 "Soon after noon the usual alarm was given, 
 such as was used when the Federal Army 
 was investing this city, and then the com- 
 bined police, htmded by olficers, and firemen 
 with their companies, rushed with one will 
 from different parts of the city toward the 
 Mechanicb' Institute, and the work of butch- 
 ery commenced." 
 
 That " in the hall and the streets more 
 than two hundred men were slain and 
 wounded." That " not one of these men has 
 teen punished, arrested, or complained of," 
 but " were continued in offioe." 
 
 Ihe present Governor of Louisiana was 
 elected in the spring of 18G8, by a majority 
 ori7',413. In November of the same year 
 Seymour and Blair carried the State by a 
 majority of 4G, 962. Just prior to the elec- 
 tion, as reported by another congressional 
 Committee, two thousand freedmen were 
 killed and wounded in the State, by secret, 
 armed bands of K. W. C. and the K. K. K. 
 As an illustration of how this came about, 
 the committee reported that in the parish of 
 Caddo, where, in April, there were 1,242 He- 
 publican votes, but one was given for Grant, 
 and the freedman who deposited that vote was 
 murdered before he got to bed. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, far be it from me to revive 
 these cruel memories for any other purpose 
 than to defend the noble pariy from wicked 
 aspersions, and to hold the people manfully 
 up, so far as my feeble power goes, to the per- 
 petuating and consolidating of the existing 
 wise and statesmanlike reconstruction of the 
 South. If there be a sentiment in heraldry 
 which touches my heart deeply, a sentiment 
 of lofty manhood and statesmanship too, it, 
 is "a han d that gives and a hear t that forgives. ' ' 
 At the close of the war the South was willing 
 to accept the situation in good faith. It has 
 already passed into the solid stereotype of his- 
 tory that it was the tampering of Andrew 
 Johnson and the conjuring of the Damocra- 
 tio party of the North, to the South, that 
 direful spring of woes unnumbered, which 
 evoked the devil of mischief which was run- 
 niBg riot in the legislation and conduct of 
 the Democratic party of Louisiana. 
 
 I suppose, sir, I violate no confidence in 
 
 repeating this sentiment of the last rebel 
 
 oeneral who surrendered of the Union 
 
 ".AstH Mood shed in the English 
 
 V dry when the Puritan 
 
 and the Cavalier united to rebuild the brok- 
 en fabric of England's greatness, so may the 
 Union man and the confederate unite withrival 
 zoal to rebuild the glory and maintain the per- 
 petuity of the American Union." Sir, that 
 sentiment, flowering at last, let us trr,'s'i-, 
 throughout the South, is the result cf f.^ jjind 
 but inexorable and firm policy of recOiigtruo- 
 tion. Would that my voice could reach t(]he oar 
 of every citizen of the liepublic, as I pk 
 let well enough alone ; not to conjure an^ 
 with a wand of affected tenderness, whicu 
 may again evoke the slumbering devil of 
 caste ; not to undo a work so nobly and 
 wisely done, and " fly to evils that we know 
 not of." 
 
 One crime laid at the dcor of the Bepubli- 
 can party of Louisiana, is the passaRO of cer- 
 tain obnoxious laws giving to the Executive 
 of the State great and almost despotic pow- 
 ers. These laws were passed in good faifh, 
 for the profection of the freedaien, and if 
 honestly adminiistered no harm or cause of 
 complaint would have arisen. But, sir, I 
 grant they have not been honestly administ- 
 ered, and the result has shown that the Ke- 
 pubiicans of Louisiana isn flyicg from one 
 danger fell into another. But, sir, danger- 
 ous as thoso laws have proved to be, which 
 party should bear the responsibility, the 
 party which passed them, or the patty whose 
 wicked persecutions, violence, and assassina- 
 tions made them necessary ? Let the peo- 
 ple judge. 
 
 Under the registration law the Governor 
 was directed, to appoint registrars in the sev- 
 eral parishes of the State, who had control 
 of the registration of voters, the holding of 
 elections, and the counting of the votes. The 
 State Ilepublican committee nominated re- 
 istrars who were residents of the parishes, 
 and no question is made but they were good 
 men. The Governor beginning a new de- 
 parture, it would seem, as early as 1870, re- 
 fused to appoint these men, but appointed, 
 among others, thirty-six registrars who were 
 non-residents of the parishes, some of whom 
 were non-residents of the State and some of 
 whom were bad men. Some of these regis- 
 trars fraudulently returned themselves, their 
 clerks, or their intimate friends, as elected to 
 the Legislature, who had never received any 
 nomination, and in some cases were not 
 known as candidates in the parishes whence 
 returned. These frauds were most scandal- 
 ous and notorious, well known to the Demo- 
 cratic party of Louisiana, and were commit- 
 ed sometimes in the interest of liepublican 
 and sometimes in the interest of Democratic 
 candidates. These fraudulently returned 
 members were in moat cases unscrupulous 
 adventurers and faithful adherents to the 
 Governor. 
 
 Now, sir, let this Houso and the country 
 know the truth, which no man dare deny,that 
 from the hour of this infamy there was a 
 wide and impassable gulf and a deadly feud 
 between the Governor and the Eepublican 
 party, led by Marshal Packard and Governor 
 Dunn, of which last the Democratic members 
 of this committee say in their report : 
 
 "In November, 1871, he died. He seems 
 to have been justly esteemed by the citizens 
 of the State irrespective of party, and his 
 death was sincerely lamented. He was the 
 political leader of the colored race in Louis- 
 iana, and was unselfishly devoted to their 
 prosperity and elevation. " 
 
Mortimer C.iir, wiio, on ilia vGar before, 
 ^ had repreeentecl one of tlig purishes of tbe 
 ;^ city of New Orlenus, aud v/as clearly provea 
 *** before your oommitlea to be a man of bad 
 "^cbaraotor, is mentioned in the report of tho 
 ^ Deniociatio members of tbe committee thus : 
 "Mortimer Garr is the prince of tho venal 
 ring ir, the house, and claims to represent a 
 jmrip-h/in which be waa appointed registrar, 
 *iu which he had never had a residence, and 
 *^u which he has not S'.t hia foot since IS 70.' 
 Before, or immediately npon the meeting 
 of tho Legislature, the llepubUcaus de- 
 termined upon au effort to unseat these vil- 
 lains, and employed an attorney to prepare 
 tho proofs end conduct tho contests. These 
 frauds were committed in November, 1870. — 
 Tho whole Btate was in commotion about 
 them at once. Before tho Logislature met, 
 on the 1st of January, the Goveraor, his 
 friends, and tbe Dejaocratic psuty, entered 
 into an infumous coaiitiou, by which the pat- 
 ronage of sixteen parishes was given to the 
 Democrats ; men charged to have been fraud- 
 ulently retiirned were defended in their seats, 
 by which the appointment of the committees 
 of the Senate was taken out of the hnnds of 
 Governor Dann, and by which was elected as 
 speaker of tho house, receiving every Demo- 
 cratic vote, a man known throughout the 
 State as not honestly elected and not eligible, 
 and therefore not entitled to even a seat in 
 the housG-^thia branded scoundrel, Mojftiiuer 
 Carr. 
 
 Of course, sir, it followed, as Wiis doubtless 
 understood, that one Abel, another inter- 
 loper, not a resident cf the district v/hich he 
 claimed to represent, and not entiiled to a 
 seat himself, was made chairman of the House 
 committee on elections. Tmis tbe good and 
 true men in the Legislature, black and svhite, 
 who were making an earnest and concerted 
 effort to oiean :0ut the villains, were bound 
 band and foot, and the unhappy fatate was 
 handed over to the rule of such a coalition 1 
 
 This, sir, was Democratic work. It is an 
 old proverb that "a workman is known by 
 his chips." Mr. Speaker, will the eyes of 
 honest Democrats wink at such damning vil- 
 lany as this, because it brought grist to the 
 Democratic mill ? And will not an intelli- 
 gent public stamp a3 a oriaie against troth 
 and a crime against honor,any attempt to lay 
 the consoqueuaoa of this infamous coalition 
 at the door of the Eepublican party or of re- 
 construction ? 
 
 Before the eession of the Legialatnra of the 
 the last winter the rogues had faHen out, be- 
 cause, as alleged, the Uovernor did not "play 
 fair," and tha popular conscience was too 
 plainly against him, a controlling reason ap- 
 pearing in the testimony of Judge Walker 
 that the Governor after the death of Governor 
 Dann would not consent to the election of a 
 Democrat in his place, for the reason assign- 
 ed by his more intimate friends, that it 
 would render him more liable to impeach- 
 oient. 
 
 But, sir, unhappy as tho consequences 
 have been to Louisiana of the election of un- 
 tried men to office, it was far better for the 
 Republican party, better for the State, and 
 better for the nation than to have elected to 
 places of trust old and tried and saintly citi- 
 zsns, who would have followed the precedent 
 of the last Democratic Legislature and rob- 
 bed her people of the jewel of liberty. How 
 guilty the poor freedmen of the State have 
 
 been, let Mr. Eustis, a distinguished lawyer 
 of New Orleans, and a member of the Demo- 
 cratic State committee, testify : 
 
 "Q The colored people, as a rule, have 
 strong attacbmenta, have they not ? 
 
 "yl. I believe they have. 
 
 "(j^. They have a good deal moro altacl;i- 
 moni for their old masters than they have for 
 the new comer ? 
 
 "^. I think they have now. 
 
 *'Q. They have had all the while ? /^ 
 
 ".4. When you use the word attachment,^ 
 think they have ; but they have suapeoted 
 that their old masters, if given political 
 powers, might deprive thorn of their political 
 rights. 
 
 ''Q That suspicion is now passing away 
 from the minds of the cjlored people ? 
 
 "yl. I think ap. 
 
 "<3. When cinfidoEco is once established, 
 tbe intelligeEco aud brains of your State will 
 control your political as in other States ? 
 
 "J. Yes, sir, if tho will of the people is 
 not defoated by the agency of the election 
 and regi:;tT&tiou laws. 
 
 "Q. And the only requisite to tbe most 
 intelligent men of jour S(ate haviJ3{< the 
 suffrages of the negvoos is the one conditioa 
 that they shall play fair %\ ith them ? 
 
 "J.. Or remove the saspicion that they 
 will not." 
 
 Aud as to the gnilt of the Republican party 
 of tbe nation or of the State, or the national 
 Administration, for the condition of things, I 
 C'lll Mr. Moncure, a Democratic member of 
 tb© Lovjislaturo, of whom the Democratic 
 members of the committee in their report tay: 
 
 "There is one member of the H:u^o who 
 deserves honorable exception from the gt;]u- 
 eral condemnation so richly won by the 
 Legislature. J. C. Moncare, esq., represei;- 
 taUve from the parish of Caddo, was exami- 
 ned before the ojmmittee, and gave an im- 
 partial and intelligent ^tatemeut of tbe sitaa- 
 tion from his stand-point. lie has been 
 faithful among the faithless, and heillnstia*:ea 
 the truth that 'virtue is its own rcwa,rd,' iu 
 the re&p-sct and esteem in which he is held 
 by the honest people of Louisiana, irrespt c- 
 tive of party. ' 
 
 This gentleman testifies : 
 "Q. Do you mean to say that the corrnpt 
 condition of the State Lagislaiuve is due to 
 the enfranchisement of the c >lored people, 
 or to the mal-adminiht ration of the present 
 Executive ? 
 
 ^'A. I am very much obliged to you for 
 asking the qaostion. It is vaRtly more due 
 to the State administration — to the State 
 government, and the character of the men 
 who administer it, and the character of the 
 men who are controlling spirits in fell its 
 branches I do not consider it chargeable to 
 the enfranchisement of the black^i at all." 
 
 "Q. Were not Governor Dnnn, and with 
 him the blacks of the Slate, first in the field 
 or early in the field for the repeal of these 
 laws of which you complain ? 
 
 '■^A. They were early in the field ; a large 
 number of Governor Dunn's friends were 
 earnest in their professions of their desire to 
 repeal these bills last winter. 
 
 "Q. Let me ask you whether the Republi- 
 can party of this State — the great mass of the 
 Republican party— are with the reformers, oy 
 with the other side ? "^ 
 
 "A I am very decidedlyx-^- ' 
 
that the great mass of the Republican party 
 of Louisiana desire these reforms. I am 
 decidedly of the conviction, farther, that 
 these reforms are opposed only by persons 
 ■who have nothing to expect from the great 
 mass of the people of the State by fair means. 
 
 " Q. Then, in yonrjudgment, except for 
 unprecedented resistance on the part of the 
 State Executive and his friends, these re- 
 forms would have been brought about sum- 
 luarily in the ordinary way ? 
 
 "J.. I think so ; if Governor Warmoth had 
 abstained from interference, these reforms 
 would hava been brought about easily, quiet- 
 ly, and without difficulty. 
 
 "Q. Then the great mass of the Republican 
 party of this State are with what is called the 
 cnstom-honse party ? 
 
 *'.4. Well, if you like to call them so ; I 
 think the majority of the real Republican 
 party of this State are with Governor Dunn's 
 party. 
 
 "Q Do you know of any interference of 
 CoUtfctor Casey, collector, in State politics 
 which is reprehensible ? 
 
 "4. None whatever, nor any other United 
 States officer." 
 
 And yet sir, the Democratic members of 
 this committee go back upon this high-toned 
 witness for a fling at the President of the 
 United States. Alas ! alas ! sir, what a pile 
 of Democratic teeth have been broken on that 
 file. 
 
 Mr. Eustis farther testifies : 
 
 "Q. What do you say about the honest 
 sentiment in the iiepublioan party ; does it 
 sustain the Governor in his course ; does it 
 sustain these laws ? 
 
 *'A. Well, sir, the Republican party,in my 
 opinion, is as sorry that these powers have 
 been confided to the Governor as the Demo- 
 crats are. For the first time in my political 
 career I have been thrown in contact with 
 colored politicians, and I find them exceed- 
 ingly bitter upon this question. They are 
 satisfied, I think, that their race can have no 
 representation in the government of Louis- 
 iana undsr these laws, because there will 
 not be a fair election. I will further state 
 that saveral of them have expressed it to me. 
 And one reason why I believe that this tem- 
 porary coalition would result in something 
 positive was, that several of the colored politi- 
 cians have told me they considered these laws 
 so oppressive to the people of Louisiana — 
 the white people — that they were anxious to 
 have these laws modified and put upon a fair 
 basis, because they feared that if the white 
 people got control of this Slate Ihey would 
 retaliate upon the colored people the injustice 
 they h&d suffered under these laws. I be- 
 lieve that is tho general opinion of honest 
 colored men. 
 
 "Q. What is the general feeling between 
 the old white residents and the colored 
 people ? 
 
 "J.. Well, sir, in 1868 the question came 
 up. I was then a member of tho committee 
 as to what we should do with regard to the 
 negro voters, and I think that the leaders of 
 the Democratic party took this view : tha'< if 
 we tried to influence the negroes, in the first 
 place, we could not do it ; for if we attempt- 
 ed tg do so we ware under such disadvantages 
 with regard to emancipation, and so strong 
 suspicion would be created in their minds 
 against us, that the general disposition and 
 '^'"^ eeneral course of action resolved npon 
 
 was to allow the negroes to do just as they 
 liked, and, even if they wished it, to assist 
 them." 
 
 Mr. Speaker, in the hue and cry sought to 
 be raised throughout the country against Re- 
 publican reconstruction and the subjugation 
 of the proud white men of the South to negro 
 domination, this House and the country ought 
 to heed the testimony of the Democratic 
 members of this committee, who state it* their 
 report : 
 
 " The colored members of the Legislature 
 are regarded as less dishonest than the whites." 
 
 Mr. Monoure also testifies : 
 
 "• Q- Who is the State Senator that repre- 
 sents your own district ? 
 
 " A. Senator Antoine. 
 
 *' Q. I hold in my hand a paper called the 
 Daily Southwestern. Is that a Democratic 
 paper published in your district ? 
 
 " A. Yes, sir ; at Bhreveport. 
 
 " Q. It contains this article : 
 
 " Antoine. — A private letter has been re- 
 ceived here from Senator Antoine, dated Bay 
 St. Louis, January 15, in which the following 
 passage occurs : 
 
 "'I am siiffering and making pecuniary 
 sactiftces for the interest of my constituents 
 and the Reform Republicans of the State 
 against an unscrupulous and corrupt Gov- 
 ernor. Say to the people that I will not sell 
 their rights for a mess of pottage, and that 
 there is no money that Governor Warmouth 
 could give me that would cause me to betray 
 the confidence they have placed in me as 
 their representative.' 
 
 "The integrity of this colored Senator, in 
 remaining faithful to the party of Reform, is 
 in striking oontradt with some high-stning 
 Democrats that we wot of. Antoine has placed 
 a feather in his cap which the people here 
 will be apt to appreciate. 
 
 " A. Every word of which I most earnestly 
 and cordially indorse." 
 
 Mr. Sinnott testified : 
 
 ' ' Q. You are not much of a Radical your- 
 self ? 
 
 "J.. Not by a long ways. Never was and 
 never will be. 
 
 " Q. You are a Democrat, sound to the 
 core ? 
 
 • ' A. Yes, in the time of it, while it existed, 
 I was an active Democrat. 
 
 " Q. Do you mean to say that Democracy 
 is played out ? 
 
 "-4. To answer that question, I will tell 
 you, that in my judgment, all tho principles 
 which we formerly adhered to as sacredly as 
 v/e did to our God, are dead. 
 
 " Q. That is, you have no more confidence 
 in the Northern Demoorate ? 
 
 " yl. Yes; I have when I know them, but I 
 think that the princiijles of politics, when you 
 talk of them, are all dead. 
 
 " Q You organized a large number of col- 
 ored Democratic clubs in this city, did you 
 not? 
 
 *' -4. Yes, sir ; I helped to organize one. 
 
 " Q. Tell me if they played out. 
 
 " A. They were the biggest set of rascsls I 
 ever saw. We got them together, and fed 
 them, and clothed them, and shod them. 
 
 " Q, Tell me how much they cost you ? 
 
 " -4. It is inc<»lculable ; I cannot tell. 
 
 " Q. How many clubs were there ? 
 
 ".d. I do not know; we had one, and that 
 was enough for me. 
 
 "Q. How many members did you have in it? 
 
"A. We must have had a hundred, almost. 
 
 " Q. Did you clothe them? 
 
 '^ A. Yes; clothed them, and fed them, 
 and shod them ; gave them spirits once or 
 twice a week. 
 
 " Q. Then they went and voted the Repub- 
 lican ticket ? 
 
 " A. I expect every one did." 
 
 One witness testified that there was not 
 money enough in Louisiana ta buy a colored 
 man's " vote on a political question." 
 
 Governor Wiirmoth testified : 
 
 "There were a good many measures intro- 
 ^duced by the lobby outside ; for instance, 
 / there was a bill introduced in 18G9 providing 
 for the funding of seven millions and a half 
 of State bonds, ami accrued interest, that were 
 issued by the rebel State goverment ; they 
 were held by the banks here in the city, and 
 they desired to have a bill passed through 
 the Legislature taking up these bonds and is- 
 suing new State bonds, and the contract was 
 made, I believe, between those bank presi- 
 dents and a certain gentleman, and it was to 
 be engineered throngh'iu someway. I will give 
 you the contract if you woiald like to see it. 
 
 "Q. How did it get into your possession ? 
 
 "A. I got a copy of it. 
 
 "Q. Is that the original? 
 
 "A. It is a copy of the original and Is as 
 follows : 
 
 "Thid agreement, made and entered into 
 this 22d day of April, 180!), Emile H. Eeynes 
 and Avegno & Wliioz, of this city of New Or- 
 leans, of the first part, and the several 
 banks hereinafter named, represented by 
 their respective presidents, duly authorized 
 by their boards of directors, of the second 
 part, witnesseth : 
 
 "Whereas the said banks are holders and 
 owners of certain bonds issued by the State 
 of Louisiana, under and by virtue of an act 
 of the Legislature thereof, approved the 2:5rd 
 day of January, 1802, entitled, 'An act to 
 raise money for the State treasury, ' &c. ; and 
 whereas the said Emile H. Reyuea and Aveg- 
 no & Willoz, parties of the first part, are de- 
 sirous and willing to undertake to have the 
 validity of said bonds admitted by the State, 
 to or obtain compensation for the same : 
 
 Now, therefore,it is hereby stipulated,cove- 
 nanted,and agreed, by and between said part 
 ies of the first part and second part as 
 follows, to wit: the said E. H. Key- 
 nes and Avegno & Willoz hereby agree 
 and bind themselves to use all their 
 influence and exertions, and to make 
 every effort either to obtain some compensa- 
 tion for the said bonds, or to procure some 
 rdlief to the parties of the second part, hold- 
 ers and owners of said bonds. They further 
 bind themselves to miike all necessary advan- 
 ces of money, and to bear jjersonally and 
 alone all the costs, expanses, and outlays of 
 money that may be necessary to reach the 
 proposed end. 
 
 "In case the said Emile H. Reynea and 
 Avegno & Willoz should succeed in their en- 
 deavors, either to have the validity of said 
 bonds admitted or to obtain some comi^ensa- 
 tion for the same, by the issue of new bonds 
 by the State in lieu of the old ones, then and 
 in that case, the said parties ot the second 
 part hereby agree and bind themselves to 
 transfer and turn over in fall ownership to the 
 parties of the first part twenty-five per cent,, 
 or one fourth of the whole number of the said 
 bonds which they now hold, in full compensa- 
 
 tion for their services in the premises. 
 
 "In case any of the bank parties to this 
 agreement should not have their bonds in 
 their possession by reason of having surren- 
 dered the same by error to the United States 
 authorities during the war, but hold the re- 
 ceipts of said authorities for the same, the said 
 banks agree and bind themselves to contribute 
 in the same manner their p7'o rata out of any 
 new bonds or compensation they may receive 
 from the State of Louisiana, in lieu of the old 
 bonds or of the receipts of the United States 
 authorities for the bonds surrendered by 
 them. 
 
 "It i3 Loroby acknowledged and agreed that the 
 amount of bonds held by tlie said banks and individ- 
 uals respectively Is as follows, to wit : 
 
 Tlie Louisiana State Bank $537,248 
 
 Tho Canal Hank. 700*000 
 
 Tho Bank of Louieiana „... 70o'ooo 
 
 The Citizens' Eiuk 743*000 
 
 The Mechanicij' and Traders' Bank .312*500 
 
 The Union Bank 100000 
 
 The Bank of New Orleans '.'.'.' 145 OOO 
 
 The Merchants' Bank T, lOOOOO 
 
 The Creaceut Oity Bank '.'.'. 20,'coO 
 
 Making a total of $3,404,343 
 
 "It is expressly understood between all parties that 
 this agreement and c ntract shall not extend beyond 
 the last day of the next session of tlie Legislature of 
 the Siato, at which time if Messrs. Beynes and Aveg- 
 no & ^^'illoz have not succeeded in obtaining the ex- 
 pected redress from the State by the enactment of 
 the necessary laws and acts of the Legislature, then 
 and in thit case the agreement shall y^«o facto be null 
 and void. 
 
 " Thus done on duplicate, in the olty of New 
 Orleans, this 22d day of April, 18e9. 
 
 JULES A. BLANO, 
 President I^ouiniana State Bank 
 GEOKGE JONAS, 
 President Canal and Bank Company 
 E. E. WILLOZ, 
 P. H. MORGAN, 
 J. F. IKWIN. 
 
 Commissioners. 
 SAM BELL. 
 
 President Union Bank, 
 E. H. SUMMERS, 
 President Crescent City Bank, 
 E, H. KEYNES, 
 Witness : AVEGNO & WILLOZ. 
 
 KOBT. Keeh, 
 A, Oassard." 
 
 It is just worthy of mention that this mild 
 job did not win success. Wonld the people 
 trast an ass laden with that much gold in tne 
 Legislatures of some unreconstructed States? 
 
 Mr. Speaker, it is a hopeful augury for the 
 country that these despised men cannot be 
 driven by Ku Klux violence and organized 
 assassination, nor wheedled by Democratio 
 caresses into the support of candidates for 
 office "who do not play fair with them, or 
 
 remove the snspicion that they will not." 
 
 Democratic arts may mislead the white man ; 
 so far they have ingloriously failed to wool 
 the negro. 
 
 Another grievous crime of the Administra- 
 tion against the Democratic party, I suppose, 
 is that marshal Packard, a judicious and effi- 
 cient officer, a man with no stain of reproach, 
 is kept in office after holding a Republican 
 convention in the custom house protected by 
 United States troops. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I do not regret that the greafc 
 Democratic party of the nation have taken so 
 lively an interost in the family troubles of 
 the Eepublican party. I remember the al- 
 manac used to give the rules of the "Black 
 Art." To the first question, "How to raise 
 the devil" was given the answer "Interfere 
 between a man and his wife." How trne is 
 the iprinciple taught, is quite apparent. You 
 now see the once compact and harmonions 
 Democracy advertised "to let." You see tb- 
 
6 
 
 nnlionsed Democracy, rent with fends, the 
 one faction clinging to their Bourbon folly 
 the other clamoring for a king who had fed 
 them with strychnine for thirty years. la 
 their mortal pain they call for more. They 
 believe in curing the bite of a dog with a hair 
 from hig tail, I suppose upon the homeopath- 
 ic prmciple, sif/iUia similibus curantur. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, I should like to have our 
 Democratic friends pest the book?, and toll 
 us what have been the net profits in their ex- 
 perience of meddling with other people's af- 
 fairs. Have these people ever heard of the 
 man who is said to have made money by 
 minding his own business ? 
 
 But, sir, whether it be any business of Dem- 
 ocrats or not; Kepublicans ought to know 
 this : the evidence is overwhelming that but 
 for the holding of the convention of August 
 last in the court-room at the custom-house, 
 and the presence of the United States troops, 
 there would have been a frightful butchery, 
 more appalling than the massacre of 186G iu 
 the Mechanics' Institute. About the custom- 
 house, as it was, were massed some three 
 hundred armed ijolicemen and roughs, com- 
 prising many of the same men who, in uni- 
 form and in platoons, led iu the massacre 
 of 18GG, Among them, as a specimen brick, 
 was Lucien Adams, who, in the index of the 
 report of the congressional committiee which 
 investigated the riot of 18GG, is named thus: 
 
 "Adams Lucien : secret police ; watches 
 house of Judge Howell, (Howell, 566 ;) head- 
 ed band of police, (Oampanell 78i-8lG;) is a 
 Thug, (Montien, 1138;) Balestier asked by, if 
 he had killed anybody that day, (Balestier, 
 2853, 2854;) gave orders to the police to move 
 at bell tap; said he was to shoot yankees and 
 negroes, {idem, 3010, 3030;)insults]to Union 
 soldiers, (Waters, 5103;) known to have com- 
 mitted murder on day of the riot, (Shelly, 
 6824;) a noted Thug, (Burke, 6999,") &o. 
 
 The Governor testifies that he had appoint- 
 ed this man to an office worth fi ve or six thou- 
 sand dollars per year. Some other witness 
 testifies that the oflice is worth ten to twelve 
 thousand dollars. It is reasonable to suppose 
 that the Governor was a shining light at Cin- 
 cinnati, and is an advocate of civil service re- 
 form. 
 
 The presidents of the ward clubs where 
 violence and bloodshed had been frequent in 
 the election of delegates, the mayor of the 
 city, and leading citizens of both parties, ap- 
 pealed to Mr. Packard to protect the conven- 
 tion and the city by the eiiective presence of 
 troops. The Democratic editor of the New 
 Orleans Times testified : 
 
 "Q. Do you know the condition of this city 
 on the evening prior to the August Republi- 
 can convention hero ? 
 
 "■A. I left the city on the 7th or 8tb; there 
 was great excitement. 
 
 "Q- Did you know whether affairs were 
 threatening, and there was imminent danger 
 of a riot ? 
 
 "^, Yes, sir; there was great excitement. 
 The police seemed to be very much agitated, 
 and were running from point to point. There 
 was a very fiery feeling." 
 
 A deposition of Edwin L. Jewel, editor of 
 the Commercial Bulletin, and a member of 
 the State Democratic central committee, 
 states : 
 
 "It was generally known that all of the 
 
 '^nblio halls in the city had been secured by 
 
 —nor or hia friends, with a view of 
 
 ■^'^ts to assemble in the Me- 
 
 *«i they 
 •asist 
 chanios' Institute, a building rented by me 
 Governor for a State-house and the executive 
 office. This place, it was believed, v/onld be 
 filled by metropolitan police, under the con- 
 trol of the Governor, and there woiUd have 
 been no hesitation, 1 believe, to invoke their 
 forcible inteiference had there been a major- 
 ity of delegates opposed to his Exceilenoy. 
 So satibfiod was I of this fact that I took oc- 
 casion to t&U Mr. Packard, the president of 
 the Republican central committee, that if he 
 called the convention at any place in the city""- 
 outside of the custom-house, Warmoth would 
 surely take violent possession of it and con- 
 trol its deliberations. 
 
 " This ho was prevented from doing only 
 by the presence of the Federal troops on the 
 day of the convention, and by their timely 
 appearance on that occasion I believe the 
 Republican party of this State was saved 
 from annihilation, as they prevented a colli- 
 sion which otherwise was inevitable between 
 the adherents of Governor Warmoth and the 
 Opposition. And had any diftturbanoe oc- 
 curred between those two factions, whether in 
 the cusiom-house or elsewhere, it would have 
 been tho signal for a general xiot, which would 
 have never terminated until the prominent 
 leaders of both factions had been swept 
 away, and the Republican party left without 
 a leader and tho State without an Executive. 
 
 " The wrongs and oppressions of the Re- 
 publican party had weighed so heavily upon 
 the people, and had so prostrated the com- 
 mercial and iudastrial pursuits of the city 
 that a large class of the commtmity is with- 
 out occupation or means of livelihood, and 
 their condition is desperate. Whether justly 
 or Hot, they hold tho Republican party re- 
 sponsible for their miseries ; and while, as a 
 general rule, our people are the most orderly, 
 peaceable, and long-enduring, still there is 
 an element that cannot be influenced by rea- 
 son, but is governed by passion and pre- 
 judice, and by their real or imaginary grievan- 
 ces. These people cannot be controlled 
 when an opportunity presents itself to them 
 for removing the cause of their misfortunes. 
 And such an event as a row between the two 
 factions of the party they oppose, I believe 
 would have been eagerly seized upon and 
 profitably used. Under these circumstances 
 the responsibility of such a riot would haye 
 been entirely with the Repablican party, 
 while those who played the most destructive 
 part would have been held blameless be- 
 cause unknown, and perhaps unseen in the 
 terrible tragedy that was beiag enacted. Each 
 faction would have charged the other with 
 the work of destruction, while in reality they 
 were both beicg annihilated byan unsuspected 
 hand. The presence of the Federal troops 
 then on the day of the convention was a sore 
 dissapointmont to the turbulently inclined as 
 on the day when the people had resolved to 
 drive out Governor Warmoth with his police 
 and revolutionary Legislature from the State- 
 house. It was the most positive assurance 
 that Governor Warmoth would not be per- 
 mitted to inaugurate a disturbance, and the 
 convention would be peaceably convened 
 and a conflict of the factions avoided. And 
 without this conflict the opportunity for a 
 triangular fight vanished. Thus the Re- 
 publican party with all of its leaders in this 
 city was saved, 
 
 "And here I would state that the use of 
 Federal troops on occasions of political ex- 
 citement is not without precedent in thin 
 
state. DuriDg the admiiiisf ration of Presi- 
 dent Bacbanan, Mr. F. H. Hatch was Collect- 
 tor of the port, and the headquarters of the 
 Democratic party was the onstom-houpe. At 
 the election for mayor of this city in 1858 a 
 fierce and bitter campaign had been rpgicg 
 between the Democratic and Know-Nothing 
 parties. Political excitement was very great 
 Eud serious disturbances anticipated. Mr. 
 ^'- »'i:h, fearine; an attack on the cnstom-honso 
 J the Know-Nothings, from the fact of it be- 
 ing Democratic headquarters, telegraphed 
 hia apprehensions to Washington and asked 
 for authority to send for troops. Two com- 
 panies of infantry, at that time stationed at 
 the barracks at Baton Konge, were placed at 
 his disposal, and by his orders were brought 
 to this city and stacked their arms in the cus~ 
 iom-honse and remained there until after the 
 election. No disturbance occurred and the 
 troops returned to their quarters. " 
 
 Governor Dunn, in his letter to Mr. Gree- 
 ley, said: 
 
 "The action of the committee was not only 
 sanctioned by the usages of party organiza- 
 tion, but moderate and necessary, and the 
 conduct of the Federal authorities was dis- 
 creet and wise, not only authorized, but de- 
 manded by existing laws, and had they done 
 less they would huvs failed in their duty. Ay, 
 more, the persistent and repeated outrages 
 of his Excellency and his supporters, showing 
 the presence of organized assaults upon the 
 lights of citizens as guarantied by the Con- 
 stitution and the laws made thereunder, but 
 the connivance of the police with the evil- 
 minded persons perpetrating these outrages 
 clearly called for and would have justified the 
 interference, for our protection, of the Presi- 
 dent, under the third section of the en- 
 forcement bill of April 20, 1871. All the 
 material facts herein recited, and more, are 
 not only confirmed by the conduct of his Ex- 
 cellency in withdrawing from their beats and 
 massing in the neighborhood of the custom- 
 house, hundreds of the metropoliton police, 
 and in an unavailing efi'ort to call out the 
 militia for the same nefarious purpose, but by 
 affidavits of reliable and respectable men, who 
 were nersonally cognizant of the facts alleged. " 
 
 =K * * * * 
 
 "It is alleged or assumed by the afore- 
 mentioned journals that the United States 
 court-room was selected as the place of meet- 
 ing as an excuse to obtain and use the Fed- 
 eral troops against the faction of Governor 
 Warmoth. It is further alleged or assumed 
 that Governor Warmoth was, with his friends, 
 refused admittance to the room in which the 
 convention was to be held after he had 
 made aa effort to obtain entrance at the time 
 unanimously agreed upon by the committee, 
 including his own friends among them, to 
 wit, 11:30 A. M. 
 
 "Furthermore, it is alleged that the troops 
 interfered to intimidate the delegates, and 
 finally drove the Governor and his followers 
 from the convention. Each one of these alle- 
 gationa;and assumptions is nnequivocally and 
 
 utterances were groundless fabrications, and 
 unworthy of credit." 
 
 How pitiable is the insane partisan fury 
 which arraigns the President for keeping in 
 olEce a judicious and faithful man who saved 
 both the Warmoth and anti- Warmoth leaders 
 from assassintion, and the party from threat- 
 ened annihilation proved by Buch credible 
 testimony as this. 
 
 Fearlessly, Mr. Speaker, does a great 
 party, proud of its standard-bearer, wait for 
 the verdict of the people upon this charge. 
 All that he has ever said upon the subject 
 Judge Dibble disoloees : 
 
 "<2. Did the President justify the conduct 
 of the custom-house officials in bringing 
 armed soldiers into the building ? 
 
 '•'■A. He made use of a very curious phase 
 in regard to that. He wanted to know what 
 objections we had to the troops if we did not 
 intend to do any harm." 
 
 V/ith him alone, among men, is the pro- 
 verb reversed : "It is silence that is silver, 
 and speech that is golden." 
 
 A mnjority of this committee have reported 
 that "there is no trace of interference by the 
 Administratlbn at Washington" with the local 
 politics of the State, and the minority have 
 not dared assert the contrary. If the use 
 made of the cutter Wilderness was a viola- 
 lian of u Treasury order that order was prob- 
 ably not known to the parties in control of 
 the cutter, and was not known to your com- 
 mittee, ev?n, until attention was recently 
 called to it in the public prints. Congression- 
 al committees have uniformly ridden upon 
 the cutter. The same thing has been done 
 from time immemorial. In the last Demo- 
 cratic administration a Democratic deleg .- 
 tion went from New York to Ctiarleston on 
 the cutter Harriet Lane. 
 
 The cutter did not go off her beat, and 
 was at all times within call, and the absent 
 Senators were hourly expected. This use of 
 the cutter, however, was reprehensible, 
 though it connot be justly condemned as a 
 crime demanding exemplary punishment — 
 The Democratic State central committee aid- 
 ed, abetted, and instigated the act. Judge 
 Ogden, its chairman, afterward visiting and 
 comforting the exiled Senators at Bay St. 
 Louis. And, Mr. Speaker, even more than 
 the telegram of the Democratic central com- 
 mittee asking the President to declare martial 
 law, does the use of the cutter, show the 
 reconstruction of the Louisiana Democracy. 
 For five days and nights, of Democrats and 
 ilepublicans, white and black, there were 
 fifteen Senators aboard the cutter, which 
 had but six berths. Yon see, Mr. Speaker, that 
 makes a sum in the rule of three. 
 
 Not a job has passed the Legislature that 
 has not been pressed by leading and influen- 
 tial Democrats. The State indebtedness has 
 been increased mainly by six acts of the Leg- 
 islature. One of them had eight negative 
 votes in the Senate, and nine in the House ; 
 five were passed by unanimous vote in one 
 house or the other ; two, incurring the largest 
 
sold for thirty-eight per cent more than in 
 the last Democratic State administration. 
 
 Let the odium, sir, whatever it be, of car- 
 pet-bag adventures be divided between the 
 parties on the square. Mr. Joubert testified: 
 
 "Q. Yon do not mean to say that he (Col- 
 lector Casey) was charged with scoundrelism 
 and robbing the people ? 
 
 "A. No, Bir ; ho was always regarded as an 
 honest man. 
 
 "Q. Before the Republicans were in power 
 was Mr. Crecey a supervisor of internal reve- 
 nue here ? 
 
 "A. Yes. sir. 
 "Q. Was he a carpet-bagger fromWashington? 
 
 "A. Yes, he was ; and as soon as he lost 
 his office he went away. 
 
 "Q. He was under the old Democratio 
 regime ? 
 
 *'A. He was under Johnson. 
 
 "Q. Mr. Crecey himself was a Democrat, 
 was he not ? 
 
 "A. I think he was. 
 
 *'Q. Was General Steadmer, of Ohio, a 
 collector of internal revenue here^ ? 
 
 "A. Yes ; he was a Democrat ; he was a 
 carpet-bagger. 
 , "Q. When he got out of office ho backed out'' 
 
 "A. Yes ; he went away. 
 
 "Q. Was Perry Fuller collector of the port 
 then ? 
 
 "A. Yea. 
 *'Q. Was he a|oarpet-bagger andaDemocral? 
 
 'A. Of course he w»s." 
 
 Mr, Mann, a northern man, elected to 
 Congress from Louisiana, was named as an- 
 ..-^"^ar "Democratic carpet-bagger." 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the gratuitous ittsinuation 
 that Gen. Grant had once dismissed the 
 Governor from a military command "from 
 questionable motives" was impertinent to 
 any matter in the province of your commit- 
 tee, and bears on its face more of shame than 
 reason. Let gentlemen whose lofty states- 
 manship is the gift of throwing vitriol go on 
 in their noble work. They are the same 
 men who maligned the martyred Lincoln, 
 and now they lift their hats at the mention of 
 his name. For their assaults upon the 
 President they will live to be ashamed. A 
 grateful country wears him in her heart of 
 hearts ; when they assail his honor they 
 touch the apple of the people's eye. That 
 people will rebuke their sharaeless malig- 
 nity and record their verdict that the liber- 
 ties and the country he alone could save are 
 still safest in his keeping. 
 
 Mr. Speaker, the conscience of this coun- 
 try does not require the testimony of wit- 
 nesses that the Democratic party of Louisi- 
 ana in their attempted betrayal of the freed- 
 men have fathered every woe that has be- 
 fallen the State. For two hundred years the 
 colored men bore the punishment of your 
 crimes against liberty, even as their proto- 
 type in sufifering, Simon the Cyrenian, snr- 
 named Niger, bore the cross after Christ. — 
 Since emanoinatiori «<, Ur.t.^-,^ ^k > 
 *t.^^®P°^"^''° °^ Edwin L, Jewel, editor of 
 the Commercial Bulletin, and a member of 
 the State Democratio central committee 
 states : ' 
 
 ''It was generally known that all of the 
 '^nbho halls m the city had been secured bv 
 
 ^^rsr^-m ^— UI_ t- :. ... . ■'_ 
 
 8 014 •547-™^^^^ 
 
 Not a few of the colored pojiuoitiua of 
 Louisiana, by high character and pre-eminent 
 ability, have fairly conqiisred the respect and 
 reluctant defer on ci of the proudest aristocracy 
 of the Uciou. With them have acted some 
 of the best and purest men any State can 
 boast of, and some other men who have 
 bronghi reproach upon the party. Bat- |ir,i- 
 there never was a civil war in history wlik®. 
 did not bring in its train, in a gr£?ater or less^^ 
 degree, similar evils with those which have 
 afllicted the State of Louisiana. The very 
 foundations of politicp.l sooiety were upheaved 
 by reconBtruction. Painfully has she borne 
 "in the furnace-blast the pangs of transform- 
 ation," but hard upon the winter of her suf- 
 fering comes the ejaly spring of now liberties 
 and enduring peac^?, 
 
 Mr. Speaker, can no man wring from Dem- 
 ocratic lips the acknowledgement that the 
 llepubjican party has done something for 
 human freedom ? Could nat some rnistakes, 
 some natural excesses be forgiven in consid-' 
 eration of the fact that the St. Louis hotel in 
 New Orleans no longer hums with tbie broker- 
 age of human souls ? la this a thing for con- 
 gratulation ? Sir, the Dred Scott decision, 
 which logically grew from the Democratio 
 germ, swept away American liberty in an 
 hour. ITjere is tenfold more h'g»il and logic- 
 al roeson — let the people be warned of it — 
 for the upheaval of reconstruction and the 
 late amendments of the Constitution. The 
 Democratio party, professing no change of 
 faith, adopt the strategy of a new departure. 
 Bat, sir, the country is admonished. At tho 
 battle of Bull Itun a rebel brigade got upon 
 the llank of the Fiie Zouaves by carrying the 
 Union colors. But once was enongh ; it was 
 never done again. It is in vain that skilled 
 strategy shall attempt tho cuckoo trick of 
 laying Democratic eggs in the llepubiican 
 nest. Honored leaders may betray us, but 
 tho great party, invincible in war. invincible 
 at the ballot-box, is alike invincible toitreason. 
 Sir, let me call to mind the admonition 
 given to our people many yesr.^, ago, that we 
 should not put our trust in princes, because 
 to a statesman in eight of the Presidency the 
 White house is like the roiagnetio mountain 
 in the siory of the Arabian Nights, which 
 drew the bolts from the ship which came near 
 it till its unbolted hull and decks and spars 
 fell to pieces on the sea. The statesmen of 
 to-day are not above the weakjuess by which 
 tho great Webster and the angels fell. Trust- 
 ed leaders with the presidential craze may be- 
 tray the people, as every four years they do. 
 Already do you see that one noble ship which 
 has pioneered the discovery and the conquest 
 of new continents of freedom has sailed, alas ! 
 too near that fatal nioiintain. Its guns are 
 silent, and its proud colors have kissed the 
 brino ! 
 Alas ! we thought we know 
 
 "What master laid its keel, 
 
 What workinau wrought its ribs of steel; 
 
 Who made oaoh mnst- >vi'3u'i'i;.."ii\:fc^-aua me 
 
 cuuventTon would be peaceably convened 
 and a conflict of the factions avoided. And 
 without this conflict the opportunity for a 
 triangular fight vanished. Thug the Ke- 
 pubhcan party with all of its leaders in this 
 city was saved, 
 "And here I would state that the 
 
 ts to assemble in the Me- 1 citement js not without precedent in thi« 
 
 iS 
 
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