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 K292 
 opy 1 
 
 TO THE PEOPLE OF ^LOUISIANA. 
 
 BY GOVEKNOK WM. P. ICBLLOGG. 
 
 State of Louisiana, ) 
 
 Executive Department, > 
 
 New Orleaus, May 10, 1873. ) 
 
 A partisan press has teemed with such 
 misrepresentations regarding mjself and 
 the government I in part represent, a 
 gentleman who assumes to be entitled 
 to the office I now hold has been so 
 prolilic in his addresses to the public in 
 advocacy of his assumptions from his own 
 peculiar and personal standpoint, the 
 80 called Committee of Two Hundred has 
 been so industrious in the publication of 
 views not only calculated to mislead the 
 public in the formation of opinion, but to 
 seduce it into actions that tend toward an- 
 archy and further bloodshed, an organiza 
 tion of malcontent and disappointed politi- 
 cians, especially in New Orleans, have la- 
 bored so hard to carry out their treasonable 
 programme of tax resistance, with the 
 avowed purpose of overthrowing tte law- 
 fully established government of the State, 
 the public have been so studiously pre- 
 vented by the press, and what was called 
 the Fusion L-^gislature, from comiug to a 
 knowledge of the eftbrts that have been 
 made to effect an adjustment ot political 
 difficulties that ought to have been satisfac- 
 tory to all, except disappointed office seek- 
 ers, that in justice to myself I deem it a 
 duty to address you. 
 
 I waive other than a mere reference to 
 the coalition formed with the late execu- 
 tive, before the recent election, by which 
 it was agreed chat as a reward for be- 
 traying the Republican party, and turn- 
 ing the State over to the Democracy, he 
 was to be sent to the United States Senate — 
 a coalition which shocked the moral sense 
 of the people at home and abroad — the 
 fraudulent means used to effect the objects 
 of that coalition — the open and unblushing 
 frauds perpetrated at the ballot boxes — the 
 mutilated and fraudulent returns, some of 
 
 them concocted i n this city days alter the 
 election — the of( en repeated declaration 
 throughout the St ate that the Fusion can- 
 didates would be dt»,clared elected, no " 
 ter whether they ^ received a m.^ 
 of the votes cast "^pr not — the avowed 
 intention to carry the election by 
 any means — all these tlAings are so unques- 
 tionable and notorious tu*at_l need ODlv_ait:_. 
 peal to the candor and fconscienoe ot the 
 leaders of the opposition! in two-thirds of 
 the parishes of the State to confirm them. 
 It is also only necessary to allude to the 
 machinations of the politicians who last 
 spring and summer threw away the oppor» 
 tunity of co-operating with Republicans 
 upon the basis of reform of State abuses, 
 »r to the glaring inconsistepcy and short- 
 sighted expediency of the meto who in June 
 last refused to put forward the best Repub- 
 licans, and educated colored men of large 
 property, and acknowledged intelligence, 
 but who, after forming the Fusion ticket, at 
 their barbecues and public meetings prac- 
 ticed social equality to guli the colored peo' 
 pie into support of themselves, and into 
 voting against the illustrious chieftain 
 whose genius, both in war and peace, had 
 secured to them the immeasurable blessings 
 of freedom and equality of citizenship. 
 
 Are men who, to gratify a lust for office, 
 were ready to enter into a partnership of 
 fraud with an executive whom for years 
 they had denounced as infamous, who were 
 willing to retain and take advantage of the 
 election and registration laws, which they 
 had condemned as unbearably oppressive 
 and unjust, and who now band themselves 
 together behind the bulwark of their wealth 
 to avoid payment of their just share of the 
 burdens of the government, while the poor 
 are left to shift for themselves — are such 
 men lit to lead a party or to administer a 
 government? Is a party that can raise no 
 
 % 
 
 'ittQ 
 
 I 
 
F: 
 
 GOVEBJ^OB KELLOGG' S ADDBESS. 
 
 ' JSvilized man- 
 submit that 
 are no more 
 and intelli- 
 ouisiana than 
 epresentatives 
 
 ije of indignation against tl le barbarous 
 jassaere at Colfax — no matt er what its 
 opinions of its origin — fit to o overn a peo- 
 ple composed in half at leatit of the race 
 luaoBixorod, or is it entitled to -ihe considera- 
 tion and sympathy of good i^en, to what 
 ever race they may belong? 
 kind will say it is not. 
 these self-constituted leade 
 exponents of the real we? 
 gence of the white race in 
 are the negroes whom the' 
 murdered, and whose rMassination they 
 decidedly approve. I ca fcut believe that 
 a maiority of the white T^ple of Louisiana 
 prefer living in harmon Mvith their colored 
 neighbors, and are w J[ng to accord to 
 fitf#.m their legal ^stitutional rights. 
 We,3>(Med of a vain re «ance to the dominant 
 party of the Unio .msi well as to the fed- 
 eral adminiatrat' / I believe they do not 
 wish to prolons Avar under the guise of 
 ^neace. But an '^olerant and fictitious pub- 
 lic opinion, \ lanafactui'ed by designing 
 politicians, an-B a partisan press, prevent 
 them from gi' Jng expression to what their 
 good sense a p. better judgment suggest. 
 
 Firmly beli sving thati received a majority 
 of the votes c^ast at the late election, and was 
 elected in 'spite of the most stupendous 
 frauds — a fact which many of the more 
 candid FuPionists have repeatedly admitted 
 to me — I appealed to the courts to assert 
 my rights. While the suits were pending, 
 knowing that if I could obtain access to the 
 returns I could easily establish the fact of 
 my election, I ottered, through one of my 
 counsel, an old and distinguished citizen, 
 to abide by any reasonable arbitrament, 
 expressing a willingness to leave the count- 
 ing of the returns to three or five disinter- 
 ested and unprejudiced citizens. This offer 
 was declined, and the reason assigned was 
 that Governor Warmoth would not agree 
 to it. Subsequently, by one of his own 
 judges, a decision was rendered against the 
 illegal action of the then Executive in the 
 matter of the returning board. This 
 judge was deposed by violence, and an- 
 other judge commissioned and installed in 
 his place, before the votes had been count- 
 ed or any returns made; but finally 
 the issue both in the federal and 
 State courts was decided in favor ot 
 the returning board, which declared myself, 
 the Republican State ticket and a Republi- 
 can Legislature elected. 
 
 During all the excitement which pre- 
 ceded my installation as Governor I was 
 
 desirous, and at all times expressed a wil- 
 lingness, to favor an adjustment, on a fair 
 and equitable basis. After I was inaugu- 
 rated, 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 constitu- 
 encies by going into the Fusion assem- 
 blage. 
 
 At all times after this there was a dispo- 
 sition on the part of leading men of the 
 Republican party and of the Legislature to 
 make any reasonable adjustment. 
 
 It will be borne in mind that the compo- 
 sition of our Legislature, alleged to be in- 
 imical to wholesome legislation, was the 
 strong ohjectiou made to our government. 
 Without admitting the justice of this 
 objection — which, indeed, ia abundantly 
 disproved by contrasting the action of the 
 present Legislature with that of iiast Leg- 
 islatures, or even with that of the body 
 styling itself a legislature which met at 
 Odd Fellows' Hall, which passed no reform 
 measures — we yet were willing to concede 
 to the 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 a white 
 majority in both branches of the Legisla- 
 ture, and, as they themselves conceded, 
 would have enabled the opposition, if so / 
 
 disposed, to prevent all questionable legis- ' 
 lation, had any such been attempted, and 
 to insure economy, reform and the advance- 
 ment of the material interests of the State. V 
 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 consum- 
 mation. 
 
 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 
 
GOYEENOB KELLOGG' 8 ADDRESS. 
 
 ^in tbe lower house, and eleven Senators, 
 ^ would be satisfactory to the majority. 
 
 
 With commendable patriotism and self- 
 sacritice, members of the lower house, 
 -J sutiicient in number to make up the re- 
 \quired forty-live, with those Fusionists re- 
 "Oturned by the legal board, came forward and 
 signed a written pledge to resign their 
 seats in favor of those claiming to repre- 
 sent their respective districts then sitting 
 in the Fusion assemblage. A written pledge 
 was also made by a majority of the 
 Senate that they would seat nearly or quite 
 the required number of Senators, in addi- 
 tion to those returned by the legal board, it 
 being conceded, for the purpose of this pro- 
 posed adjustment, that the contesting Sena- 
 tors 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 ad- 
 iustment, if efl'ected, would be approved. 
 
 I was well aware that my action in this 
 matter would tend to bring upon me the 
 suspicion of my own party, and every kind 
 of discontent and misconstruction from 
 both ray 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 aegotiate a trade with 
 Lieutenant Governor Antoine, by which he 
 and other colored men were to desert me 
 and join them. 
 
 Right at this juncture it was insisted, 
 among other things, that the old War 
 moth Senators who had seceded from 
 the Legislature, and had Rubsequently 
 been expelled, should be restated, and 
 in a caucus of the opposition the ques- 
 tion was sprung that no proposition 
 would be entertained that did not include 
 the read mission of the.se Senators. It 
 was generally admitted that several of them 
 had been fraudulently declared elected 
 in 1870, that they did not represent the 
 districts from which they were accredited, 
 that their legislative career had been such 
 as gave no reasonable assurances that they 
 would work in the interest of reform or 
 that they had the prosperity of the State 
 at heart. Yet, the combined efforts of these 
 me'j, their urgent appeals to their asso- 
 ciates 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 tbe 
 bane of Louisiana made itself felt, and 
 these Warmoth Senators, who had seceded 
 from the legal Legislature, in order to carry 
 out the original compact looking to the 
 destruction of the Republican party, con- 
 tributed largely, at least, to the defeat of 
 an adjustment so nearly reached. 
 
 An appeal to arms was made. The oppo- 
 sition — though they had specifically de- 
 clared, through the person claiming to be 
 their Attorney General, that they only de- 
 sired to inaugurate their government so as 
 to obtain a legal status and 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. This militia was scattered by 
 the local authorities, and the next day the 
 Odd Fellows' Hall assemblage was dis- 
 persed. 
 
 More recently, when the Committee oi 
 Two Hundred took the matter of adjust- 
 ment in hand, I met their sub-committee 
 by invitation, together with leading 
 men of my own party, both white and 
 black, and the result was a proposition to 
 seat forty-five Fusion members in the lower 
 House and ten Fusion Senators, including 
 those already in the Legislature and those 
 returned by the legal returning board, 
 with an additional assurance that there 
 should be a fair hearing in all contested 
 cases. The sub-committee, I believe^ re- 
 ported in favor of this proposition, but the 
 Committee of Two Hundred replied that 
 "the proposition of compromise submitted 
 to them through their sub-committee was 
 not such as they deemed proper to recom- 
 mend." 
 
 It will be thus seen that all efforts in the 
 direction of an adjustment have failed. 
 None of these proposed concessions were 
 made because we had the least fear of the 
 overthrow of our government, but because 
 we wished peace; because we wished to 
 satisfy the opposition as far as possible re- 
 garding the Legislature. If the failure to 
 effect a satisfactory adjustment be a calam- 
 ity, as many insist and many more admit, 
 the fault does not rest with myself, 
 nor with the Republican party, nor 
 with the national administration. The 
 responsibility lies with the Fusion as- 
 semblage, and with the Fusion pre- 
 tenders to office and their allies and abet- 
 
GOVERNOR KELLOGG' S ADDRESS. 
 
 tors. Every effort on our part to effect 
 an adjustment which would be satis- 
 factory to the whole people, white as 
 well as colored, was taken as an 
 evidence of weakness. Charges of bad 
 faith were made against acts which 
 could have had no possible motive except 
 to allay public excitement and restore public 
 confidence. It would even seem from recent 
 events that a coutinuance of agitation in a 
 more violent form has been almost the only 
 result of the efforts of the State govern- 
 ment and of the Republican party to give the 
 much needed and much desired repose to 
 the people; and it has become evident that 
 nothing short of the complete abdication of 
 the State government will satisfy those Fu- 
 sion leaders, who live upon tumult and 
 keep alive dissension to further their own 
 selfish ends. 
 
 While desirous, therefore, that there 
 should be a fair hearing in all 
 cases of contest growing out of the 
 late election, whether in the courts, or 
 when the Legislature shall again meet, 
 I am compelled to discard all idea of pres- 
 ent adjustment, and, without turning to the 
 right hand or to the left, I shall proceed 
 in the discharge of my constitutional du- 
 ties, as Governor of the State, until I am 
 deposed or dispossessed by rightful au- 
 thority. It is impossible for me to believe 
 that the people of this State prefer anarchy 
 to order, war to peace, ruin to prosperity, 
 and no government at all, if they can not 
 get that which presumes without any of the 
 machinery, appliances, or authority of a 
 government, to call itself the government of 
 their choice, to that which is to-day the ex- 
 isting government of Louisiana. The present 
 governmen'; represents a party known 
 to be in the majority in this State. It is the 
 only one recognized by the national ex- 
 ecutive. It is declared to be the legal gov- 
 ernment by the courts of the United States 
 and by the inferior and Supreme courts of 
 this State. The Senate of the United 
 States, by its action, practically approved 
 it as the rightful government of Louisiana. 
 The members of Congress holding certifi- 
 cates of election under it have been 
 placed upon the roll of Congress as 
 the legal members lor Louisiana. The 
 Mayor and Council of this city, the 
 judges, shei'iffs, coroners and other officers 
 of the city, and throughout the State, hold 
 commissions and exercise authority under 
 it. There is no one anywhere in this 
 State, that I am aware of, exercising 
 
 legitimate official functions as a State offi- 
 cer under any other authority. The opposi- 
 tion have neither the substance nor the 
 shadow of a government of any kind, and 
 there is not now. nor has there ever been, 
 the slightest chance of their recognition by 
 the political or judicial power of the nation. 
 Whatever may be the Tiews of some people 
 as to the de facto or de jure status of 
 the present government, all must admit it 
 is the only government in the State, and 
 must remain so, at least till the national 
 authority shall determine otherwise. Upon 
 myself, therefore, and the other officers of 
 this government, falls the responsibility of 
 sustaining it in the interests of public order, 
 and for the prevention of anarchy. The 
 very men who are now clamoring against 
 the State government should be loudest in 
 their denunciation if we failed in the dis- 
 charge of our duties and allowed lawless 
 violence, such as so recently disgraced this 
 city, to prevail unpunished. Disagreeable as 
 that duty is, it is my purpose to enforce the 
 laws and to maintain the authority of the 
 State, and much as I may Hhrink from the 
 exercise of harsh remedies, I feel bound to 
 apply them wherever necessary. The peo- 
 ple are paying their taxes, burdensome as 
 those taxes were made un'^er the late 
 administration, with remarkable alacrity. 
 The State has already paid off $160,000 of 
 overdue interest left as legacy by the out- 
 going administration, and will soon, I trust, 
 be in a position to pay its current coupons. 
 Every dollar received for interest is scrupu- 
 lously appropriated to that purpose, and 
 the State officers are further endeavoring to 
 restore to the interest fund, where it be- 
 longs, that considerable pwrtion of the de- 
 linquent taxes which by a law passed under 
 the late regime, was applied to the pay- 
 ment of registered warrants. The tax re 
 sisting movement, though systematically 
 organized, has proved a failure. In one 
 district alone of the city the collections 
 since the first of March have been more 
 than double, the amount paid into the 
 treasury for licenses tor the whole of last 
 year, and the collection is still going on. 
 Startling disclosures are flaily being brought 
 to light of the gross inequalities and frauds 
 which characterized the assessment and 
 collection of taxes and licenses under the 
 late administration. The efforts put forth 
 to organize armed resistance in the country 
 pai-ishes have been equally unsuccessful; 
 and the recentlv uttered threat of the late 
 executive that be would compel President 
 
GOVEBNOR KELLOGG' 8 ADDBE88. 
 
 Grant to station troops in every parish 
 where a disturbance could be created if he 
 attempted to sustain in Louisiana a govern- 
 ment friendly to his administration, has 
 resulted, so far, only in the fiascos of Tangi- 
 pahoa, Livingston and St Martin. 
 
 There are three classes who are mainly 
 responsible for the agitation which now af- 
 flicts the State. First, a body of worthy citi- 
 zens unversed in politics, 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 politi- 
 cians dependent upon oflice for their liveli- 
 hood. Third, the men connected with the 
 monopolies and fraudulent schemes origin- 
 ated under the late administration, and 
 whose only chance of protecting their in- 
 terests, now threatened by my administra- 
 tion, and of preventing the shameful rob- 
 beries perpetrated upon the people from 
 being brought to light lies in agitation and 
 anarchy. The public disorders and the sen 
 timents of ostracism and antagonism 
 engendered by these three classes, aided 
 by a subsidised partisan press, are a 
 standing menace preventing capital and 
 labor from coming here. The tide of immi- 
 gration turns aside from the tempting cli- 
 mate and productive soil of this State, and 
 the army of European laborers, warned 
 away by lawlessness and insecurity, 
 
 passes on to Texas or the West. The 
 State is yearning for the aid of foreign 
 capital to renew its levees, foreign la- 
 bor to revive its agriculture. But it is ab- 
 surd for any community that encourages 
 lawlessness to hope for the confidence of 
 the capitalist or the aid i)l the industrious 
 laborer. Nothing can save the State but 
 the enforcement of laws that will insure to 
 all citizens security in the peaceful exer- 
 cise of all their rights. Prosperity can only 
 come to Louisiana when laws are enforced, 
 when turbulence is put down, when 
 hostility of races ends, and when all citi- 
 zens are willing to accord to each other 
 what the law and justice and good policy 
 demand. 
 
 It is my earnest desire to establish a 
 just and economical government, to restore 
 public credit, to reduce the present tax- 
 ation, and to promote the internal im- 
 provements which the State so much needs. 
 I, therefore, appeal to all good citizens 
 to support me in the execution of the 
 laws, the preservation of the peace and 
 the suppression of that lawless violence 
 which has so injuriously aftected the inter- 
 ests of the city and State. To this end, I 
 am determined to employ all the resources 
 of the State, and to invoke, if necessary, 
 the power of the general government. 
 WILLIAM P. KELLOGG, 
 
 Governor of Louisiana. 
 
LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 
 
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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