New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-11-04
cor. HEBERT md THE STATE

BONDS.
pv nm net of the Legislature to provide the
,,.ons necessary for the relief of the Treasury
Of the State. dated the 30th of April last, Gov.
paul O. Hebert was authorized to issue bonds
FIR the total amount of seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars, in sums of five hundred dollars
each, bearing interest at the rate of sir per
cent per annum, payable semi annually on the
first of January and first of July of each year
| The Governor was required forfhtcim 10 invite
proposals, by publication in the State paper ana
other papers within and without the state, Tor
| sixty days, for the purchase OF said BONDS.
Gov Hebert did not forthwith invite propo-
| sails nv publication for the sale of the bonds;
| for the Governor is man of leisurely habits.
and is not in hurry about anything; but post
poned the publication, so that the sale of them
did not take place until the 18th of July last.
At that date they were purchased by Messrs
Corning & Co., who stood ready to lay down the
cash whenever the Governor should be prepared
to furnish them with the proper evidences OF the
States Indebtedness, to wit. the bonds But
Governor Hebert was not ready with these-the
consequences of which, after having briefly
| glanced at, we will proceed to tell the reason
| why.
| When the bonds we're sold to Messrs. Corn
ing & Co., they Immediately placed the money
To the order of the State authorities, and the la
bility of the State attached. Interest began to
run at that date on the whole amount of the
bonds, amounting to fraction over hundred
and twenty three dollars day. But the State
had no money to show for all this accommodating
interest And why Mr.. Hebert was not ready
to deliver the bonds and Messrs Corning s. Co.
were not willing to put down the cash without
some evidences by which they might exact pay
ment. They wanted the bonds. But many
will inquire, why did not the Governor deliver
the printed bonds to Corning & Co. and receive
the seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars ?
To use the language of a learned counsellor of
the city, that is the pint" to which we
would direct attention.
1t was only about three weeks ago that the Gov
ernor commenced issuing the bonds, the State in
the mean time losing about $123 3O-l00 day.
The loan was intended to relieve the State
of pressing liabilities which were all the
while bearing interest. Why Governor Hebert
did not furnish the bonds to Corning & Co., re-
ceive the money which was placed at his disposal
and on which the State was paying interest
for three months-and relieve the public
Treasury of the liabilities on which it was also
paying interest, is the question we wish to solve
The reasons of the delay, as we are credibly
r informed of them, are truly ludicrous, and but
little creditabe to the high position of Governor
E of the State The postponement proceeded
from ridiculous vanity on the part of the
Governor, who was particularly ambitious to
tna To 1;aI,
this an engraver in Philadelphia was set to
work, who vexed the Governor by great delays
Repeated letters and telegraphic messages
announced to the engraver that the Governor
was growing impatient, and that it was high
ly essential that the bonds should be COM
pleted, likeness and all, to serve as vouchers
against the State and to delight the eyes of
Corning & Co. with " the counterfeit present
ment' of the living majesty of Louisiana. But
still time passed, and nothing could be heard of
the bonds, nor of the engraver, nor of the Go
r vernor's likeness. Days sped apace and the
g Governor grew nervous in the extreme. That
. very important question often awakened his
doubts, as to whether his Gubernatorial LIMA
ments should grace the engraved evidences of
the States ability to borrow, or be fated as of
old, only to be reflected in his native duck
! ponds The Governor doubtless agonized greatly
in his state of extreme dubitation But time,
which cures all sorrows, brought relief to the
Governor, accompanied with the intelligence
that the thing had been done that was to spread
wide the semblance of his Gubernatorial coun-
tenance, and to illuminate with his features the
vaults of Corning s. Co. The engraver in
scribed writing, which was duly sent on, in
forming the State authorities that the engrav-
ings had been finished and that their compile
ton had only been delayed account of the
great difficulty in obtaining a correct likeness
| of the Governor.
All this looks very strange 1t is strange
that any man who has been thought worthy to
be Governor of the State should have been ac-
; tuated by such ridiculous vanity and it is
still stranger that he should have thought the
qualification of that vanity worth to the State
the large sum of one hundred and twenty three
dollars day for sixty or ninety days-that
sum, added up, being the amount which the
Governors face has cost in hard cash to the
public treasury.