New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-01-24
THURSDAY MORNING, JANUARY %, 1856
DAILY CIR ENT.
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
Fsiloeo- Citizens IF the Senate

j
Fe!lotD-C Citizens IF the Senate
and House Of Representatives:
esteem this occasion, which marks at once
the advent Of q new Legislature and the termi-
nation OF my official relations to the State, q
hitting one to tender you q cordial greeting to
the Seat OF Government, and to renew my &C.
to the people for the high trust
which they confded to me, and which am now
about to surrender. II belongs to them to de
eide whether their confidence, tempered by the
indulgence which is due to the imperfections Of
human nature, has been entirely misplaced or
This only shall claim to say,
that I have endeayored to discharge the duties
which they imposed upon me with an eve single
to the advancement Of their best interests.
It is with deep modification that am COM
PEELED, by an imperative sense Of duty, to call
your attention to certain features Of the politi-
cal history of our State during the past year. |
II is almost needless for me to say that I refer
to the scenes Of intimidation, violence and blood
shed which marked the late general elections in
the city Of New Orleans. They are Of too re-
cent occurrence, and too notorious, to require
that should describe them anew, and display
them before you in all their hideous deformity.
In my humble opinion, the Legislature would
disregard its plainest and most obvious duties to
the honor Of the State and of our republican
institutions if it did not exert its utmost powers
to prevent the repetition Of outrages which tar
nish our national character and sink US to the
level Of the anarehical governments of Spanish
America. The evil must be crushed at once
and before it has taken root, BY the most pointed
and energetic means. Before the late general
elections, no one would have admitted even the
possibility that q blood thirsty mob could have
attempted to overawe any portion Of the people
of this State, in the exercise of their most val
liable rights But what would then have been
denied, even as o possibility, is now an histori-
cal fact These great public crimes we're not
only committed, some in midday light and in
the presence Of hundreds of persons; but they
have thus far escaped punishment. The ques-
tion is: Shall repetition Of them take Place ;:
which involves the further question: If the
corporation Of New Orleans is unable or un-5
willing protect the citizens of the State, living
within its limits, in the exercise Of their politi
cal franchises, is it not the imperative duty Of
the State to extend that protection? I shallnot
stop to inquire what class Of our citizens has
suffered from these acts Of violence. Their ef-
fects reach beyond their immediate Objects
Crime is no distinguisher Of persons. The assas-
sin Of political opponent 81 the polls, will soon
become the assassin Of any other Of his fellow
citizens The bands of rufians who drove one
| class of our citizens from the ballot box two
months ago, may this year or the next, deprive
another class Of their franchise, if their inter
ests or the interests Of their employers should
require it. I commit the entire subject to your
wisdom and patriotism, as perhaps the most i'm
| portant in It's nature and general bearings
which can engage your attention.
| During the past summer, our fellow citizens
| in common with those Of several Of our sister
States, we're subject to the desolating ordeal Of
| the yellow fever, originating in New Orleans
and spreading from there to the most remote
parts cfour territory. The system of Quarantine
established under the law passed by the last
Legislature could not, it is clear, affect in any
manner, the course or spread Of the disease
PRODUCTION from abroad Of that or any other
malignant and contagious epidemics, such q
!. smallpox, Chagres and ship fever, is by n
means determined by the experience Of the las
year. The expenses Of establishing and organ
izing the system have already been betrayed
it will remain for you to decide whether it ehoul
not be continued upon an economical footing an
with such notifications as experience may hav
indicated and the freedom OF commerce may re
quire My own opinions of quarantine laws 81
!. well known; but my suggestions to the Legis
lature upon the subject were dictated by th
desire to subject to actual experiment the view
of large and intelligent class Of our fellow
citizens. Until this has been fairly applied, an
: during sufficient time to produce genera
conviction of the ineficiency and inexpedienc.
Of the system, it will, perhaps, be wiser to main
tain it few years longer, than to run the risk
, by too hasty action, to have to renew it.
Turning from the consideration of these un
pleasant topics, am gratifed to have it in m
power to state, that at the commencement of th
term Of office Of my distinguished successor an
OF your Legislative session, the condition of th
State is one in which the elements of prosperit
largely predominate. The great works of in
i ternal improvements underta ken during the frs
: year of my administration, have been steadil
J., advancing to completion, and have already re
o allied some of the advantages which were ez
pected Of them. The New Orleans, Jackson an
: Great Northern Railroad has been pushed be
= yond the limits of the State. The New Orlean
1 Opelousas and Great Western Railroad no
unites Algiers with Tigerville, over distanc
, of sixty-six miles. In two months, at most,
will meet tide-water navigation at Bayou Boeu
Il by which its usefulness and the sources Of il
ID pr oits will be considerably increased. hay
: no official information concerning the progres
"a of the Shreveport and Vicksburg Railroad br
l am assured that several sections Of that liz
y have been placed under contract, and are bein
vigorously prosecuted. When these main trunl
=, shall have been completed, it will be easy
= perfect, at q comparatively small expense, tt
W means Of cheap and rapid intercommunicatio
: throughout the State, and to place every POI
- ton of our territory IN convenient proxlml'
: to the capital and the metropolis.
, refusal of the last Legislature to pa
d d the necessary appropriations for the Swan
Land Board left the Commissioners no 9TH
duties during the past year than to compile
= the works already contracted for or commence
d 1t is not for me to inquire into the motiv
d which prompted the Legislature to adopt th
course of action If the commissioners had 70
N feited their confidence, the remedy was at han
3. clearly marked out by the 97th article Of Il
Constitution. If the system was obnoxious
them, it was competent for them to pursue Il
20 course pointed out by the Constitution, and
e. alter or amend it. But cannot withhold t.
70 expression of my conviction, that the suspe
sion of that branch of the public service b
ss resulted in material injury to the prosperi
of and advancement Of the general interests of t
State Besides the loss Of time--of most
''r vorable season for the completion of works
yer drainage--the works already done, which we
tar but parts of an entire system, to be strengt
est ened end consolidated by every new step TAX
in the same system have, in many cases, 81
fered from their isolation
There has been some difference of opinion
to the mode Of appointing the commissions
An effort was made at the last session OF
Legislature to render these officers electi
The policy of expediency of such change
to say the least, very doubtful. Those parisl
be or parts of parishes of the State which stand
*l,o of 4bo no