Houma Ceres. [volume] (Houma, Parish of Terrebonne, La.) 1855-18??, 1857-03-07
The Orleans Election Bill.


We have received the draft of I" An act
relative to Elections in the Parish Of Or
leans" which we are assured will, it its
main features, receive the sanction OF both
houses Of the Legislature. 1t is of such
voluminous dimensions that we will not
attempt even summary Of its provisions.
Our readers are doubtless aware Of its
character and of the almost unanimous
reprobation which it has received from
the press of New Orleans. Suffice it TO
say, that the act, If it becomes law, ami.
hilates all guarantees of free suffrage aud
substitutes the capricious and armed des.
potism Of one man and his chosen satel-
lites, and stiles the expression Of popular
will.
To whatever excuses the passions Of
party may have led ia our metropolis aud
God knows that for years they have leen
of the most henious character,) nothing
can justify our legislators in attempting to
cnslare the people Of the city. Excep-
tional Legislation is always odious, bu,
when it goes to the extent Of obstructing
or endangering the exercise Of constitu-
tional rights, those who are to be affected
by it may we'll ponder whether the right Of
revolution has not accrued to them.
The Ceres has always remained q
strictly neutral observer Of party politics,
and it is therefore with the greatest reluc-
lance that we raise our feeble voice in
condemnation Of the legislative iniquity
which nothing but the most phrensied
vindictiveness, could have induced. This
bill, in attempting to remedy the electoral
evils which are incidental to all large
cities, will fail Of its object, for il can but
change the locality Of the disease and
render il more virulent. Under our pres.
ent system Of government call men are
free and equal" and the voters of New
Orlens are entitled to the application of
that principle, and 10 protest against and
resist measure which would establish a
hateful distinction between them and the
suffragans Of the country. -. -,..--1
We appeal to the representatives Of the
people, in the name Of that principle Of
free suffrage which has elevated them 10
the station they occupy. to pause in their
Of retaIia,ory legislation. Better
the wild tyranny Of a mob than the des.
potic oppression Of a salaried minion Of
The Executive, who under the title Of g Su-
perintendent Of, Elections" could be no.
hing but the tool Of the power that crea.
led him, Let the Legislative majority
also remember that political power in
cities is ever changing hands that popu-
lar opinion is ., capricious as the winds /;
that the party who now hold undisputed
sway in the Crescent City may forfeit the
Of the people, and thereby lose
that sway. The measure which they now
adopt will then recoil upon them and its
oppressive weight renew the lesson taught
by all history, that they who scheme in
Justice and oppression become the ultimate
victims Of their own Vaccinations.
i, The fact cannot be disguised that out
RACES are aperpetrated at the polls Of the
city. But are those abuses something
new /! The purity Of the ballot.box in
New Orleans! When did il exist! If
electoral evils ia that city have Of late
grown % enormous - to require the des.
peratc remedies sought 10 Be spilled. then
abolish the elective. franchise, establish \
honest desposism |; but do not,
10 the name Of freedom, proclaim it by a
circsmlocution and establish it through .
eircwmb endibms. az gaHsadN .7iIssa#
saneo5fsas sos--~s-.~,.-,~-<--- nstaH @a
CAUSE OF rnE DEATH OF Nh. Books.
We find the following under the sigma.
ure Of g Medicus,". in the New York
Courier and Enquirer s3
sit il said that Col. Brooks died oil