The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1865-12-13
The Governors Message.

doubtless wadedE through it, and have prob ,
ably formed their own opinions Of its mers.
its already. We, therefore, deem it unne-
cessary to make any very extended remarks
on its contents. -z
The first thing that strikes as is that the
governor is not very "heavy" on grammar,
or very attentive to old DR.. Blair's first re-
quisite of style-perspicuity. He seems
to have studied some half dozen messages
of former governors, selected the sentences
which he deemed most appropriate, and
strung them together without any reference
to tileirmeaning, or, their particular apple
ability to the subject matter under consid-
Grafton. The message was evidently
penned by the governor himself, the extent
of whose literary accomplishments is we'll
known to the people Of Rapides.g 1T is q
little singular that he could not press into
service some Of the sycophantic cable edi-
tors" who have been sounding his praises
for the past six months; but we presume that
this may be accounted for by the fact that
the message was written otter the election
| for public printer, when the hope Of reward
appeared very distant indeed. It would be
difficult indeed to indite a. message amid
the very disagreeable employment Of taking
down from the masthead of newspaper
the high-sounding title "oficial journal Of
the State" We must net, therefore, be
surprised at the language of this estate
paper" or feel astonished that, as his organ
would say, it is "Wells all over"
Weare unable, by the application Of the
ordinary rules of Interpretation, to make
much out of this delectable document. Adj
hitting what Champollion himself would
doubtless be unwilling to admit that the
first sentenceis model Of lucidity, and
that "the condition Of the levees hare
caused, is the pink Of grammatical accura-
ry, we have taxed in vain our ingenuity,
trained by years Of hard practice on "Mil-
tons Paradise Lost. and other specimens
lof inverted construction, to parse The fol-
lowing: the inability to collect taxes or
to negotiate a loan Of sufficient amount,
the treasury being without means also, I
was not able to do more for their prospect
i've relief than to take the proper ini-
tiatory steps of preparation to proceed with
the work Of effective reparation actively,
the instant the funds required for the pur-
pose could be obtained" The governor
tells the Legislature that confidently ex-
poets it to accomplish speedily the "indis-
]pensable proceeding contained in the above
luminous exposition of his ideas; but
leaves us in the dark as to the fact whether
the indispensable proceeding is his inabili-
| ty to collect taxes, the difficulty Of negotia-
| ting loan, the emptiness of the treasury,
the initiatoly. steps Of preparation, or the
work Of effective reparation. If the gov
ernor had only given us small scattering
| OF the "internal" the " external" the Sub
iective" and the objective" we might vote
him promising beginner in German Trans
cendentalism, and confidently look for the
time, when he should be able to write some
thing 50 very profound that neither himself
nor bis readers could ever hope to under
stand what was intended. a
Passing to the substance of the message,
what little we are able to translate and rem
der into ineligible English does not rise
above the common level of the stupidity.
for which Mr.. j. Madison Wells has ever
been distinguished. We are unable to dis
cover single recommendation which rises
above the puerility which would character
ize the merest tyro in public affairs. For
the aid that the document is likely to rem
der the Legislature in the discharge of its
duty, it might as well have remained I'M
written. 1t was doubtless read by the
members Of the Legislature laughed at for
its Stiffness, and thrown aside never to be
thought of again
The governor virtually admits his incom-
potency to discharge the duties of his Office
when he informs the Legislature that the
judges whom he has thrust upon the people
are unfit for their positions. His excuse
for their appointment is that he was res
tricted in his selection to only small por-
ton OF the bar. However valid this ex-
cuse might have been at the time of Mr.. |
Wells desertion to the enemy, aud at the
time of the formation of the bogus State
government at New Orleans, it is no excuse
Tor the appointments he has made since the
surrender of this Department, most of which
are no better than those made during the
war. The cause Of the imbecilty of his |
Judiciary rests in thefact that the only quail
fcations demanded were clean deserter's
or jayhawker's record, and an opposition to
the political opinions of nineteen twentieths
Of the people Of the State II these quail
tiles were wanting in the applicant, he stood