New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-08-18
Gov. Wells,. Int address.

Editor CfesCent-It must be matter oil pro-
found regret that Governor Wells should nave
! deemed it necessary to have issued an address 70
q The Loyal People of Louisiana" TO lus'ny ms
own course in connection with the lu-sNntieu
/ convention movement of 1864 when IN Ihe az
| tempt to assemble on the Soth ult' resui'eu III
riot and bloodshed.
If the address was intended TO justify his own
conduct the defense stands condemned by its own,
/ statements, but if it put forth to arouse the
had nassions of the loyal" element to which it
Is addressed, then Governor Wells is worse man
i than he had credit for, and it places him in the
position of one wholly unworthy of public conf
dence or public sympathy.
Taking into consideration his published pledges
to the people of Louisiana when he assumed, by |
authority from Washington, the position of gov
ernor-from hisprivate correspondence with many |
| gentlemen of the State-his report on his return
| to New Orleans of what the government would
do, and what he himself was disposed to do-with
his acceptance of the nomination made by the
people for the position governor, and his mes
sage to the legislature, it is scarcely possible to
believe that such an address could have emanated
from such source. The people of Louisiana
were kindly disposed toward him, and fully be-
eved that he would, in his administration, redeem
the pledges SO solemnly and sacredly put forth,
and that instead Of being the representative of
miserable radical faction too Insignificant to be
thought of for moment, be would have proved
himself the manly champion of the people'srights
against all oppression, come from whatever quar-
ter it might.
III the start of his administration we were salts
a fed that he would redeem his pledges. But
Z another power was soon called into existence by
: his first and second proclamations. 1t was the
power of the people. They delegated to the new
ly elected members of the legislature, trust, that
their rights should not be sacrificed utmaintained,
and that though they accepted the issue left by the
war, yet that issue did not induce abandon
ment Of the principles of free government nor of
| the rights which the Constitution of the federal
IS and State governments had solemnly secured
" The people did not elect to the legislature to
be called any loyal element in the sense under
stood by the governor, but sent their represen-
\. tatives men who valued the blessings of liberty
and who, knowing their rights, would not register
the DEGREES of those who call themselves g the
: loyal people of Louisiana
The declaration had gone forth that the Consti-
tuition Of 1864, by the of its birth and in
ception was fraud on the rights of their consti-
tuents, and that truth and justice required its re-
: pudiation. This was the feeling at first we all
W.
then operating on the President, and in Difference
to his wishes, the measure then in contemplation
to call new convention was postponed, in the
hope that wiser counsels would prevail at Wash
u ington and that our Representatives and Senators
z would be admitted. Thathope was dashed by the
! fraudulent combination of the radical party at the
North to forbid the secretary of the House to call
. the names of the Southern members-the subse-
= quent warfare Congress carried on, and finally
contaminated in measures which looked to the utter
prosration of the South and the ruin Of all her in
= terests.
z In the meantime, a voice had gone forth from
] the South, unmistakable in its purpose, that the
i amendment to the Constitution as a prerequisite
] Of admission Of the States in the Union, which
4 had been reported by the reconstruction commit.
! tee, would never be accepted By the South. Here
then and at this point Of time, the radical party
] Of the convention of 1864 determined to make
= capital for themselves, by calling into life con
vention which, having performed its function, was
& dead--and dead to everlasting shame. The screws
= were applied and correspondence opened with
= the members Of the defunct body. We are assured
q that long before the issue on the 30th ultimo, the
governor wrote Ito members of that body that
: the purpose was to calitogetherthat convention
that it would be protected by military authority,
and that the purpose was, as now confessed by
. his exceency, to rush the State into the arms Of
z federal usurpation by the adoption of the odious
4 amendment proposed by Congress. But how was
this TO be brought about? The governor informs
I US in part. Tt was-as soon as this dead body
= should be galvanized into life by quickening its
/ notions with loyal +" elements, and by which a
i majority fraudulentIy elected already, would by
its strength and power control the minority there
i after to be elected.
This majority, then, would have passed as a
{ fundamental law-as part of the Constitution
I that no man who ever aided or sympathised with
! the effort of the South to establish free and in
> dependent government should enjoy the elective
1 franchise. They would have changed the Consti-
! tuition of their own adoption in such way as to
4 have ordered new elections throughout the State
The tloyaln element, then, would have flour
. ished under the lead of such creatures as Cutler
: and the Union scouts organized by Governor
!. Wells at Alexandria, in 1864, under the SWAY of
' Captain Haynes, Of jayhawkng celebrity. We
r should then have had imposed on the people of
Louisiana, what seems to be an object near to the
heart Of the governor, {if not deep seated,) the
same test oaths and proscrptive measures which
have disgraced the annals of Missouri legislation
as well as Of Tennessee, under the pure and i'm
maculate administrationof that paragon of public
+ and private virtue Governor Brownlow
NJ Noone in the Red river valley who knows Wells,
but is astohished his declaration that his pres.
! sent position as radicals due to the course of
/ President johnson. If we look at his address to
/ the peoplelof New Orleans on his return from
/ Washington City, and his repeated pledges to his
prfvate friends as to his opinions on the questions
! advocated by the radical party at the North, no
/ one can understand for amoment how he believes
. in the principles he now processes to hold But a
/ solution may be given, and it is this to get back
/ the power he had lost by the late elections If
1 this could be gained, Governor Wells would then
], have in Office his tools-willing instruments,
do whatever he should ORDER and if this be true,
4 then he is unworthy of public confidence.
& A VOICE FROM RED RIVER
! N o., j. & G. N. RA1LRoAp-We call atten.
I tionto the notice of Superintendent Williams an.
/ nouncng change ofsehedple in the departure. of
I trains on the jackson railroad On and after
Sunday, the 18th, the regular passenger trains will
/, leave at o'clock in the evening instead of in
/ the morning as heretofore. Close connections will
I be made at Grand Junction with trains to other