New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-10-27
MORE OF GOVERNOR WELLS,

Eor some time past reports have been cir
culated to the effect that Governor Wells in.
tended 70 issue proclamation removing
from office" those sherifs in the State, who
had declined, or neglected, to comply will
the gubernatorial proclamation for the cleo
ton of delegates to the so-called convention Q
1864. IF any ether man were governor OF Lou
isianas this report might welI be treated as al
idle rumor. But, unhappily, we happen t
have a chief magistrate who seems to y
totally incapable of comprehending the dbis
of his effce, and whoappears to fancyfis the
will, and not ne will Of the peQsrv course
supreme law, After the extrsPcail elections
of the governor in presumibgd ii conspiring
not providea for by ls9SKction e subyert the
vain an lnsuFreoaoH{aslte Rate, no course Of con
goYefnmene o. taasftributed to him, however
iaee 0llas ,ssn lsttrd, on Illegal can be oonsld
lfantasticall ll6le.
erea lneftt 5 Il astonishing that our first definite
1 a.@ation of this new radial moVenaene
ln5 ln[S5nld come 10 us from abre1d. Ever SINCE
!, -, ~ ,,ovarnor ioined the rebellious faction
With which he is now eonsortng' ne mas
stndio,,sly beId himsAt aloot from his own
sao,,1as ! whilst he aas, to all appearance, en-
Isoi7ss ~ .o+o conetential communication with
.sssc ! chiefs Of ae radical party in the North.
Iba n, eoiente cordia7e thus established appears
| n ba ,,Asect. Its results are observable in
a ar.able interchange of programmes. With
/ enemes to the governor; and with laudable
promptitude the governor reeiprocates by in
trusting his plans to the vigilanta and inaagina-
tive correspondent Of the New York Tribune.
Thus it happened that the radical programme
Of Reconstruction, !" By which the Southern
States are to be placed ia the hands IF
the so-ealled ''loyalists,7 the mass Of the
white people being disfranehised, was first
divulgedby Gov Wells in letter to one Of
his few friends; and the extraordinary scheme
to remove the sheriffs in this State by the fell
swoop ofan executive proclamation, is first dis
tinctly announced by the radical Journals of
the North AS We said before We should GER
tainly pay no attention to 50 extrayagant 4
report fit related to any other man than Gov.
Wells, but it does relate to Gov. Wells and
therefore we cannot disregard it. Ordi-
narily, too, the fact that statement is
made by the correspondent Of the New York
Tribune is quite sufficient to take it out Of the
pale Of veracity and credibility; but that rule
fails when Gov. Wells's intentions are con
cerned. Hence we are not disinclined to
attach some Importance to the following dis
patch which we find in the Tribune Of
the 18th:
NEW ORLEANS, October 19.-It is stated that as
/ soon as Governor Wells returns from his home in
tie country the sherifs of the different parishes
viii be removed for refusing TO comply with the
governors convention proclamation. A mes
senger was sent to Washington some tine since to
confer with the attorney general, who is repre-
sented as having stated in the presence of the
President that the governor had perfect right so
to act. General Sheridan was applied to for mill
tary assistance to carry out this programme, and
also to arrest several parties accused of having
committed murders on the 30th Of July, and
against whom the civil authorities have failed to
proceed. Action has been delayed until the troops
which have since arrived could be concentrated in
this city. Threats are made that if the military
attempt to make these arrests, the various rebel
secret associations, which are known to be well
armed, willresist and overpoWer the military and
massacre all Union men.
Remarking on the above, the Tribune says
that it is bad news from Louisiana" 1t is
bad news that the people Of this State do not
intend to permit a recusant governor to sub
vert the Constitution which he has sworn to
support and to consummate his cherished
purpose of delivering them over to the ami
able and yirtuous rule of the faction of which
Brownlow is the representative type in Ten
nessee, and Hahn, Cutler and Heistand in
Louisiana, 1t is bad news that the ''rebels !"
are SO tenacious of Law that they will refuse
to recognize the legal authority OF the gov
ernor to subvert all law and to usurp the
functions of the legislature BY attempting to
remove officers over whom he has no control
whatever It is bad news that the people of
Louisiana do not yield exact obedience to
executive proclamations bad news that they
insist on conducting their domestic affairs to
suit themselves; bad news that they do not
relish this potent plan of putting them in the
power Of an unscrupulous and yindictive mi
nority, by mere stroke of the gubernatorial
pen.
This may be all very bad news for the Tr-
bune, but what is there SO astonishing in it
after al? Governor Wells might as well at
tempt to proclaim every man in the State out
of his house as to proclaim the sheriffs out of
their offices. He has as much legal power to
expel merchant from his counting house, OF
q citizen from his residence, as to remove the
sherifs from their places. He could accom-
plish it in no other way than by violence and
force, and where does he expect to obtain the
force? Are his radical friends coming to New
Orleans to assist Gov. Wells in subverting
the law, as they threaten to invade Maryland
to prevent Gov, Swami from maintaining and
enforcing the law2 Is this only another fea-
ture Of the great radical conspiracy to inau-
gurate civil war? Certainly Governor
Wells cannot suppose that the sherifs
viii heed his proclamation removing
them from office. He knows very well
that such a proclamation, as to its
legal effects, would have no more inn
portanoe than a bull against the comet or an
order to the earth to cease revolving on its
axis. What, then, does he mean? Why does
he repeat, through his next friend, the Tri-
bunes correspondent those senseless stories
about armed rebel organizations, unless it
is for the purpose of adding fresh fuel to the
bitter passions Of the radicals? On these