New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-09-23
WHOLE NUMBER 1853.

Tor the Senate at the late election, and that
IA N my opinion it was the general opinion of
| tne voters OF said parish at the time of the
electlon that Mr. White was eligible 10 the
ofhce OF State Senator. gr.i,. - ggi sf7
| further state that Mr.. White and myself
habit of interchaDging onr political views
very freely, and believe that have been
well informed as to his real political senti.
ments for the last twelve months / can not
say that he has ever actively assisted in car.
| rylng out the rec0netruction laws, while on
! the other hand believe he has never
tendtred any opposition to those laws. His
political course has been that Of sound con-
servation, opposed to all extremes, alway
| ready to submit to the will of the majority.
.. A. B. LEVISER.
Sworn aud subscribed to before me this
twenty-third day of July, 1868.
| o. ec. "a 9. ii. MERRITT,
| t. Secretary Of the Senate.n
This is as far as l wish to read. Now,
| would ask the Senators here if they see
IN this whole report one effort that Mr..
| White has made to prove that he was not
the gentleman elected to the Senate in 1889?
want to ask if he has proven If he is not
the man who nominated B. i. Hodge and
eventually voted for the celebrated Benia-
min? If so, have not seen it. But the
Question Of eligibility or ineligibility, !
think is clearly settled in the mind OF
nearly every Senator present, and then
comes the proposition to divide. And ask
is it fair Is it granting an impartial deci.
sion to the conlestast, Mr.. Antoine2 We
viii read his petition to the senate-his no
t1ce to Reuben White, contesting his seat,
which is as follows;
1 1 SHREVEPORT La, April q, 1s6s.
Mr.. Reuben White;
SIR-By the returns Of votes cast In this
parish for State Senator, as made by the
Commissioners of Election, ard examined
by the Board of Registt rs, there appears to
be l494) one thousand four hundred and
ntnety.four votes for Reuben White and
(l2401 one thousand two hundred and forty
votes for Caesar G. Antoine, thereby elect
ing Reuben White by plurality of two
: hundred and hfty-four (254) votes, which
election YOU are hereby notified will be CON
| tested by me on the following grounds:
First-That you ere ineligible, being dis
franchised by the Constitution ratified on
the 18th and 18th days of April, 1865, aud
the fourteenth amendment to the Constitu.
ton and under which the Senator must
qualify - $50
Second-Tbat no legal election was held
as prescribed by the laws of Congress, and
the orders of the military commander, and
tie instructions of the Board Of Registers
in Ward No. 2, which gave you a majority of
(s00) two hundred votes, nor in Ward No.
5, which gave you q. majority of (l3jl one
hundred and thirtyfye votes.
Third-That GAO one hundred and forty
or thereabouts who would have voted for
me, living in Ward No. 4, in what is known
as Marks Precinct, were deprived of the
privilege of casting their votes on account
of no poll being open in said precinct, and
not being allowed to vote at Shreveport,
Louisiana. d-
| EnUrtb--TboA s.,
you by persons not legally qualified to vote
in the Ward where they were admitted to
, vote. arI. ..H
: Fifth-That many votes were thrown for
you by voters who desired to cast their vote
!. for me, but were compelled to vote as they
| did through rear and intimidation-all Of
which the said contestant is ready to verify,
and will, at the proper time, adduce of the
: proof. ...ra..f ..ss..-
j., Subscribed in presence Of
| (Signed) w. S. MUDGETT,
(Signed) l G. w. KEELING.
C.. C. ANTOINE.
} Now, sir, by the action Of this Senate Mr..
Antoine was deprived OF the power of PROV
ing the charge set forth in this notice. The
Senate passed a resolution some weeks AGO
compelling the contestant to rest, first sim.
ply upon the charge of ineligibility, and
settle that question first, and that then the
other charges of threats and intimidation
should be tried afterward. That was the
decision of the Senate. 1t was my desire,
and the desire OF the committee, that they
should be permitted to lake the entire case
up on all the grounds at once. But the SEN
ate decided that we should work on but one
charge at a time, and we have proceeded
accordingly, and we have clearly proven
that the honorable gentleman, Reuben
White, is ineligible; or if not, we petition
the Congress Of the United States to repeal
the fourteenth amendment to the Constitu-
ton as being of no service.
Then, he being ineligible, the commit ttee
do not say that 9. C. Antoine shall be seated
in this body. They simply hold that he has
a right to demand to go before that com
mittee and prove the allegations he has
made in his notice to the Hon. Reuben
White. Yet we are asked to vote to send
Mr.. Antoine away, and say that he has no
right TO appear before that committee when
the other day We passed q resolution by
which only one of the charges could be in
yestigated by that committee at q time.
Then again there is no way TO divide this
question-no possible way. You siriply
must reject or adopt the whole report.
Mr.. Bacon: was in hopes that the mem.
bers of the Committee on Elections who de.
sire to speak would do SO; and then de-
! sired to submit one or two criticisms that
have occurred to me. The Senator from
Claiborne has planted very ably the de.
fense to the grounds taken by the commit
lbe. Dub bueEo are Two OF Lnree SUBJECTS
which he has omitted or glanced at simply
which think the Senate should now take
into consideration. Mr.. President, the ma.
iority Of the committee have told you that
they have come to the conclusion that
Reuben White is Ineligible. But the cues.
tion, sir, is not before this Senate whether
Reuben White, who has been cho-
sen to represent the parish Of Cad
do in this body, is now eligible or
ineligible, but the question is whether he
was eligible at the time the election took
place. There is wide difference as 10
whether he could now go before that people
| as an eligible candidate and whether he was
eligible at the time of the election. Sir, it
| is known that at the time this election took
| place the fourteenth amendment was not a
| part Of the Constitution Of the United States.
1t had not then been ratified by two-thirds
| of the States. This was done after we took
our seats, and while the Senator from Caddo
| occupied that chair.
Now, sir, it is known positively and be.
yond question that at the time the election
took place, in April last, Reuben White was
eligible to seat in this Senate. That, sir.
is one thing. The next thing is, that il Is
not shown by anything that is contained In
this report that he ever did anything which
would have prevented his being eligible |
now under the fourteenth amendment |
which would have rendered him Ineligible |
Il this amendment had been in force st the
the time the election was held. / have be-
fore me Dill which we passed some time
ago-an act to ascertain the eligibility of
persons appointed to office That is one
act, sir, which we passed, and which
was amended during the process Of
passage from the fact that we were delib-
Grating upon this bill when the fourteenth
- 1. ..I Hat r. /