New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-06-05
rHp nErPRAL. AssFMBrY.

election order says:
The General Assembly Will NoE convene
until the commanding general shsii nay
been officially notified of the acceptsIv.es ~
Congress of the new State constnSu as1,a
Immediately after receipt of this lDloIina
ton day win be appointed for the meeting
of the General Assembly, to TAKE scslo ~
upon the Amendment 10 the CONSTITUTION OF
the United States known as article fourteen,
and to define by law the powers and a9lies
pertaining 20 the offices newly cresteo ~
this constitution.
The Legislature was elected under and
bv virtue Of the new constitution, which
provides as follows:
Apr 159. The General Assembly elected
under this constitution shall hold its first
session in the city of New Orleans on the
third Monday after the official promulga-
ton aforesaid, and proceed Immediately
upon its organization to vote upon the ad0p-
ton of the fourteenth amendment to the
Constitution of the United States, proposed
by Congress, and passed June thirteenth,
eighteen hundred and sixtysiX; said Gen
eral Assembly shall not have power to enact
any laws relative to the per diem of mem
bers, or any other subject after organiza
ton, until said Constitutional amendment
shall have been acted upon.
It will be observed by the general "or-
ders" that the General Assembly shall not
convene until he appoints a day therefor,
thus ignoring the new constitution, and the
plain intent and spirit Of the reconstruc-
ton laws. Our constitution has been made
and adopted by virtue of the same laws
and authority under which General Bu-
ehanan is acting, and still he dares by a
a military ORDER to countermand the plain
est article in the constitution. He has evil
IDENTIFY greatly mistaken his duties and au-
thority, or he is following the Instructions
Of Andrew Johnson; and in either case he
will find that his efforts to prevent the i'm
mediate reconstruction of Louisiana will
ignominiously fail.
It will be remembered that the Constitu-
tional Convention, by an ordinance passed
February 10, established Board Of Reg
istration," as follows:
WHEREAS, The act of Congress of the
I'D of March, 1867, sets forth as one of the
purposes Of the assembling of this Conven-
ton to establish civil government" for
the State,
Belt ordained by the people Of the State
of Louisiana in convention assembled,
That a board of registration for the State be
appointed by this convention, to consist Of
seven members thereof, whose term. of
office shall begin with the adjournment of
the convention, and end nth The indu1ta,G.
ton OF State officers as pr0gjded Jor IN he
constitution.
After delegatag various powers to the
Board of Registration the ordinance states:
Their authority shall extend to all mat.
tiers Of execution or detail not fully pro.
vided for in said reconstruction acts and
constitution, and in case of the non.actiou
OF any officer of the State, or the district
commander, or any omission IN carrying
out said lars, regulations, or ordinances, or
details necessary 20 carry into effect the
purposes of said acts according to their
letter and spirit,
The House bill approving the constitu-
tions OF Louisiana and other Southern
States, aud readmitting them into the
Union, will probably pass the Senate to-
day and soon become a law, and then the
authority Of the Board of Registration will
be likely to supersede that Of General
Buchanan in "all matters Of execution and
detail not fully provided for in said recon
struetion acts and constitution" as the
Board represents the ''civil law to which
the general commanding yields suct
cheerful aud ready obedience.
The general will probably be delighted
at such an opportunity TO illustrate in
practice the iavorite theory Of himself and
his predecessor of the supremacy Of The
civil law"
But General Grant will probably have
something to say about the installation o
the officers lately elected and the conven
ing o. the General Assembly. Section
three Of the last reconstruction act says:
And be it further enacted, That the gen
| eral Of the army Of the United States shal
be invested with all the powers Of suspen
sion, removal, appointment, and detail
| granted In the preceding section to distrie
Commanders.
If the action Of Congress does not i'm
mediately render it unnecessary, we have
no doubt but General Grant will intervene
and or der the installation of our new Stat
government and the converting Of thr
General Assembly at the times designate'
in the constitution.
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