New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-04-22
THE WEEKLY REPUBLICAN
Terms OF subscrl ption
s0sa year, IS; six months, 50 60.
ZC UISKAN.A SECOND Date lCT
ELECTION.
speech Of Zion. L. n. Sheldon.

LC UIsKANA SECOND BXsTR lC1
ELECTION.
speech OF Zion. L. n. Sheldon,
We publish the Congressional Globe re-
port of the speech of Hon. L. A. Sheldon, o
Louisiana, in the House of Representatives,
April IL, in the election contest of Hunt VS.
Sheldon:
Mr.. Stevenson: yield then, to the gen
tleman from Louisiana, Mr.. Sheldon
twenty-five minutes, 10 be divided as ht
wishes.
Mr. Sheldon, of Louisiana: Mr.. Speaker,
do not know that l shall want twenty-five
minutes. have considered for some time
the propriety of my speaking on this Ques
ton; but deem it my duty to state to the
House the precise condition of the question
at 1ssue, and to correct, also. some state
ments of the gentleman from Indiana, [Mr.
Kerr. which are entirely false, whether ut
tered on his own re possibility or not:
Now, sir, we have heard great deal
about the respectability Of the Democratic
party of the South. We have heard that the
Republican party is made up of carpet
baggers, scallawags, and ''niggers." The
gentleman has brought that into this case.
have no detraction to utter against the
people of Louisiana as whole. | frankly
admit the majority of the Republican party
N that State are colored men, men who were
;.t one time slaves, and that, too, at q very
recent period. l admit that the men who
are in that State, and who could not be
gGlled by the leaders of the Southern Con-
tederacy. are to-day most generally attached
10 the Republican party. | admit that the
men who have gone there from the North,
and are called carpet-baggers, are Repub-
Iicans as rule, with srme fe exceptions,
and do not envy the gentlemen who con-
stitute the exceptions their position. But lido
say turther, that the property of that State
is rapidly coming into the hands of these
carpet baggers, scallawags and negroes.
The true definition there of the expression.
''carpet-bagger,r was given by friend Of
mine, when he aid that it means a man who
has no mortgage on his house and lot. Isay
further that much of the talent of that city
resides in the Republican party. The lead
cT5 Of the bar OF New Orleans are Repub-
licap5. l may mention such names as
william II. Hunt, 2. H, Morgan, Thomas J.
Durant and Z. c. Billings, ana l could go
on naming many other Inen of that class
who exercise the greatest influence in the
State. l could also go on and name the
men who are the large merchants there, who
do the commercial business of the city, and
who are carpet baggers ard Republicans. 1t
is true that they have been subjected to
socisl ostracism; that they have been OPP
pressed III their business; that they have
been overridden by the violence of Demo
cratic sentiment, and that attempts have
been made to crush them. But their assail-
ants have found this utterly impossible.
The gentleman from Indiana has repre-
scented the witnesses OF his side of the case
IS being men of pect4bility. | do not
propose to enter any denial or to make any
attack upon the character of witnesses.
But he has sad that in the main our wit
nesses are not respectable; and he has in
at&nced one man. 1t is pleasure to me TO
defend that man on this floor. / challenge
the gentleman from Indiana or any one
who supplies him with information, to lay q
single crime to the charge Of William Baker.
He is to-day the deputy collector Of the
port of New Orleans, and | challenge the
gentleman or any of his informers to trump
up any charge against him except that he
has been true to the government while the
war was going on will state what the
gentleman can say OF William Baker. and he
can say no more. lie was the appointee of
Philip II. Sheridan Cor Street Commits
sioner OF New Orleans. at the time he
was running for that Office on the Republi.
can ticket, a man whom l do not know, got
up charges against him of peculations or
something OF that kind, in Office, and that
Democratic trickster, Winfield Scott Han
cock, ordered him to be tried before the
City Council, an authority which has no
jurisdiction over crimes. And when they
had made their best case against William
Baker, he exercised supreme military au-
thority and prevented him from producing
any defense before that tribunal. They then
brought him before the District Court pre-
sided over by a Democratic judge. But
Democratic jury would not find q bill
against him; a Democratic District Attorney
would not prosecute the case az ainat him.
That is the head and front of William
Bakers offending. And the facts establish
that the Democratic successor of Mr.. Baker,
as Street Commissioner, expended more
money in one municipal district of New
Orleaus than Mr.. Baker expended within
corresponding period in the whole city. and
he did not keep that district as clean as
Baker had kept the whole city for much less
money. l say it is an outrage TO assail vii
liam Baker thus before the country.
Aud the gentleman has selected the Gov
ernor as another object of attack. The
Governor aud myself have not always
agreed, and no man knows this better than
he does. But, 10 justice to the Governor
and the country ought TO know i'll would
say that 40 man has ever been placed 10 posi-.
tion of greater difficulty in this country than
that which is filed by Henry c. Warmoth.
/ ask the attention of the House to this one
circumstance. There is In New Orleans the
etste of the lost Confederacy. Ii is the great
city of the south. And it happens to be the
fact there, as elsewhere through the c0un-
try that the worst clements of the Know
Nothing party went over TO the Democrats.
Another fact to be borne 10 mind is that
generally the federal Office holders were
Andrew Johnson men. The military COM
mGnders were. every one Of them, cur
enemies, our outspoken enemies, men that
worked against Us in every possible way, in
the ercssest violation of their duty. Henry
C. Warmoth. found himselfin that situi-
ton, win fifteen thousand armed Knights
OF the White Cameiia. ia the city OF New Or
leans, determined to overthrow the govern
ment OF the State. Is it an easy thing for a
man to accomplish what he has done and
m4intain himself IN such q situation? All,
hut they say that people speak Ill Of him:
Xou may all have seen that within the last