New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-03-19

| but the Presidents failure to remove Casey
and Packard, and the other conspiratOrs
against lawful government, has disguised
him thoroughly, and he has resigned his
office as surveyor of the port of New Orleans
solely because his selfrespect would not
allow him to hold position longer under the
administration. Longstreet was by far the
| strongest man of his class supporting the
President at the South, and his detection
will be very preiudlcial to Grants interest
viii Longstreet oppose Grant &C
lively"
Il believe so. He thinks, and think,
and We all think down there that the
| compel an entire reorganization of pay-
ties throughout the country, and especi-
ally at the South. don't believe the Cant
party can poll two thousand five hundred
votes in the State, or five hundred outside
| of New Orleans. They have no outside
| organization except, perhaps, in two or
three parishes. Even while Dunn was alive
solid and uncontested delegations, in favor
OF the State government, and opposed to
the Customhouse party, were sent to the
State convention by all the strong Repub-
lican parishes. Almost all the active col
Ored politicians are on our side. The gen
eral temper among Louisiana Republicans,
both black and white, has been very IA
vorable to General Grant personally, but
this disposition has been worn out by his
persistent determination to keep his
brOtherin-law and his rule or rum follow
ers in office in defiance of the condemna-
ton universally expressed, not only by our
own Louisiana Republicans, but throughout
the South"
THE condemnation is universal, then {!
yes and rightly! There is no more cor
rupt and vicious set of men in office any
where than those same officials. They have
been at the head of all the corrupt and ras-
cally schemes in our Legislature, and for the
reason that would not further their schemes
and aid them in their plumber, they have
made war on me. Marshal Packard lobbied
through Nicolson pavement bill, which
was designed to take quarter of million
of dollars out OF the State treasury to pay
him and his ring for building pavement in
one street in New Orleans. and which was
killed by my veto. Postmaster Lowell,
while Speaker Of the House. lobbied bill
through the Legislature giving him and his
friends all the swamp lands in the neishbOr-
hood of New Orleans, and all the uncOl-
lected drainage funds, amounting to several
millions Of dollars, for "A canal his company
was to build. Collector Casey, the Presidents
brother-in- law, made it point to be inter
ested in every company which obtained
charter or privileges from the Legislature,
and his chief deputy collector, Senator Her
wig. made it condition that Collector
Casey should be an incorporation before he
would consent to vote for the measures.
Hence he was an incorporation in the levee
bill, in the levee shed bill, in the warehouse
bill in one or two railroad bills, and so on.
Casey was the custodian of corruption
fraud of $4,000, raised by the incorpora-
tors Of the levee shed bill to secure the pas
sage of the measure through the Legisla-
ture, and when it failed by reason of my
veto. the owners of the money called on
Casey in his office in the CustOmhouse, and
Casey and Herwig took the money out of
the vault or safe Of the Customhouse where
it was kept and returned it to the owners.
The levee bill, in which Casey was an incOr
pOratOr. gave contract to his company to
build all the levees in the State at sixty
cents a cubic yard, when forty cents is
enough, while the contract runs for twenty
years. and exacts tax of over million
dollars annually to pay for it. The levee
shed bill took possession OF the levee front.
on which the incOrpOratOrs were to build
sheds and levy tax on steamboats, for
landing. besides an additional charge on
every article taken Oft the boats. 1t
amounted to complete monopoly of the
levee front. The Warehouse bill required
the State to loan 81, 100000 of State funds to
the company, to be used as capital to build
warehouses for the use of the company.s l
levee bill, which l signed on condition of
important notifications which were made,
and for the reason that the bill passed with
only three votes against it In the Senate, and
veto would have done no good, and |
could only secure the modification on condi
ton that l would sign the bill. 1t is because
| have fought their corrupt and infamous
schemes in the Legislature, and their
more infamous schemes to control the poll
ties of the State by the use of the Ku-klux
laws, troops, CustOmhouse. revenue cutters
and deputy United States marshals, that
these men have fought me. just notice
this too MIR. Casey, brOther-in-law to the
President. is collector; Mr.. Herwig is dep
uty. collector; his tHerwig's) brother is
chief of the bonded warehouses; another
brother is the owner and manager of the
general order warehouses: a brOther-in-law
of Herwig is chief weigher: and every effort
has been made to get Mr.. Ong out of the ap,-
praiser's office in order to get another
brother-in-law OF Herwig in his place.
Then, you see, the ring would have been
complete-Herwig to sign all the orders,
brother-in-law to weigh all the sugar, etc,
another brother-in-law to appraise 1t and a
brother to see that nobody should interfere
to detect the frauds. In that way the Gus
tomhouse would have been good thing for
the brothers and brothers-in-law.'
"Where did this Herwig come from p
"He is San Domingo Jew: during the
war he was trader in illicit goods on the
side of the confederacy, and after the war
he was made a revenue collector. Casey
and he were in the cotton weighing bust
ness, under the patronage of General Steed-
man and Perry Fuller, and when Casey
was made Collector, Herwig was appointed
as his chief special deputy. Herwig fur
nishes the brains of the CustomhOuse, and
is himself, practically, the Collector. He
looks after the finances Of the Grant party,
which is engineered politically by Marshal
Packard and Inspector Carter, who was
also Speaker of the House, and is now edi
tor of the Customhouse organ, the National
Republican, which the Customhouse Off
Gals are compelled 70 support"
will Parker, who is named as Long
streets successor, help Grant mach y
well. Parker's chief Recommendation is
that he is the most accomplished liar and
greatest blackguard in New Orleans. He
founded the Pioneer Grant Club there, and
is a brother-inlaw of General Butler, to
favor whom the appointment is evidently
made. As compared to his successor, Long
street is hyperion to Satyr.'
HAS the Congress investigating COM
mittee reached the view of the situation
that YOU hold -
"Well, l can't say positively, as they
haven't reported yet. They were there two
or three weeks, and examined some fifty
witnesses very searchingly. Judging from
what they said as individuals at different
times they can't report any other way than
that the leading federal officials ought all
70 DE removed. They all admitted that the
investigation had failed TO elicit q single |
fact connecting me in any way with the
corrupt schemes before the Legislature"
lis corruption really as prevalent in
Louisiana as people at the North generally