Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-12-27
TELEGRAPHIC.
Aho Citizens OF Louisiana to she PEG.
pie of the United States.


AS these events were entirely brought about s.
y tue agency of the officers Of the civil and a
military of the general government the citizens 3
# Louisiana, not doubling that the action fthe
executive, at least in reference to them. was '
ne result of Misrepresentation of the facts c
determined to adopt prompt measures for the
correction Of the error.
AT meeting held for that purpose represent
ng' we may safely say, large preponderance
ot the moral worth, intelligence and wealth of |
the city committee of one hundred gentle
men was appointed, with tructions to proceed
INN 'diately to Washington to Law the facts
before the several departments of the govern
ment. ard to solicit their aid in repairing the
gross wrongs which had been done, and in re-
storing to the people the right of self-povern
ment which had been wrested from them by the
most potentfusurpation. The under zned form
a psrt of that committee.
On our arrival here we found SO much misap-
prehension existing even amonc b,oa v,ho 90 |
usually well informed in regard to the ORIGIN
ana history of this disturbance. that wa do
termlneo 70 publish brief narrative Of the facts
ne parties engaged in these proceedings
aware That II the facts were properly nnders+ooa
they would admit of no defense now oae1, =.
Dellttle and conceal the question at fssue ond -
treat conspiracy to overthrow the government |
ol 1ne state as mere struggle Cor politica, as |
cenuancy between Gov. Warmoth and Mr., |
hellogg' Ihey allege that the former was en-
i'he' ny some trickery or legerderman
10 cneat the latter out of election. and that
the OBJECT of their proceedings was simn;v tn
PROSTATE the attempt. They have sednlonS1r
sought to produce the impression unon the
public mind that this committee was comnoeod
OF mere allies and friends of Gov. warmoth
we repel this insinuation as utterly false and
un"arranted; we are not the representatives of
any party interest whatever. Gov. Warmoth
was hoI candidate for any Office whatever at
Siio cent election, nor have we directly or in
directly any connection or afiliation with him
SO far as his past career is concernAd there are
1e"' II any, members of this committee who
nave not been among his NEST pronounced on
| PonehtS' While in those measures of his adj
mlnlstration, for which he has been most loudIv
| denounced. he had for his advisers. associates
ana coadjut0rs the very men who now assail
/ him, including especially Pinchback. Antoine
and numerous others whose names figure most
! consPicuously in these proceedings.
| In reply to the other insinuations indicated
ABOVE, we declare that we are no parties to- and
nave no knowledge Of any political trickery
| intended to defeat the true vol &c of the peorle
! that we dc not believe any such intention ex-
| lsted' and that we would not be here unless we
could proclaim -conscientiously our conviction
that the men who have been foistcd into the
offices of the state have been not merely irreg.
ularly and nnlawfuly installed, but were not
! elected by the people, and were not aud arc not
the choice of a majority of the voting popula-
ton OF Louisiana. We have not asked the Gov
ernment to admit this OH our simple assertion .
all we have asked is that it should make a can
did and impair ial investigation of the facts
With this preface we now submit the following
statement
list. There was a general election held in
louisiana on the fourth day of November last,
for the election of a Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, members of the General Assembly
and other State and Federal officers At this
election William Pitt Kellogg, a member of the
Senate of the United States, and G. C. Antoine,
collector OF the port of New Orleans, were
candidates for the offices of Governor and
MISUNDERSTANDING and were opposed by
Jno. McEnry and Davidson E. Peur. The pres
ent Governor, Warmo:h, was not a candidate
for rc-electioH,
2nd This election was conducted without
riot, disturbance or violence, and toe number
of votes cast was large the returns OF the cleo
ton were male to the board appointed for the
purpose. This board was composed under the
law, of the Governor, Warmoth, the Lieutenant
Governor, the Secretary of State and two other
persons named in the law, viz John Lynch
and Thomas G.. Anderson. The cffice of Secre-
airy of State was filled at the time by +. j. Her
ron, who had been appointed by Governor War
moth to fill the vacancy caused by the removal
several months before, Of George f. BoulI, the,
legality of which removal and appointn emit
" as then In contest before the State Court. The
board met and it was resolved that Anderson
and Pinchback were disqualified by reason of
their being candidates for office. warmoth then
removed Heron, whom lie ihad apr ointed /,
and commissioned Wharton in his stead. We
have no reason to believe that the action of
Governor Warmoth ini the removal of Heron
was based upon n desire to commit fraud for I'M
der the returns there was no necessity for fraud.
1t was prompted by "hs discovery of a plot
between Hatch and Lynch to falsfy the re-
turns and defeat the will of the people. This
is manifest from the fact published in evidence
before the court that Heron anticipated the
tLwarting of his scheme. He had several DAYS
before ordered duplicate of the seal of the
State to be engrossed, by which means he
hoped to preserve the insignia of the Office Ia
the event of his removal by the Governor.
Omitting further details, Warmoth and Whar-
ton on the one hand, assuming to be majority
of the Board, and in the presence of Lynch
! proceeded to elect Hatch and Duponte to fill
| the vacancies caused by the withdrawal of
| Pinchback and Anderson, while Lynch and
Heron after wards assembled and under self
assum ption elected LongstI eet and Hawkins
. Thus there came TO be two bodies, each claim
| ing to be the returning Board one presided
| over by Gov. WarmotlI, the highest executive
officer Of the State, and under the law the
presiding officer of the Board, and which had
possession of all the election returns and every
| thing ne cessary to ascertain the rcsu't-while
the other consisted of Lynch, the removed Sec
| rotary of state, Heron and their two ap-
| pointees. After these proceedings the State
Supreme Court decided that the rc .noval of
Bovee and the original appointment of Heron
were Illegal, and Bovee was Ieinstated in his
Office.
Whatever may be said Of these Contesting
Boards 1t is clear that the Courts OF the Cnitcd
! States had no semblance of authority TO decide
between their conflicting claims to Office.
Sd. Alter it had become probable that the
two candidates, VIM. Pitt kellogg and Antoine
had been defeated and that their opponents
would be declared elected, they respectively
filed bills in the Circuit Court CT the United
States, for the District OF Louisiana, for iniunc-
ton and relief. The Governor of the State, the
members of the canvassing board, other citi-
zens OF the State connected with the promulga-
ton of the returns, and certain persons elected,
or claiming to have been elected, to the Lcgis-
lature and to the Governorship, were made de-
PENDANTS in one or the other OF these suits. The
cause of complaint was that they severally ap-
pretended that they would be deprived OF the
Offices for which they had been candidates
they claimed to have had the ma ,ority OF votes
at the election, and that there had been 10 900
v0fa tod frnr fine