The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1872-01-20


Legislation is at a dead lock.
The Lesson Of Louisiana.
Washington Patriot, 18th inst.
The lamentable state of affairs in
the Louisiana Legislature is only Il
forerunner of coming events, unless
great wisdom and sagacions statesman
ship prevail in the councils of the peo-
pie. The spectacle presented is that Of
Governor Warmoth attempting to re-
sist the freely expressed will of the
people in the very halls of legislation,
with a majority of the lower House at
the outset against him. He attempts
by bribery and intimidation to GUST the
Speaker of that House and place his
own tool in the seat, and in that at
tempt he and his coadjutators in revo-
luton became so violent and disOrderly
that the military, both militia and
Federal soldiers, have been called up
ON to preserve order and prevent blood
shed; Finally, by strategem and
aided by his picked police, Gov. War
moth gets possession of the State House,
and possibly, now, bare majority OF
the Lower House elects Speaker and
the peoples organization, overpowered
by numbers and armed police. can re-
sort only to form of organization and
a written protest. Thus have Gov.
Warmoth and his allies sowcd the
winds to reap the whirlwind.
The legislature made laws which
really bestowed upon the Governor alb
solute power and inauguratetl sys-
tenn more cunningly calculated to usurp
the liberties of the people and squan-
der their property, than did any of the
national usages or the common law of
the feudal ages, when noble and peas
| ant were as wide asunder as the poles
of the earth. Upon the Governor We're
conferred autocratic powers; he could
appoint by his own will, and be subject
to no revision, oil judges, justices of
the peace, sherifis, coroners, consta-
bles, State assessors and collectors of
taxes, Jurors in courts, judges of cleo
tions, registers of voters, inspectors of
election returns, officers of militia,
from Colonies to Iieutenants, and the
whole police force of the city of New
Orleans. Thus he has everything with
in his grasp. He was monarch of all
he surveyed, from Lake Providence to
Ship Island. He used this power to
enrich himself and his f;svorites, de-
spoil his credulOus victims, and pay
the cost of his fanciful freaks out OF
such public and private property in the
State as was in condition to be stolen,
| given away or taken.
The result is that millions of State
bonds have been given away, and the
taxes will amount for the coming
year to eight per cent. of the valuation
of all property of the city of New Or
leans alone. At last the respectable
| Republicans and Democrats, black and
white, small property holders, bank
| erS, planters, merchants, Shi p and
steamboat owners, in fact, all the peo-
1 pie of the State whose opinions had
any weight OF consequence, met in the
cOnclaVe of common sense which re-
quires neither subsidized press nor
excuses, but is the natural instinct of
civilized men of the thirty and thought.
i full sort, and resolved in their own
minds that forbearance had ceased tt
be virtue. In opposition to the War.
moth party are found all gentlemen
of wealth and land holders, who OWL
j more or less available land from TWEEN
ty acres upwards; all honest men, who
hate corruption, and all who have
taxes to pay on property legitimatcly
acquired The array Of wealth anG
talent and public indignation against
II WarmOth and his fellow intriguers is
Il equal in majesty and sincerity of pur
pose to the outburst against Tweed &
Co., in New York, and the people O.
New Orleans, like those of New York
met in a great mass meeting last month
and appointed a committee of fifty-one
to investigate the administration O.
the State and city governments, anG
examine the amounts Of indebtedness
of the State and the city of New Or
leans. What pitiable spectacle is
d this an adventurer uses his advantage
to lift himself into almost imperial
power; after his hypocricy of three
years has boon shown, and his selfish.
ness thoroughly ventilated, and when
he finds majority against him in tho
popular house of the Legislature, he
endeavors to overthrow the organiza.
ton of a legally constituted Legislative
body by riotous proceedings, and his
own militia officers, having moro pa
triotisln, though less wealth than he,
must be called upon to preserve order.
That our country may be delivered
from this tlrptlful turmoil IF ,,aSSiop