The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1872-11-23

motA III til respo1 fbilit 4 Of
declaring yscAt l. Aacdbf screz
tary Of State and appointing an occu-
pant to ell the vacancy. His election
Of Mr. Go: +. Bosvtec, Who was elected
by the people, was regarded by many
as u great stretchlof exeeutirc author
'ity, almost eatprscetleat, bsssrthe
Governor, witt, that fearless .determi-
nation and self reliance for which he is
characterized, hcsitated not to remove
the 1infaithfal official from Office and
to bring force into requisitiont to Sc
cure the execution Of tbs order of re-
moval and the installation Of his up
pointee, Gen. franklin J. Heron.
We supported the action of Governor
Warmoth id tbe case Of Bovee,, for
we believed that the latter, in, assum-
ing to ,promulgate a bill passed by the
Legislature which had not been signed
by the Governor nor yet become. q
law by constitutional limitation, was
performing a wrongand illegal action,
and establishing a precedent danger-
Gus to tho liberties and interests of
the people. The offence was made
the more gross from the fact Of the
bill in question being one which vas
forced through the General Assembly
by corrupt lobby pressure and which
sought to snatch from the control Of
the city Of New Orleans and place in
the hands Of Q corporation of fortune
hunters a most valuable piece of; city
property waterworks. This com
pany would doubtless have taken adj
vantage of the monopoly which an
ubiquitous law would give them to. en-
rich themselves by grinding the Ipeo-
pie down with high water rates. I'm
der these circumstances, therefore, we
held that the summary, punishment
of Bovee by the Governor was war
rantable in equity and justice, though
perhaps not altogether in ,consonance
with the strict letter of the law
which, however, is yet an open ques-
ton. ' ' ''1 '' ~. ''
Now let us come to consideration
OF the Governors removal of Heron
a coup d'etat which has excited tile
unstinted praise and admiration Of
the New Orleans Times, til the inottufatctl
Of the .Picoyune, and the
hedrty denunciationI Of the Republi-
can city and country PRESS. Ir The only
reason, we believe, given by Governor
Warmoth for ousting Heron is that
that gentleman is a detaulter to the
State and consequently disqualified
from holding position Of honor and
trust under its government. It is true
that there is an alleged deficit of some
eleven hundred dollars in the accounts
rendered by NJ. Heron as Tax COL
lector Of one OF the New Orleans dis
tricts,' but legal proceedings. for. re-
covery of the amount have never been
instituted fact it has never been
proven that such deficit does exist
neither Governor War
moth or any other, person has. the
right to assume that Gen. Heron is.
a defaulter. Furthermore, the Gov
ernor was, without doubt, aware of
the alleged defalcation of Heron
when he appointed him Secretary Of
State to succeed Bovee. We make the
deduction if it was wrong for Mr.. Her
ron to hold a position of honor. and
trust, then the responsibility must rest
rs much upon the shoulders Of the
Governor as upon his appointee.. But,
regardless of all this, taking into con-
sideration the peculiar time which
Governor Warmoth selected for Nj.
derron's removal-justat the moment
Of the organization of the State Board
If Returning Officers, Of which they
both, by virtue of their office were
gravest suspicious are
aroused as to the motives of the Ex-
ecutive. If he attempted to displace
Mr.. Heron simply because he thought
chat gentleman would not act Will,
lim in any manipulation Of. the cleo
ion returns he might deem necessary
% undertake. to forward either the
aspirations of himself or others, then
he committed an act which is Of itself
,nfficient to damn him in tho <,s4;,no |