The New York herald., 1872-12-30

Tho Louisiana Usurpatlon-A Partisan
/ Herren. epsn. fs
We publish in to-day's HERALD communi-
cation from r. J. Heron, the late Acting Sec
retary of State Of Louisiana, whose name has
figured 80 conspicuously in the events in that
State which have eliminated in the overthrow
OF the legitimate government by federal power.
Mr. Heron claims TO have discovered inaccu-
stant. on the Louisiana troubles, and proceeds
to correct them by setting forth statement of
his own, in which the Warmoth wing of these
scrambling carpet -baggers are shown to be
altogether in the wrong and the Kellogg wing
wholly in the right. We have long since pub
lished the story now told by Mr.. Heron,
together with the partisan versions of the other
side, and, without crediting either, we have
endeavored to sift from them, as well as from
the proceedings before the Courts, the testi-
mony of disinterested parties and the acci-
dental developments made during the progress
OF the controversy, such grains of truth as
might lead us to correct Judgment Of the mer-
~A>oSsl
affords US no new light, except in so for as it
adds his own written testimony to the already
satisfactory evidence Of the illegality of the
bogus Returning Board, in which he figured
with Messrs. Lynch, Longstreet and Hawkins,
and to which, in violation of law and in de-
fance of the constitutions Of the United States
and of the State of Louisiana, federal Judge
assumed to give legal authority over election
returns which were never in its possession.
We will take Mr.. Herrons statement Of the
circumstances attending the meeting of the
regular State Returning Board, at which he
claims that the Lynch Board, as it is called,
was legally chosen. 1t is as follows:-''A
this juncture the Board having been in
session an hour, and holding its second meet
ing) Governor Warmoth handed me notice
of my removal as Secretary of State, which I
declined to accept, not acknowledging his
power to remove me. l then nomi-
mated James Longstreet and Jacob Haw-
kins, to fill the vacancies, which was
carried by the votes of John Lynch
and myself, and motion to adjourn was
carried by the same vote.' This history of
the proceedings Of the Board has been con-
tradicted by the other side; but accepting it
as truthful, it proves that the motion to
elect Longstreet and Hawkins was proposed
by Mr.. Heron and voted for by him after his
removal by the Governor, when he was no
longer Acting Secretary of State and had no
position on the Board. II did not acknowl-
edge the Governors power to remove me-"
says Mr.. Heron but what he acknowledged
or declined to acknowledge has nothing to do
with the case. He had been removed from
the Office Of Secretary Of State by the Chief
Executive, and it was not for him, but for the
Courts, to decide whether the removal was
legal or illegal Until they did SO decide he
could not perform another ministerial oct as
Secretary of State, and hence could no
longer sit on the Returning Board, of which
he was q member er oGicio only. In
deed, Mr.. Herron himself supplies us
with evidence of his incapacity when
he proceeds to state that Immediately
after the adjournment Of the Board
he applied to the Eighth District Court for an
injunction against his successor in the Office
of Secretary of State, Mr.. Wharton, and also
brought suit against him under the Intrusion
into Office" act. If such proceedings were
needed to restore Mr.. Heron to the official
duties from the discharge Of which he had
been removed by Governor Warmoth they
were needed the moment the notice Of his re-
moval was served upon him, and he was de-
barred thereafter from doing any official act
until rehabilitated by the Courts
But what was Mr.. Herron's actual position
under the Louisiana State government He
was not the constitutionally elected Secretary
of State, but the mere creation Of Governor
Warmoth, who had, in 1871, removed the reg
ularly elected Secretary Bovee and appointed
Heron, just as he afterwards removed Heron
and appointed Wharton. In all such cases
the Courts have held that the appointee can
perform none but the ministerial duties of the
Office to which he is temporarily assigned
that none Of the powers and privileges con-
ferred by the law upon the constitutionally
chosen officer are enjoyed by the appointed,
and, hence, that he has no fixed term of Office.
We believe that such decision was actu-
ally made by the Louisiana Supreme Court
in Mr.. Herron's own case, and that his re-
uoval Of the Assistant Secretary appointed by
Bove6r was held to be illegal. on the ground
that; if legally appointed himself, he could
exercise the ministerial duties Of the Office
only and was possessed of none Of its con-
stitutional powers and privileges Mr.. Heron
was, therefore, simply an agent of Governor
Warmoth, discharging the routine duties of
Secretary of State without any legal rights
pertaining to the position, without any fixed
tenure and liable to be removed at will by the
authority that appointed him. There may
have been some question as to the power
of the Governor to remove Bovee but Bovee
was compelled to 60 to the Courts to test that
question, and could not legally perform