The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1873-01-22

Wfklitfe from otfice-a man who had
r9bed the State of millions of dollars
fas denounced as q tyrant and q des-
PIT, and 1t took me whole year to con-
Yce the people that Wickliffe was not
Prsected and oppressed. When b.
zee, Secretary of State, published as a
fw, an act which he knew had in my
possession and would veto at the meet
Ing of the Legislature, and was by IRE
suspended, my motives were miscon-
ftrued, and my actioned was imputed to
fhe most dishonest and dishonOrable
IreasOns.
Thus, Mr.. President, have been en-
barrassed, suspected, misunderstood and
misrepresentcd for nearly five years of
the most cvCntful administration ever
known in this State. No one is to blame
for this. 1t arose out of the anomilous
condition of affairs. 1t could not have
| been otherwise. A stranger, hardly
more than a boy, elevated to the highest
Office in the gift of the people by pop
ulation until but recently held as slaves
aud made free by war and against the
will of the people who had always con-
trolled the Government before; with all
of the prejudices of race and of section
stirred up by a long and terrible civil
war, could not have been reasonably ex-
Ipected to perform the duties of Cover
nor except under the most trying cir
1cumstances. Yet we have much to con-
graduate ourselves upon. If we have
increased the debt of the State we have
built 4GS new and substantial levees.
containing 9,5l4, III cubic yards, and
nearly 200 miles i'll length. Over 800
miles of new railway, the best built in
the country, are running in and to the
State. In addition to this, we have 100
miles more graded, and $500 men are
busy to-day in grading and laying track
as fast'as can possibly be done to connect
New Orleans with Shreveport and with
Houston in Texas.
The State Pcnitentiarv is well sup
piled with the best machinery, and is
not only seif-sustaining but is yielding
the State a yearly revenue. Our State
ment to $25 100000, and with all that
has been said to the contrary it has not
yet reached $20,0O0,000, and will not
and can not by past legislation exceed
$21 600, 900, and during my administra-
ton the Interest has been promptly
paid.
!, I have said TINS much partly in vim
idication of myself. | have been the
best abused man in this Common
:, wealth. if not in the Union hut have
} seldom felt it necessary to reply to the
: wild and baseless charges that have
been made against me. | now venture
to ask Il friendly attention To this some
what remarkable fact, that, with all
y, the charges made against me, no man
has ever produced scintilla Of evi-
dencr duplicating me III single act Of
. official corruption or diSl0Hor. Ny
| conhnct was investigated by a Iegi~In
: tive committee in 1870, and by Il Con
greSslnuai committee in 1872. Ii is
: now undergoing another investigation
: by what Is styled a process ofimpeach-
ment, by the body sitting in Mechanics
Institute. Every one ct these iuveSti-
cations has been prompted by the most
, determined hostility. has been aided
: by the OLDEST legal talent. and has been
carried on with the most unrelentin.
' S'i, yGt ti'C iC % va ei'CSS toiiiIit
tees and the charges themselves pre-
, ferred hy the managers of the pending
: impeachment ESQ called) stand to-day
as the best vindication of an integrity
| which has been attacked, | might say.
. every day for the last five years. In
not one of these penetrating inquisi-
tions has human being dared TO raise
: his hand in the presence of God and
+ deliver a j"t of testimony against my
official homer.
y And now, fellow citizens, surrender
the Office to my lawful successor. Its
5 responsibilities have been onerous, its
: duties trying and thankless. l regre,
Y that even graver complications appear
+, to surround my successor. The same
: band of Federal Office holders and of.
t fee seekers who, in August, 1871
packed the Gatlin Gun Convention il
; the Custom House of New Orleans Will
= deputy marshals and troops; who, il
, January, 1872, maliciously arrested op
+ posing members of the Louisiana Leg
j islature to prevent them from voting
: and concealed their partisan friends o
. the same body on revenue cutter tt
. break the quorum; who, in June, 1872
: packed the Baton Rouge Convention
o with office-holders and marshals who
+ in December, 1872, under cover of al
: illegal order from an interior Judge o
= the United States seized the Staff