The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-10-12
THE VACANT SEAT.

BermudeZ, as chairman OIL the GxAmlH
ing committee OF the Supreme Court oil
Louisiana, have recommended Mr.. w
Ell. Hunt to the President for appoint.
ment to the vacant seat on the United
States Supreme Court bench. The very
bungling manner in which our contem.
porary refers to Mr.. Bermudez In this
connection as an appointee OF "Chie
Justice Manning and his associates Is
calculated to convey the impression tina,
the Chief Justice was In some indefin
able way responsible for Mr.. Bermu
dez's action or party to it. Any such
impression would do Judge Manning
we are sure, great Injustice. In the first
place Mr.. Bermudez was not appointed
chairman of the examining committee
OF the Supreme Court by "Ohief Justice
Manning and his associates" he was
the appointee OF the late court. But even
IL Mr.. Bermudez were the appointee Oh
the present court neither the Chief
Justice nor his associates could pos
sibly have any responsibility for his &C.
ton in this matter.
In the general criticism, passed by
the Picay,tne on the course Of the pub
lie funetionaries who have In their off,
cial characters recommended Mr.. Hunt
for this high office. we cordially con.
cur. All OF these gentlemen owe
their positions to the Democratic party
and they must know, as well as we do,
that Mr.. w. lei. Hunt Is not only not q
representative of our people, but that
he is more repugnant to them than any
other man in the Republican party. He
has pursued the same end that Pack
ard, Kellogg, Wells and Anderson pur-
sued. and he gave to their wicked
schemes what no other man of the
party could give, the prestige of his
high social position, his almost historic
name and his very large abilities.
He was indeed the Moloch. If not the
Lucifer, of that Stygian council in which
the Mammons, the Belials and the
Beelzebubs of Radicalism debated and
organized their war upon the best inter-
ests and most sacred rights of Louisi-
ana.
But the objection to Mr.. Hunt is
not only that he has been, or is now, q
Louisiana Radical. There are graver
offenses resting upon his head, which
we wish our legal friends who recon-
him had called to mind before
they gave him the high Endorsement of
their official signatures. There Is now
against the tax payers of
as part OF the funded debt,
nearly million dollars OF consols for
which the State Of Louisiana never re-
ceived one cent of benefit.
These consols represent the bonds
which were nconstitutionally and
issued to the North Louis
lana and Texas Railroad Company. Part
Of these bonds were issued by Warmoth
when he was in the widest era Of his
reign of corruption, plumber and de-
oauchery. Toward the close of his Ad.
he even refused to issue the
residue of the bonds. When Kellogg
entered upon his term, Ludeling and his
associates demanded the balance of the
plunder. Kellogg hesitated and asked
,he opinion Of Mr.. Hunt, who was, at
The time, acting as Assistant Attorney
General, and Mr.. Hunt advised him
that he was compelled under the law to
,ign and deliver the bonds.
This is an imperfect history OF the
~ n n of i'm h,,f 4 rviuoo n ,,orroot slo-
u it's nature. Kellogg Immediately COM
piled, and that debt stands against the
and plundered taxpayers
If Louisiana now. We DEFY any living
nan to show that the State ever derived
,ne cent OF benefit for the bonds Mr..
Hunt stiffened up Kellogg's backbone
o sign and deliver, and we defy any
living man to prove that the whole
transaction from the appropriation to
he final delivery OF the bonds was not
i fragrant fraud.
We have no right aud no desire to
srraign Judges Rogers, Tissot and
aightor and Mr.. Bermudez for signing
Mr.. Hunts petition or recommendation,
Is private gentlemen; that is their
privilege, and neither we nor others
AVE any right to question or criticise
t; but we concur, with the Picay,lne, In
he opinion that they had no right
o give to his recommendation the |
weight Of their judicial signatures.
hey owe their positions to the final
riumph Of that spirit of reform, which
or nearly a decade had wrestled with
he iniquities, and with the bayo.
ets which upheld the iniuuities,
4 the party OF which Mr.. Hunt
7as perhaps the ablest leader, and
hey had no right to use the
nfuence Of their positions to aid In
lacing him, as representative of Lou.
siana and the South, in position of
onor and trust far beyond his original
SEPARATIONS.