The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-01-19
FOR THE RELIEF OF H. q. DIBBLE

FOR THE RELIEF OF H. g. DIBBLE.
Under the head of "Bils introduced" we
find in the official report of the House, Of the
nth instant the following
BY Mr.. Warmoth: House bill No. 3d. An
act Tor the relief OF Henry g. Dibble, late AS
sistant Attorney General of the State, and di-
reeting the State Treasurer to settle with him
in compliance with the instructions OF the
State Auditor issued December %, 1876"
During his ineumbeney of the office OF As
slstant Attorney General under the Kellogg
lsurpation, Henry g. Dibble received, In cash,
the sum- we believe, Of $4,000, collected
through the remorseess processes of Radical
laws from the overburdened taxpayers OF this
city. After the lawless and criminal con-
spiracy, in which War1noth, Dibble and others
were engaged last winter and spring, to force
upon this State n second and still more in
iquitous and odious usurpajon, was eifectual-
ly broken up. it was discovered that H. 9. Db-
BILE was short Just this $4,000; or rather that
the Treasury of the State was short that sum.
When called upon for settlement Mr..
Dibble proifered, In place Of the cash that had
been wrung almost out of the life blood Of
our citizens. $4,000 in State warrants. OF
what character or complexion, we are not In
formed. Such a settlement the Auditor re-
fused to accept and the Grand Jury. after full
and thorough investigation. presented an in
dictment against the ex-Assistant Attorney
General for embesslement of public funds.
The indictment stands against II. G. Dibble
to-day; he is out of Jail on bail, and will be
tried before the courts of the State for the
crime with which he is charged. We believe
he will be convicted
1t Is from this fearful peril that ex-Gov.
Warmoth asks the Legislature, representing
the robbed and ruined people of Louisiana. to
relieve one of the most ruthless and unfeeling
of her former masters, oppressors and rob-
bers. Was it modest, was it discreet, was 1t
seemly. for Gov. Warmoth to assume this
mission In behalf Of one of the most odious of
that gang Of plunderers who. in the hey-day
of his power and glory, reveled with him In
the splendor and wealth wrested from the
helpless people of this State2 Did not the
ex Governor commit an act discreditable to
that sagacty and tact which have been at
tributed to him, when, at this day, he associ-
ated his name and that of Henry G. Dibble in
move to thwart the law in It's effort to pun
ish one of the crimes of that era of prohigacy,
ninth of January, 1877
We fear that the aspiring blood and self
confident temper of the Ex-Governor have
misled him here. Among free, virtuous and
brave people man must live long years Of
probity and modest retirement, and give to the
country many good deeds, before the evil he
has wrought through deliberate iniquity and
reckless spolation can be forgiven. A
brave people are generous and forgiving,
but they are intolerant of effrontery and
audacious excuses of crime. This people
have permitted Gov. Warmoth to pass along
In peace. Deeply as he has wronged them,
they have OF late heaped no reproaches
upon him; they have tolerated him. But In
his arrogance he has mistaken their temper.
He seems to think that they are of u charac-
ter so light and feeble that like butterflies,
they live only In the sunlight of to-day, and
while they are sucking the flowers of
peace he may rise up as a leader among them
and boldly call upon them to compound
felony of one of his former associates. He is
in error.
If we were called upon to designate the
most audacous act of effrontery within our
knowledge we should unhesitatingly point to
the extract we have given from the journal OF
the House. wherein it is stated that Warmoth
presented to the Legislature Of Louisiana in
1878 q bill to relieve FL. G. Dibble from the
crime of having embezzled public money in
1876, and to permit him to settle with the State
OF Louisiana on the order Of an Auditor who
is himself an indicted embezzler.
Gov. Warmoth, does not your cheek turn
pale at the scenes these words evoke from the
shadows of the past? What heart In Louisiana
will they not move to Indignation? 81 have
traversed my country in its length and
breadth; have marked with my weary feet
every valley, and made my restless bed upon
every hill from Idumea to Lebanon, and from
the Assyrian sands to the waters of the Medi-
terranean, yet the harp and the voice were dead.
I heard sounds on the hills; but they were
the cries of the villagers, flying before some
tyrant gatherer of tyrant's tribute; 1 heard
sounds on the midnight, but they were the
howl Of the wolf and yell OF the hyena, revel-
ling over the naked and dishonored graves
which the Turk had given in his scorn to the
people of my fathers"
Gov. Warmoth, do not these miserable and
despairing words of Salathiel ring In your
conscience as il they were the frantic cry Of
some robbed and ruined Louisianian driven,
during that fearful past from which we have
just escaped, from house and home by you
and your followers? Why, then, stand up
in the Democratic House OF Representatives
and ask the passage of a bill for the relief of
H. C. Dibble?