Louisiana capitolian. (Baton Rouge, La.) 1879-1881, 1879-08-30
THE BEST GENERALS WERE NOT
IN THE WAR.

| DlIus VI CNiuPN'Suo "A'" "6'S"o 'O
ties with their mouths. With, say
fifty thousand men, they wonld attack
this place, or march forward into that
State. OF course, there was but an
insignificant force in front armed with
broomsticks and too cowardly to resist.
As to the equipments of the army, its
clothing, ammunition, food, arms,
etc, were details so trivial that they
were not worth mentioning. 1t was
taken for granted that all thn necessa-
ries were on hand. The army could
cross rivers without bridges, and the
wagons could haul the baggage at
any season, rain or shine. @
But, to the point. 1t has reached
our ears since our return from the
Convention, that some generals of the
rear guard, in abiding to the question
of the restoration of the Capital to
Baton Rouge, are endeavoring to be-
little the efforts of our delegates by
sowing around the assertion that it
was so easy to obtain a majority favor
ing the measure, that the donation of
$4,000 by this city was entirely I'M
necessary. Had they managed the
matter this sum would have been
saved. In order to satisfy the rea-
sonable men of the communicated
it is them we are addressing4-we will
go back q little, and give tll., history
of this important question
On the assembling of the Concen-
ton, our delegates found that the
entire New Orleans delegation of
about 81 were solid against us; of the
Democrats from the country parishes,
fully one-half when interviewed by.
the press reporters favored New Or
leans. The Republicans were also
divided in opinion. 1t therefore re-
quires very little arithmetic ito con-
clude that it was no easy job 70 obtain
6S out of 1874, who would be sure to
be in their seats, to vote for removal
when the roll would be called Oh that
question. There are always many
absentees.
In the Committee on General Pro-
visions, composed of - members, the
chairman and our humble self were
Baton Rouge men under any and all
circumstances. AS to the other II,
after two or three long discussions on
this subject, 8 Of them were firm in
saying that whilst they believed it
would be wise to remove the seat of
government, the States financial con-
dition was such at this time that
their duty towards their constituents
required of them that they should OPP
pose any expenditure of money that
was not absolutely demanded by the
public welfare. They, of course, were
not as enthusiastic for removal as mc
were. Although thsss St. Louis Hotel
was not a suitable building. still it
could answer for number Of years,
until the State was better able to ap-
propriate money for buildings capitol.
The people of Baton Rouge: wanted
the removal at once. They could
well understand how much more anx-
ious they were than the people of the
other parishes, who were not directly
interested, and looked at the matter
more calmly. In substance, they
told us: Your city will he directly
and immensely benefited by the
removal. If you can demonstrate
to us that the removal can be
effected with but little or no cost to
the State, we are with you. If, for
instance, you will agree to take the
St. Louis Hotel, and from its sale Or
exchange rebuild your capitol, we
will report favorably. Such was their
ultimatum.
At this juncture VIC came tofonsult
our constituents. Not Il man favored
the proposition Just named. 1t was
decided that this CITY would offer the