The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1882-02-04
We publish in another column a sec

We publish in another column sec
ond letter from Senator Fonteuot in
reference to the Senate reorganization
and our comments thereon. The late
ness of the hour at which we were fur
nished with the copy precludes our Civ
ing this letter the attention it deserves;
and we are compelled to contine our
selves to few points, and to touch
upon them very briefly.
The Senator says that our statement
that ii was understood land generally
admitted, we believed .)sthat number
of Senator Robertson's friends were alb
sent in the country when the caucus
was determined upon, is very vague
one; and asks by whom was it admit
ted and understood. We reply that we
believed that it was so understood and
admitted by every one conversant with
the subject-mot euen ercepting Senator
Fontenot himself We trust this is not
VGgue; and yet it is but fair construc-
ton of our statement that, as far as we
knew, it was generally admitted" !"
The reader will observe that though
our friend attempts to throw discredit
upon this statement, he is careful to
not deRy 1T. Yet, he asks for names to
substantiate it, and adds, (discourte-
ously, we think, we regret to say,) that
unless we furnish them, he will hold
our statement to be unfounded in
fact" Until he denies our statement,
we decline to give him any names; and
in the meantime he may place any esti-
mate upon our statement he sees fit
1t appears from this second letter that
18 senators had signed a pledge to re-
organize the Senate. But it does not
thereby pledged themselves to vote
against Senator Robertson for presiding
officer, or that all of them would have
done SO. This letter is silent on this
point while, in his first letter, our
friend distinctly stated that when he
signed that pledge he, himself, did not
intend to vote against Senator Robert
son. Our friends " conclusive answer"
therefore, strikes us as being singularly
inconclusive.
Senator Foutenot travels out of his
way to broadly intimate that if he saw
proper he might arraign us for, nay,
easily convict us of, Inconsistency on
the Lottery question. We repel this
insinuation as uncalled- for and unjust !;
and the least we can do is to deliber-
ately and emphatically challenge him
to do so.
As to Senator Robertson's political
course and his attitude towards the
Lottery, we do not propose to discuss
nor defend them here. That task might
properly be assigned to those who were
instrumental in putting him forward
for the important trust of delegate to
the Constitutional Convention in 1879,
and thos who voted for him for Presi-
dent pro tenn. of the Senate in 1880.
We stated in our article of the l4th
ult., that the action of the caucus was
seemingly unfair and unjust. For this
modest expression ofsopinion, Senator
Fontenet arraigned us as having made
a direct CHARGE" and advanced the
opinion that the character and standing
of the gentlemen composing the caucus
should exempt them from 8 such grave
charges unless &c. (see letter.. He
made so much ado about such a mild
criticism that we assumed that he ques-
toned our right to criticise the actions
of our public servants at all. We are
gratified to know that he does not.
The idea that we intimated that he
was seeking to avoid criticism is, it oe-
ours to us, rather far-fetched. We did
not intend to convey any such impress
sion. We have high regard for him,
and would not Intentionally wound his
feelings or do him an injustice. We
therefore believe him when he says tina.
he has done no act which he would wish
to hide; and, Notwithstanding the un-
samiable tone and temper of his. letter.
we may here observe that it affords us
pleasure TO say so. As to his not fear
ing newspaper criticism, that may be
but he is certainly very sensitive to it
more sensitive, in fact, than the occa.
sion justified.
One word in conclusion. We mus
express our regret that Senator Fonte
not has seen fit to introduce PERSONAL
ties in this discussion. We have been
careful to avoid them, and fervently
trust that in the future he will disre
gard the advice of injudicious friends
should any such prompt him to agail
| indulge in them.