Year: 1866

It is our purpose to urge the question o.
facts to the actual commencement of the
collision, and fix precisely the mode and
mannerin which it originated. We will
however, remark that the collision was
in every instance brought about by the
armed mob sustaining the Convention
Suffice. it to say that the civil authors
tiles used all the precautions possible to
prevent the outbreak; that they had
applied during the day previous to have
the military to preserve order at the
place where the Convention was to meet
that the authorities, State and mnnici
pal, had come to an understanding to
act in concert with the military for that
purpose; that the citizens, no more than
| the police, contemplated to prevent the
Convention from holding their meeting
peaceably and adjourn and disperse im-
mediately, and that the warrant for their
arrest would have been submitted to the
military as agreed upon, although the
Presidents dispatch to the ,Lleutenant
Governor, and the subsequent one 10 tne
Attorney General, were Imperative tnat
the military must sustain, and not
thwart the courts.


The military authorities had been for
three days previous to the riot in con
slant communication with the Attorney
General, the Lieutenant Governor and
the Mayor, with the view of preventing
the impending riot. Their efforts were
unsuccessful, and could not counteract
the efforts of the incendiary counsels
and appeals to those who, for sinister
purposes, had had in view this very re-
suit, in order to reap a political harvest.


That the civil authorities have done
their duty in this respect is patent; that
more could have been done by them was
impossible, as they were not allowed to
remove the cause of the riot by taking
the proper means to prevent the meeting
of the Convention, and we donbt not for
q moment that the military commander
himself will be the first to corrObOrate
the facts, and to arrest all calumnies and
imputations against the conduct of our
people under these trying circumstances


AS regards the proclamation of martial
law, the least that can be said is that it
was inopportune, for the rioting had
ceased completely, the police being mas
ters of the situation. The colored pop
ulation, as body, did not participate in
the disgraceful scenes, and the freedmen
in the vicinity of the riot were standing
as lockers on, without being molested.
The c6lored mob, in unison with a few
white rioters, who weret tleading them in
this affair, were, no doubt, well organ
lied


That they were well armed is undoubt
edly true, since some policemen and sew
eral citizens were either killed or wound
ed by them, although the conflict was
over. t.


In less than two hours twenty seven
rioters were killed, and considerable
number wounded. At dark, when all
was over, when the mob were either dis.
persed or in prison, and tranquility and
order we're restored, martial law was
proclaimed, and the prisons where the
rioters were confined erupted by an order
from Jho headquarters ThasA measures
undoubtedly were not intended for re-
moving the hopes of the outlaws. They
were not calculated to inspire them with
false hopes.
The very next morning the organ of
the agitators was issued, containing, as
usual, the most iDnamatOry articles, and
so with the succeeding issue. Had the
military on Monday afternoon taken
stand to cooperate with the civil
authorities, instead of proclaiming mar
tial law, the most beneficial effects would
have been the result


We remain, very respectively, your
ubedient servants.


[Signed] ALBERT VooRHIE,


Lieutenant Governor of Leuisiana,


A. S. HERON,


Attorney General of Louisiana.


J. S. MONROE,


Ma yor of New Orleans