Year: 1873

AVulSkAUa,


Fsss STATE OF LOUISIANA }
s8yr Executive Department.,


New Orleans, May 10, 1873.


A partisan press has teemed with
such representations regarding my
self and the government | in part rep
resent, agentleman who assumes to the
Office l now hold has been so prolific
in his addresses to the public in ad-
vocacy Of his assumptions from his
own peculiar and personal standpoint,
the so-called Committee of Two Hun
dred has been SO industrious in the
publication Of views not only calcu-
lated to mislead the public in the
formation Of opinion, but to seducc
it into actions that tend toward an
archy and further bloodshed; an or
ganization of malcontent and disap-
pointed politicians, especially in New
Orleans, have labored so hard to carry
out their reasonable programme Of
tax resistance, with the avowed pur-
pose of overthrowing the lawfully
established government OF the State,
the public have been so studiously
prevented by the press, and what
was called the Fusion Legislature,
from coming to knowledge OF the
efforts that have been made to effect
an adjustment of political difficulties
that ought to have been satisfactory
to all, except disappointed office seek
ers, that in justice to myself deem
it a duty to address you.


/ waive other than mere reference
to the coalition formed with the late
executive, before the recent election,
by which it was agreed that as a reward
for betraying the Republican party,
and turning the State over to the
Democracy, he was sent to the United
Senate-s coalition which shocked
the moral sense Of the people at home
and abroad-the fraudulent means
used to effect the objects of that Goa
lition-the open and unbluslling frauds
perpetrated ut the ballot .boxes-the
mutilated and fraudulents returns,
some of them concocted i'll this city
days after the election-the often re-
peated declaration throughout the
State that the Fusion candidates
would be declared elected, no matter
whether they received Il majority of
the votes cast or not-thc avowed in
tention to carry the election by any
means-all these things arc SO unques
tiolmb]e and notorious that l need
only appeal to. the can,lor and con-
science Of the opposition in two thirds
OF the parishes OF the State to confirm
them. 1t is also only necessary to
allude to the Vaccinations of the pol
iticiuns who last spring and summer
threw away the opportunity Of coop
Grating with Republicans upon the
basis of reform OF State abuses, or to
the glaring inconsistency and short
sighted expediency of the men who
in June last refused to put forward
the best republicans, and educated
colored men Of large property, and
acknowledged intelligence, but who
after forming the Fusion ticket, ut
their barbecues and public meetings
practiced social equality to gull the
colored people into support OF them
selves, and into voting against the
illustrious chiettain whose genius,
both in war and peace, had secured to
them the immeasurable blessings of
freedom and equality of citizenship.


Are men who, to crafty Il lust for
office, were ready to enter into Il part
nership of fraud with an executive
whom for years they had denounced
as Infamous, who were willing to retain
and take advantage Of the election
and registration laws, which they had
condemned rs unbearably oppressive
and unjust, and who now band them
selves together behind the bulwark
of their wealth to avoid payment OF
their just share of the burdens of tie
government, while the poor are left
to shift for themselves-;lre such men
tit to lead a party that can raise nc
voice of indignation against the bar
barous massacre ut Colfax-no matter
what their opinions of its origin-fit
to govern people composed in halt
at least of the race massaered. or is it
entitled to the consideration and SYM
pathy of good men, to whatever race
they may belong? Civilized man
kind will say it is not. l submit that
self-constituted leaders are no more
exponents of the real wealth and in
telligence of the whole race in Louis
lana than are the negroes whom their
representatives murdered, and whose
assassination they decidedly approve.
l can but believe that a majority OF
the white people Of Louisiana prefer
living in harmony with their colored
neighbors, and are willing to accord
to them their legal constitutional
rights. Wearied of a vain resistance
to the dominant party Of the Union,
as we'll as to the federal administration.
l believe they do not wish to prolons
war under the guise of peace. But an
intolerate and fictitious public opin-
ion, manufactured by designing poll
ticians, and a partisan press, prevent
them from giving expression to what
their good sense and better judgment
suggest.


Firmly believing that l received &
majority OF the votes cast at the late
election, and was elected in spite o
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