LOUISIANA. 



509 



State in the Federal arrails was about forty 

 thousand. 



On September 5, 1864, an election of five 

 members of Congress was held, as stated in a 

 previous volume, and the persons so chosen 

 proceeded to Washington, in order to take their 

 seats at the commencement of the session. 

 The first election of members of Congress sub- 

 sequent to the outbreak of the war was held in 

 December, 1862, in consequence of instructions 

 from President Lincoln to Gen. Butler. Messrs. 

 Hulm and Flanders were elected, and took their 

 seats by the action of the House on February 

 9, 1863, and their term of office expired on 

 March 4th ensuing. Subsequently, in October, 

 an address appeared in the New Orleans news- 

 papers to the " citizens loyal to the Government 

 of the United States." Under the direction 

 of the parties from whom this address proceed- 

 ed, it was claimed that an election of members 

 of Congress took place in some parishes, and 

 persons appeared in "Washington as duly elected 

 members. Two were present at the election 

 of Speaker of the House, and one of them nom- 

 inated Gen. F. Blair as a candidate. They 

 voted for Clerk, and one then resigned or 

 retired. The other remained, and compensation 

 was voted to him by the House. But they were 

 not recognized as members after the organ- 

 ization. The next election was held on Sep- 

 tember 4, 1864, as above stated. The members 

 elect presented themselves for admission to 

 seats, and in February, 1865, a majority of the 

 committee to whom the credentials of the ap- 

 plicant from the First District was referred re- 

 ported in favor of admission. The commit- 

 tee state the facts which preceded the elec- 

 tion, and say : " This election depends for its 

 validity upon the effect which the House is dis- 

 posed to give to the efforts to reorganize a State 

 Government in Louisiana, which have here 

 been briefly recited. The districting of the 

 State for representative's, and the fixing of tho 

 time for holding the election, were the act of 

 the convention. Indeed, tho election of Gov- 

 ernor and other State officers, as well as the 

 existence of the convention itself, as well as its 

 acts, are all parts of the same movements." 



It was urged as an objection to the validity 

 of these measures, that they neither originated 

 in, nor followed any preexisting law of the 

 State or nation. To which the committee re- 

 ply, that in the nature of the case, neither a 

 law of the State nor nation to meet the case was 

 a possibility. And in the absence of any such 

 legal fr-rm prepared beforehand in the State, 

 and like absence of power on the part of the 

 General Government, under the delegated 

 powers of tho Constitution, it followed that the 

 power to restore a lost State Government in 

 Louisiana existed nowhere, or in " the people," 

 the original source of all political power in this 

 country. The people, in the exercise of that 

 power, cannot be required to conform to any 

 particular mode, for that presupposes a power 

 to prescribe outside of themselves, which it has 



been seen does not exist. It follows, therefore, 

 that if this work of reorganizing and reestab- 

 lishing a State Government was the work of 

 the people, it was the legithnate exercise of an 

 inalienable and inherent right, and if republican 

 in form is entitled not only to recognition, but 

 to the "guaranty" of the Constitution. The 

 committee then inquire how far this effort to 

 restore constitutional government hi Louisiana 

 has been the work of the people. They 

 say : " The evidence before the committee, and 

 all the information they could obtain, satisfied 

 them that the movement which resulted in the 

 election of State officers, the calling of a con- 

 vention to revise and amend the Constitution, 

 the ratification of such a revisal and amend- 

 ment by a popular vote, and the subsequent 

 election of representatives in Congress, was not 

 only participated in by a large majority, almost 

 approaching to unanimity, of the loyal people 

 of the State, but that the loyal people consti- 

 tuted a majority of all the people of the State." 

 They also add, that from all the facts, they find 

 that the election was held under the auspices 

 of a new State organization which had arisen 

 from the ruins of the old, in as much conform- 

 ity to law as the nature of the case would 

 permit. This report was not acted upon by the 

 House. But Congress by an act appropriated 

 money to defray the expenses of those represent- 

 atives elect. A question really existed in Lou- 

 isiana as to tho validity 'of the election of Sep- 

 tember 5, 1864, when the Constitution was 

 adopted and members of the Slate Legislature 

 and representatives to Congress chosen. It 

 was asserted that persons had opportunities to 

 vote who had no legal right to vote, and that 

 such persons did vote ; that there were men in 

 the Legislature not elected by the people, whose 

 votes were necessary to make up a quorum. 

 The Legislature which assembled soon after the 

 election, held a long session devoted exclusively 

 to local affairs. That the statements of illegal- 

 ity were justified, would seem to be evident 

 from the following proclamation of the acting 

 Governor on May 3d : 



Whereas, according to an official statement of J. 

 Randall Terry, late Register of Voters in and for the 

 city of New Orleans, made to me under date of March 

 6, 1865, nearly five thousand persons are registered 

 as voters on the books of said office who did not pos- 

 sess the qualifications required by law to become 

 voters iu this State ; and whereas, it is made my 

 duty to see that the laws are enforced ; and whereas, 

 the only way in which the elective franchise can be 

 purified and the rights of the citizen be protected 

 against these illegal votes is by a new registration of 

 the names and residences of .all the qualified electors 

 of the city of New Orleans an inconvenience which 

 every good and law-abiding citizen will cheerfully 

 submit to, for the sake of the end to be accom- 

 plished ; 



Now, therefore, I do issue this my Proclamation, 

 declaring the old books of the Register of Voters for 

 the city of New Orleans to be closed from this date, 

 and the registration of all persons contained therein, 

 as well as all certificates issued by virtue of said rec- 

 ords to persons, conferring on them the right to 

 vote, to be null, void, andnof no eflect from ana after 

 the present date. 



