I.oriSIAN'A. 



455 



on foot in the Legislature which, if carried 



>-. ,.uld in. Toaflo the State debt to $54,000,- 



i;.--M.lntion8 were adopted condemning 



\tniv:i^!int measures before the Legisla- 



ture, and a committee appointed to wait on 



rnor Wannouth and solicit his coopera- 



tion in unvoting the alleged corrupt scliiiMi^ 



of the Legislature. In response to the address 



f tho committee, Governor Warmouth made 



the following remarkable statements : 



i LEMEN : I am very glad to sec you personally. 

 1 ili-siro to say something, However, relative to that 



\vliosi- drli'irutionyou are. I do so in justice 

 tn niysi-li' and to tho government which I represent. 



fact, which is palpable to all of you, thut I have 

 as Governor of this State vetoed a great many bills, 

 u very great many making subsidies and grants to 

 individual* nnd to companies. Those bills, in a few 

 instances, have been passed over iny veto by the 



.iture ; for these acts, of course, I am person- 

 iilly not responsible; neither do I believe that the 



..tun-, taken as a body, are responsible for 

 tin-in. It is true that in a general sense they nro re- 

 sponsible for their acts ; but it is unfortunately the 

 case that there are a great many men in our Legisla- 

 ture who are ignorant of the manipulations of lobby- 

 ists men, many of whom have been only recently 

 enfranchised. They of course have to be taken caro 

 of- nay, have to be nursed : they have to be taught 

 and instructed ; and I think, gentlemen, that if you 

 will give mo the assurance of your support if you 

 will only give mo the assistance which you ought to 

 give from your standing in this community wo shall 

 be able to restrain these people from running into 

 the excesses complained 01 in tho resolutions which 

 I have already read. 



Let mo make one complaint against you, gentle- 

 men, as the representatives of those in whose oehalf 

 you appear. You charge the Legislature with pass- 

 ing corruptly many bills looking to the personal ag- 

 grandizement of individuals and corporations. Let 

 me suggest to you that those individuals and corpo- 

 rations are your very best people. For instance, this 

 bank bill that is being loobied through the Legis- 

 lature now. By the hardest kind of work we have 

 been able to defeat that bill twice in the House, and 

 now it is up again to be passed. Who are doing it ? 

 Your bank presidents. The best people of the city 

 of New Orleans are crowding the lobbies of the Legis- 

 lature, continually whispering into these men's ears 

 bribes to pass this measure. How are we to defend 

 the State against the interposition of these people, 

 who are potent in their influence in this commu- 

 nity? 



Take another instance : Tho five-million bond bill 

 passed through the Legislature at its 'first session, pro- 

 viding for the issue of bonds, the principal and inter- 

 est ofwhich were to be paid in gold to take up the 

 city notes. That bill I vetoed. By whom was it 

 lobbied through ? By your Carondelet-Street bro- 

 kers, who crowded the halls of the Legislature, nnd 

 thronged the avenues leading to the capitol, taking 

 out member after member, and suggesting bribes. 

 That bill, as I said, I vetoed, and the very next day 

 the House of Representatives, possibly through tho 

 influences of which I have spoken, passed it over my 

 head. The bill went to the Senate. I walked into 

 tho Senate-chamber, and saw nearly every prominent 

 broker of the city engaged in lobbying that bill 

 through the Senate, and it was only by exposing tho 

 fact, that one of their emissaries had come into this 

 very chamber and laid upon tho desk of my secretary 

 an order for $50,000, that I was able to defeat it. Mr. 

 Conway, the mayor of your city, came here and 

 offered me any consideration to induce me to sign 

 this bill. 



Look, again, nt this Nicolson pavement bill tak- 

 ing $200,000 out of the Stnte Treasury for the benefit 



of a private company. A gentleman of your city 

 ili-rrl me a bribe ot $.v>.'"">, nn<l ..no-idxth of the 

 in t |.n.JUn, to fcign that bill. I told him 1 could not 

 Higu the bill. Some of the most respectable uicu in 

 y are among the directors. 



Tho hostility existing between Governor 

 Warmouth and Auditor Wiokliffe, at the close 

 of 1869, was continued into tho present 

 Tho Governor having withdrawn his opposition 

 to the Auditor's exercising tho functions of his 

 office, the conflict now centred upon the pos- 

 session of an office in tho State-house by the 

 Auditor. Offices had been provided by tho 

 Legislature for this official and the State Treas- 

 urer, apart from the other State departments ; 

 but the Auditor, claiming that the law re- 

 quired him to keep his office in tho State- 

 house, transferred the property and archives 

 of his office to apartments in the Mechanics' 

 Institute, in New Orleans, which building had 

 been leased for the use of the Governor, Sec- 

 retary of State, and the General Assembly. 

 As soon as Governor Warmouth was informed 

 of this fact, he at once instructed the Chief of 

 tho Metropolitan Police to prevent the occu- 

 pancy of the room by the Auditor, and to no- 

 tify that officer that he must provide for himself 

 other quarters. Auditor Wickliffe now obtained 

 from Judge Collins, of the Seventh District 

 Court, an injunction " against the said Chief of 

 Police, commanding him, his agents and sub- 

 ordinates and police, to desist from interfering 

 with petitioner in his possession of said room 

 in the third story of the Mechanics' Institute, 

 and from removing or attempting to remove 

 from said room any of the office furniture, 

 effects, or archives, of said office of Auditor.' 

 The Chief of Police not acting in obedience 

 to this injunction, the Auditor applied to 

 the sheriff to be placed in possession, and 

 obtained an order from Judge Collins look- 

 ing to the punishment of the Chief for con- 

 tempt of court. At this juncture Governor 

 Warmouth obtained from Judge Leaumont, of 

 the Fifth District Court, an injunction pro- 

 hibiting the sheriff and Auditor from carrying 

 out the orders issued by Judge Cooley, of the 

 Sixth District Court, stating in his petition 

 that he had, " in behalf of the State, hired 

 the building known as the Mechanics' Institute 

 for the use of the Governor, Secretary of State, 

 General Assembly and its committees, and for 

 no other permanent purpose," and "that it is 

 essential to the public convenience that the 

 office of the Auditor should be in the same 

 building as that of the Treasurer, and that 

 there is no consideration of convenience or 

 propriety requiring that said office should he 

 in the Mechanics' Institute." 



Tho Governor having strengthened his posi- 

 tion by obtaining other injunctions to prevent 

 any interference with his control of the metro- 

 politan police, his efforts proved successful in 

 preventing the Auditor from occupying tho 

 offices in tho Mechanics' Institute. 



The Governor determined to bring the Au> 



