LOUISIANA. 



45.*; 



office, unlawful assemblies, vagrancy, perjury, and 



,.itt"ii <>!" perjury. And it is my duty as one 



i the peace and Judge of the 



.nd you us u grand inquest of the 



'.U.ut!S, mul of all other peace ofliccrs, to 



ins : pr.-vent any unlawful assem- 



.L- .-Miiiii.--. uml such as would liavo a natural 



, of the public peace. 

 .;>t to ulier (In- constitution 01 the State 

 if its provisions, by any body of men, 

 1 liv the provisions of the constitution, 

 ily from the people through the 

 _.il and unconstitutional, aim pun- 

 law. 



The grand jury under these instructions 



propane! to find a bill of indictment 

 against such members of the convention as 



assemble, when warrants would be issued 

 ;md placed in the hands of the sheriff for their 



. Among tho reports soon after afloat 

 ami irciicrully credited was one, that General 

 liaird, in command during the absence of Gen- 

 eral Sheridan, had informed tho Mayor that if 



iierilF undertook to arrest the members 

 under a warrant from the proper legal author- 



j would arrest tho sheriff. The facts 

 1 by the Mayor to the President to 

 bo as follows : 



The case was submitted to the grand jury by the 

 Attorney-General, and in the mean time the Lieu- 

 tenant-Governor and the Mayor called upon General 

 liaird to ascertain whether, if a warrant issued upon 

 ;hir indictment were placed in the hands of the 

 fur the arrest of the members of the conven- 

 tion, the military would interfere. The answer was 

 that the sheriff himself would be arrested, and that 

 the convention, meeting peaceably, could not be 

 interfered with by the officers of the law. 



It is proper here to state that the Mayor had pre- 

 viously addressed a note to General liaird, inquiring 

 whether be would be interfered with by the military 

 in case he would proceed to disperse the convention 

 as an unlawful assemblage. 



The answer to this communication was that the 

 meeting of the convention being peaceable could not 

 be suppressed by the Mayor, ana that the military 

 authorities would prevent the interference of the 

 civil authorities. It was suggested by the Lieut- 

 cnant-Governor that the city authorities, under those 

 circumstances, did not intend to interfere to prevent 

 (he meeting of the convention. But he proposed 

 that in case a warrant of arrest were placed in the 

 hands of the sheriff, the latter, before attempting to 

 execute it, would call on the general, who thereupon 

 would indorse his objections, and the matter would 

 at once be submitted to the President. This arrange- 

 ment was satisfactory to both parties. On the same 

 day tho Attorney-General and the Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor telegraphed to the President to ascertain 

 whether the process of the court to arrest the mem- 

 bers of the convention could be thwarted by the 

 military. 



The answer of the President was as follows : 



WASHINGTON, July 23, 1806. 



Albert VoorTieet, Lieutenant-Governor, of Louisiana: 

 The military will be expected to sustain, and not 

 obstruct or interfere with the proceedings of the 

 tourts. A dispatch on the subject of the convention 

 was sent to Governor Wells this morning. 



ANDREW JOHNSON. 



On tho other hand, Governor Wells, in com- 



nlianfH) with tho order of the President pro tern. 



I his proclamation on July 27th, for an 



>n to fill the vacancies to be held on tho. 

 Hd day iii'S,..,;, naber :i-uing. He Hiiid : 



--/., K. K. Howell, President pro tan. of the 



convention for the revision and amendment of the 



Constitution of Louisiana, has issued an order recon- 



voking the said convention, to meet in the city of 



Orleans on the 80th day of July instant, ana 



Whereas, in the same document, and in conformity 

 to a resolution of that body, he has called on the 

 Governor of the State to issue writs of election for 

 delegates to said convention in all parishes not rep- 

 resented therein : 



Now, therefore, I., J.Madison Wells, Governor of 

 the State of Louisiana, do issue this my proclamation, 

 commanding that an election be held on Monday, the 

 3d day of September, 1856, by the qualified voters, 

 for delegates to the aforesaid convention, as fol- 

 lows : 



Twenty-seven parishes are then designated 

 in which fifty-one delegates were to bo elected. 

 These parishes were outside of the military 

 lines in 1864. The Governor then continued : 



And I do further command all sheriffs, commis- 

 sioners of elections and other officers therein con- 

 cerned, to hold the said election as herein ordered, 

 the proceedings to be conducted according to law, 

 and no person will have the right to vote unless he 

 has restored his citizenship by having taken the oath, 

 before competent authonty, as prescribed in the 

 amnesty proclamation of the President of the United 

 States, either of January 1, 1864, or May 29, 1865. 



All persons excluded from general amnesty by be- 

 ing embraced in any of the articles of exception con- 

 tained therein will not be allowed to vote unless spe- 

 cially pardoned by the President. ' 



Prompt returns will be made of such election to 

 the Secretary of State for all of which this procla- 

 mation, without further notice, will serve as author- 

 ity. 



Given under my hand at the city of New Orleans, 

 this twenty-seventh day of July, A. D. 1866, and the 

 independence of the United States the ninety-first. 



The Lieutenant-Governor, the Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, Secretary of State, Auditor, and State 

 Treasurer, elected at tho same time with the 

 Governor, united in protesting against the act 

 of tho Governor; and the Secretary of State 

 refused to attach, his signature and the seal 

 of the State to the Governor's proclamation. 

 Meantime the Judge of the State Court above- 

 .mentioned, who charged the grand jury, was 

 arrested by the United States Commissioner 

 Shannon, and held to bail on charges of sedition 

 and treason. On the same evening on which 

 tho Governor's proclamation was issued, the 

 friends of the movement held a meeting of 

 citizens without distinction of color, at which 

 ex-Governor Halm presided. Speeches were 

 made by Messrs. Ilahn, Field, Waples, and 

 others, and the following resolutions were 

 adopted : 



Setolped, That the seventy-five thousand citizens 

 of Louisiana, qualified to vote, but disfranchised on 

 account of color, twenty thousand of whom risked 

 their lives in her behalf in the war against the rebel- 

 lion, and, by their bravery on the battle-field, helped 

 to destroy the rebel power within her limits, may 

 claim from her as a right, and deserve as a debt of 

 pratitude, that participation in the Government which 

 citizenship confers. 



fletolvea, That we cordially indorse the proposed 

 reassembling of the Constitutional Convention of 

 Louisiana, seeing in that movement a reasonable 



