460 



LOUISIANA. 



rity, and I feel as the people of the whole State feel, 

 that we have got rid of an unprincipled Governor 

 and the set of disreputable tricksters he had about 

 him. Nothing will answer here but a bold and strong 

 course, and in taking it I arii supported by every 

 class and party. 



A Republican Convention, which met at 'New 

 Orleans in June, indorsed the following princi- 

 ples as embodying the platform on which the 

 party was to act in Louisiana : 



"We advocate and will enforce perfect equality under 

 the law to all men, without distinction of race or 

 color ; indorse the acts of the Thirty-ninth and For- 

 tieth Congresses ; will reconstruct Louisiana upon 

 the Congressional basis, and send to Congress only 

 true and loyal men. Nominations for office to be 

 made only of those who will e_nforce perfect equality 

 and the right to hold office, irrespective of race or 

 color. We will insist on perfect equality, without 

 distinction of race or color, in the right to vote and 

 enter the .jury-box, without any educational or prop- 

 erty qualifications being required ; also on the right 

 to practise all professions, to buy, sell, travel, and be 

 entertained, and to enter into any and all civil con- 

 tracts. We will advocate the granting of immediate 

 assistance by the General Government for rebuilding 

 the levees. We will also advocate immigration, and 

 division of lands of the State, as far as practicable, 

 into small farms, in order that the masses of our peo- 

 ple may be enabled to become landholders. We will 

 advocate the repeal of the cotton tax by Congress ; 

 if not granted, we will demand as a right that class 

 legislation be abolished, and taxes laid on all the pro- 

 ductive we_alth of the Union ; let products of agri- 

 culture, mines, and manufactures, be equally and fair- 

 ly taxed. We will advocate equality in schools, and 

 the enforcement of the eight-hour system, except in 

 cases of special contract. ~We will insist on a thor- 

 ough revision of the laws of Louisiana, that they 

 may guarantee e"qual justice to black and white alike. 

 We pledge ourselves to aid the Government in paying 

 the last dollar of the public debt. 



The platform further condemns Johnson's amnesty 

 proclamation, believing the disfranchisement of rebels 

 to be the highest duty of the General Government ; 

 favors the maintenance of an adequate military force 

 in Louisiana to see the laws enforced, and life and 

 property protected ; declares that no man is to be 

 supported for office who will not boldly and openly 

 pledge himself to make equal distribution among 

 white and colored alike of all offices to which he may 

 have the power of appointment. As the newly en- 

 franchised citizens constitute a majority of the party, 

 at least one-half of the nominations for elective of- 

 fices shall be taken from that class, no distinction to 

 be made, whether nominees or appointees were born 

 free or not, provided they are loyal, capable, and 

 honest. The party will always discountenance any 

 attempt on the part of any race or class to assume 

 practical control of any branch of the government to 

 the exclusion of any other race or class. 



Meantime the work of registration was go- 

 ing forward without interruption. On occasion 

 of an appeal from a refusal to register a citizen 

 of New Orleans, an order was indorsed upon 

 the appeal in the following terms : 



HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT, | 

 NEW ORLEANS, LA., June 13, 186T. j" 

 Eespectfully returned through Brigadier-General 

 John W. Forsyth, A. A. Ins. General. 



If Mr. refuses to answer any questions that 



the Board of Begisters may propound to him rela- 

 tive to his service in the rebel army during the war, 

 or his political antecedents, they will continue to re- 

 fuse him registration until such time as he does. If 

 upon answering such questions it appears that he is 



not disqualified under the rulings of the Board of 

 Eegistration, he will be registered as a voter. 



By command of Maj.-Gen. P. H. SHEEID4N. 

 JAMES W. FOESYTII, Brevet Col. U. S. Army, 



Secretary Civil Aft'airs. 



The time allotted fbr completing the regis- 

 tration was extended to the loth of July, ex- 

 cept in the parish of Orleans, where it was 

 limited to the 30th .of June. After the pro- 

 mulgation of Attorney-General Stanbery's 

 opinion on the provision of the Act of Con- 

 gress (see PUBLIC DOCUMENTS) restricting the 

 franchise, it was thought that a still further 

 extension of time would be necessary if the 

 Attorney-General's interpretation was acted 

 upon, in order to admit large numbers who 

 had been excluded from registration by the 

 construction hitherto adopted. Adjutant-Gen- 

 eral Townsend telegraphed to General Sheri- 

 dan, on the 21st of June, in the following 

 words : 



Your telegram' to General Grant, proposing to close 

 registration in New Orleans on the 30th of this 

 month, and at some other places in Louisiana on the 

 10th July, has been submitted to the President, who 

 is of opinion that the proposed limitation of time 

 will be too short for a full and fair registration, and 

 that the electors in your district should be allowed to 

 the 1st of August to register, especially as it is not 

 probable that registration in the other districts will 

 be completed before that time. He therefore directs 

 that the registry be not closed before the 1st of Au- 

 gust, unless there be some good reason to the con- 

 trary, which you will report for the President's infor- 

 mation and judgment. 



The following is Sheridan's reply : 



HEADQUARTERS FIFTH MILITARY DISTRICT, ) 

 NEW ORLEANS, June 22, 1S67. ) 

 General U. S. Grant, Washington : 



GENERAL : I am in receipt of a telegram from the 

 President, through Brevet Major-General Townsend, 

 Adjutant-General United States Army, directing me 

 to extend the registration in this city and State until 

 August 1st, unless I have some good reasons to the 

 contrary, and ordering me to report success and such 

 reasons for his information, and also stating that in 

 his judgment this extension is necessary to full and 

 fair registration, and that the time should be thus 

 extended because other district commanders will not 

 get through before that time. My reasons for closing 

 registration in this city were, because I had given the 

 city two and a half months, and there were no more 

 to register. I have given the State two and a half 

 months, and registration will be exhausted by that 

 time. I did not feel warranted in keeping up boards 

 of registration at large expense to suit new issues 

 coming in at the eleventh hour. The registration 

 will be completed in Louisiana at the time specified, 

 unless I am ordered to carry out the law under Mr. 

 Stanbery's interpretation, which practically, in regis- 

 tration, is opening a broad, Macadamized road for 

 perjury and fraud to travel on. I do not see why my 

 registration should be dependent on the time other 

 district commanders get through. I have given more 

 time for the registration of Louisiana than they pro- 

 pose to give in their commands, for I commenced six 

 weeks before they did. I regret that I should have 

 to differ with the President, but it must be recollected 

 that I have been ordered to execute a law to which 

 the President has been in bitter antagonism. If after 

 this report the time be extended, please notify and 

 it will DC done. I would do it at once, but the Presi- 

 dent's telegram was conditional, and there is suffi- 

 cient time left to issue the necessary orders. 



P. H. SHEEIDAN, Major-General U. S. A. 



