480 



LOUISIANA. 



trampled upon, and at last, in the supreme height of 

 its insolence, this mockery of a republican govern- 

 ment has dared even to deny that the right so _ sol- 

 emnly guaranteed by the very Constitution of the 

 United States, which, in Article II. of the amend- 

 ments, declares that the right of the people to keep 

 and bear arms shall not be infringed upon : be it 



Resolved, That we reaffirm solemnly the resolu- 

 tions adopted by the white people of Louisiana, in 

 convention assembled, at Eaton Kouge, on the 24th 

 of August, 1874, that the white people of Louisiana 

 have no desire to deprive the colored people of any 

 rights to which they are entitled ; that W. P. Kel- 

 logg is a mere usurper, and we pronounce him as 

 such ; that his government is arbitrary, unjust, and 

 oppressive, and can only maintain itself- through 

 .Federal interference; that the election and registra- 

 tion laws under which this election is being con- 

 ducted, were intended to perpetuate usurpation by 

 depriving the people, and especially our naturalized 

 citizens, of an opportunity to register and vote, and 

 therefore, in the name of the citizens of New Or- 

 leans, now in mass-meeting, and of the people of 

 the State of Louisiana, whose franchise has been 

 wrested from them by fraud and violence, and allot' 

 whose rights and liberties have been outraged and 

 trampled upon, we demand of W. P. Kellogg his 

 immediate abdication. 



Resoloed, That a committee of five be immediately 

 appointed by the chairman, who shall be a member 

 of the said committee, to wait on Mr. W. P. Kel- 

 loggj to present to him these resolutions, to demand 

 of him an immediate answer, and report the result 

 of such interview to this meeting. 



In accordance with the last resolution, a 

 committee of five, with Mr. E. H. Marr as 

 chairman, called at the Executive office and re- 

 quested an interview with Governor Kellogg. 

 In the absence of that official, Henry 0. Dib- 

 ble, of the Governor's staff, having received 

 the delegation and reported their errand to 

 the Governor, returned with the following 

 reply : 



I have communicated with the Governor, and he 

 directs me to say to you that he must decline to re- 

 ceive any communication from a committee appoint- 

 ed by the mass-meeting assembled on Canal Street. 

 He does so, I am instructed to say, because he has 

 definite and accurate information that there are now 

 assembled several large bodies of armed men in 

 ditferent parts of the city, who are met at the call 

 which convened the mass meeting which you repre- 

 sent. He regards this as a menace, and he will re- 

 ceive no communication under such circumstances. 

 He furthermore directs me to say that, should the 

 people assemble peaceably, without menace, he 

 would deem it one of his highest duties to receive 

 any communication from them or entertain any pe- 

 tition addressed to the government. I have re- 

 ceived and answered you, gentlemen, as a member 

 of his staff. HENKY C. DIBBLE, 



Brigadier and Judge-Advocate-General, 

 Louisiana State Militia. 



To this the committee -made the following 

 response : 



"We repeat that there are no armed rioters. There 

 are no armed men on Canal Street, so far as we 

 know. We came on a mission of peace, and we be- 

 lieve that if the Governor had acceded to the propo- 

 sition we brought to-day which was, to abdicate 

 it would have pacified the people of Louisiana, and 

 might, or would, have prevented violence or blood- 

 shed. So far as we are concerned, we are prepared 

 to pledge to him no violence in person and property, 

 and we feel in a position, on the contrary, to assure 

 him that there should be perfect immunity to both. 



Whereupon General Dibble, on the part of 

 the Governor, replied that " while there may 

 be no armed men on Canal Street there are 

 armed bodies within a short distance, assem- 

 bled on the same call as your mass-meeting." 



The result of this interview was reported to 

 the Canal Street meeting, which at once re- 

 sorted to an appeal to arms to drive the Kel- 

 logg government from power. 



In the absence of John McEnery, D. B. Penn, 

 who had been the unsuccessful candidate for 

 Lieutenant-Governor on the McEnery ticket 

 in 1872, issued the following proclamation, 

 claiming to be Lieutenant-Governor and Acting 

 Governor, and calling upon the militia to arm 

 and assemble : 



To the People of Louisiana : For two years you have 

 borne with patience and fortitude a great wrong. 

 Through fraud and violence the government of your 

 choice has been overthrown and its power usurped. 

 Protest after protest, appeal after appeal to the Pres- 

 ident of the United States and to Congress, have 

 failed to give you the relief you had a right, under 

 the Constitution, to demand. The wrong has not 

 been repaired. On the contrary, through the in- 

 strumentality of partisan judges, you are debarred 

 from all legal remedy. Day by day taxation has 

 been increasing, with costs and penalties amounting 

 to the confiscation of your property, your substance 

 squandered, your credit ruined, resulting in the fail- 

 ure and bankruptcy of your valued institutions. 

 The right of suffrage is virtually taken from you by 

 the enactment of skillfully-devised registration and 

 election laws. The judicial branch of your govern- 

 ment has been stricken down by the conversion of 

 the legal posse comitatus of the sheriff to the use of 

 the usurper, for the purpose of defeating the decrees 

 of the courts, his defiance of the law leading him to 

 use the very force for the arrest of the sheriff, while 

 engaged in the execution of a process of the court. 

 To these may be added a corrupt and vicious Legis- 

 lature, making laws in violation of the constitution 

 for the purpose of guarding and perpetuating their 

 usurped authority; a metropolitan police, paid by 

 the city, under the control of the usurper, quartered 

 upon you to overawe and keep you in subjection. 



Every public right has been denied, and, as if to 

 goad you to desperation, private arms are seized and 

 individuals arrested. To such extremities are you 

 drawn, that manhood revolts at any further submis- 

 sion. Constrained from a sense of duty, as the 

 legally elected Lieutenant-Governor of the State, 

 acting Governor, in the absence of Governor Mc- 

 Enery, I do hereby issue this, my proclamation, 

 calling upon the militia of the State, embracing all 

 males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five 

 years, without regard to color or previous condition, 

 to arm and assemble under their respective officers 

 for the purpose of driving the usurpers from power. 



Given under my hand and seal, this 14th day of 

 September, 1874. 



D. B. PENN, Lieutenant-Governor. 



EXECUTIVE DEPAETMEUT, STATE OF LOUISIANA. 



At the same time " General Order No. 1 " 

 was issued, appointing General Frederick N. 

 Ogden "Provisional General of the Louisiana 

 State Militia," and ordering him " at once to 

 assume command and organize into companies, 

 regiments, and battalions." 



As early as three o'clock large numbers of 

 armed persons began to assemble at the ap- 

 pointed rendezvous in Poydras Street. Here 

 a strong position was taken, and the neighbor- 



