486 



LOUISIANA. 



legitimate results. On the other hand, Mr. MoEnery 

 was well known as the inflexible opponent of the 

 colored man. It was well known that as a member 

 of the Legislature of 1865, 1866, and 1867, he had 

 supported the vagrant laws so obnoxious to the col- 

 ored people ; that he had opposed the fourteenth 

 amendment, and had supported the several acts 

 passed by that Legislature discriminating .against 

 the colored people ; in short, that his official record 

 had shown him capable of oppressing the colored 

 man whenever opportunity offered, and of reducing 

 him again to virtual slavery. This disposition, kept 

 somewhat subdued while the Louisiana case was 

 "pending before Congress in 1873, has since cropped 

 out in every speech which Mr. McEnery has made, 

 and he has been, and is, one of the most consistent 

 advocates and defenders of the white man's party, 

 and of all the acts of violence which that organiza- 

 tion has perpetrated. Is it likely that the colored 

 people voted for Mr. McEnery 3 



In further reference to this election, which 

 has become famous throughout the United 

 States in consequence of the universal discus- 

 sion to which it has given rise, Governor Kel- 

 logg adds : 



The question as to whether Mr. McEnery or my- 

 self was elected Governor of this State is one that I 

 have several times proposed to submit to arbitration. 

 When the suit brought in the United States Circuit 

 Court was still pending, I ottered, through my coun- 

 sel, Mr. William H. Hunt, a Southern man, and one 

 of the foremost lawyers at the bar of this State, that 

 the returns should be submitted to five prominent 

 and disinterested citizens, two to be chosen by each 

 side, and the fifth by the four, and I proposed to 

 abide by the result of their decision; but this propo- 

 sition was declined. I am prepared to show, before 

 any competent tribunal, that a portion of the returns 

 upon which Mr. McEnery bases his claims are forge- 

 ries manufactured in this city. I am able now to 

 produce the judicial officer before whom a portion 

 of the blank tally lists and returns were sworn, to 

 be subsequently filled up, here in this city, and 

 palmed off upon the public as the genuine returns 

 of an election held in strong Republican parishes far 

 distant from this city. Even Senator Carpenter, in 

 his speech in the Senate on the 4th of March, said : 

 " I do not think McEnery was in fact elected, though 

 the returns show that he was." I hold myself now 

 ready to impeach the returns relied upon by the 

 fusion boards as altered, defaced, and, in some in- 

 stances, forged outright. I charge, moreover, that 

 the returns from Iberville, St. James, Terrebonne, 

 St. Martin, and other Kepublican parishes, were 

 thrown out by the fusion Returning Board for no 

 other reason than because they gave myself and the 

 Republican ticket a heavy majority. And I assert 

 that, by the genuine returns, counting the votes act- 

 ually cast, I was elected by several thousand major- 

 ity, and upon this issue I am ready to stand or fall. 

 The State constitution provides that in November 

 next there shall be an election for Congressmen, 

 a State Legislature, and various State and parish 

 officers. 



In the concluding portion of his address the 

 Governor explains and defends the law under 

 which the November election was held, and 

 which had been vehemently denounced in the 

 address of the Conservatives, above quoted. 

 He says: 



The present election law is substantially the law 

 passed during the last administration in the inter- 

 ests of the conservative citizens of the State, but 

 which Governor Warmoth, at the request of the fu- 

 Bionists, refrained from signing until after the elec- 

 tion, in order that he might use in their behalf the 



much greater powers conferred upon him by the old 

 law, whose repeal they had previously to their alli- 

 ance with him so urgently demanded. Under the 

 old law, the law under which the fusionists conduct- 

 ed the last election, the ballot-boxes were removed 

 from the polling-places to the office of the Supervi- 

 sors of Election, and were counted wherever and 

 whenever the supervisors pleased, without any ade- 

 quate supervision. Under the new law the ballots 

 must be counted openly at the polls, immediately 

 after the election, in presence or disinterested wit- 

 nesses. Under the old law the Governor appointed 

 the supervisors, and the supervisors appointed the 

 Commissioners of Election, who might be, and were, 

 in fact, at the last election, all of one-political party. 

 Under the new law, the .Police Judges appoint the 

 Commissioners of Election in all the country parish- 

 es, and the commissioners must be chosen, one from 

 each political party. Under the old law the Keturu- 

 iug Board consisted of the Governor, Lieutenant- 

 Governor, the Secretary of State, and two other des- 

 ignated persons. They had absolute control over 

 the returns, and could alter, suppress, or reject them 

 at will. Under the new law no State officer is a mem- 

 ber of the Returning Board. The board consisted 

 of five persons, elected by the Senate, one at least 

 of the opposing political party. The returns are re- 

 quired to be made out in triplicate, one copy to be 

 forwarded to the Returning Board. 



The existence of many fraudulent registration pa- 

 pers, especially in the city of New Orleans, rendered 

 necessary the passage of a law providing for an en- 

 tirely new registration, if the election in November 

 was to be free, aa we desire it to be, from the irreg- 

 ularities which had characterized previous elections. 

 Accordingly, a bill was passed by the Legislature 

 on the last day of the session, and some time subse- 

 quently was sent to me for approval. After examin- 

 ing the bill, and finding it in the main a fair and just 

 measure, marred by some defects, but still a vast im- 

 provement on the old law ? which must remain in 

 force unless I approved this bill, I announced my 

 intention to sign and promulgate it as soon as the 

 time came for entering upon registration. I have 

 done so ; and registration has been actively and sat- 

 isfactorily progressing for the past thirty days, ex- 

 cept when interrupted for a brief period by the in- 

 surrection of September 14th. 



Desiring that there should be no possibility of 

 doubt as to the fairness of the registration, I volun- 

 tarily offered, before the registration opened, to ap- 

 point one clerk, to be named by the opposition, in 

 every registration-office throughout the State. At 

 the last election we were denied all representation, 

 both in the registration-offices and at the polls. I 

 have more recently proposed, through the Repub- 

 lican State Central Committee, to agree to the ap- 

 pointment of an advisory board, to be composed of 

 two Republicans and two Democrats, and an umpire 

 to be chosen by them ? with which board I declared 

 my willingness to advise and consult in all matters 

 relating to the appointment of registration officers, 

 and the management of registration throughout the 

 State. There is no just and proper safeguard that 

 can be suggested to me which I will not be willing 

 to throw around the conduct of the coming election. 



The attempted revolution having proved a 

 failure, and the excitement consequent upon it 

 having somewhat subsided, the attention of 

 both parties was now turned toward the sub- 

 ject of the approaching election. A conference 

 was held between committees representing the 

 two parties, for the purpose of agreeing upon 

 such a system of registration and canvassing 

 the votes as would be satisfactory to all con- 

 cerned. In the negotiations, the Republican 

 party was represented by "W. P. Kellogg, S. B. 



