LOUISIANA. 



487 



n!, A. A. Atocha, B. F. Flanders, James 

 IA u is, B. F. Blundin, W. G. Brown, and B. F. 

 .louhort; niul the Conservative party by John 

 McKnory, D. B. Ponn, B. F. Jonas, Samuel 

 Chopin, Albert Voorhies. D. F. Keniu-r, 0. 

 Hmrd, G. W. Mott, and D. 8. Cage. The ro- 

 Milt of this conference was the following agree- 

 ment, which was made public on the 29th of 

 September: 



The undersigned announce the following as the 

 result of the conference between the committees of 

 tln> two political parties of the State of Louisiana: 



1. The committee representing the Conservative 

 I'l-oplu's party pledge themselves to cause all vio- 

 and intimidation, if any exists, to cease through- 

 put the State, and to assist the constituted authorities 

 in maintaining pi'ixoe and insuring a strictly fair and 

 impartial registration and election ; also, to discoun- 

 tenance acts and threats of personal violence, and all 

 improper influences to control the will of tlie elec- 

 ind render assistance and use every effort to 

 subject to the penalties of the law all persons who 

 may commit acts of violence or intimidation, or con- 

 spire to do the same, in order to guarantee a fair 

 registration and election. 



1. There is hereby constituted and established an 

 Advisory Committee, composed of five members, 

 namely : Messrs. Albert Voorhies and E. A. Burke, 

 selected by the representatives of the Conservative 

 People's party, and Messrs. S. B. Packard and B. F. 

 Jouoert, selected by the representatives of the Re- 

 publican party, and of an umpire, namely, Dr. M. F. 

 Bonzano, who has been jointly selected. This Ad- 

 visory Committee is to supervise and carry on the 

 registration throughout the State on behalf of all 

 parties, to the full extent of suggesting changes in 

 the registration officers and the manner of conduct- 

 ing and carrying on the registration, Governor Kel- 

 logg, in the interest of a fair and impartial registra- 

 tion, of his own accord pledging himself to act upon 

 the advice and suggestions of the Advisory Com- 

 mittee so long as such advice and suggestions are in 

 consonance with and permitted by the existing laws 

 of the State. 



8. It is agreed that two persons shall be named by 

 the representatives of the Conservative People's 

 party, who shall be elected according to law, to nil 

 two vacancies which shall be created by resignation 

 in the Returning Board within twentv days. 



D. F. fcENNER, 

 for the Conservative Committee of Conference. 



A. A. ATOCHA, 

 for the Republican Committee of Conference. 



The State Committee of the Democratic and 



Conservative party now issued an address to 



the people of the State, announcing the rati- 



Scation of this compromise. After criticising 



rith some acerbity the course of the party in 



jwer, they say, in reference to this agree- 

 ment, that " the question of the legality of the 

 State Government remains untouched and un- 

 compromised ; and no question of principle has 

 been discussed, waived, or concluded. This 

 agreement, as to details, does not operate a 

 withdrawal of the Louisiana case from the 

 Congress of the United States. If not fully 

 complied with by the other party, it will only 

 accumulate evidence of the helplessness of the 

 efforts made by our people to have a fair and 

 legnl expression of the popular will." 



The language of this address provoked a re- 

 ply from Governor Kellogg, defending the 

 course of his supporters in the recent compro- 



mise negotiations. "The Republican commit* 

 tee, 1 ' he Bays, " actuated by a spirit which wa 

 naturally supposed to inspire such measures of 

 adjustment, refrained from any allusion to re- 

 cent occurrences in this city and State, and 

 abstained from any denunciation of their po- 

 litical opponents. In your address you take 

 occasion to recapitulate the old charges of op- 

 pression and corruption brought against the Re- 

 publican party and the present State govern- 

 ment, notwithstanding the uncontradicted and 

 incontrovertible statements in ray published 

 address of the 13th ultimo show that the pres- 

 ent State government is not responsible for 

 either the present State debt or taxation, but 

 has reduced both, and also show that for most 

 of the debt and taxation of both State and city 

 the Democratic party are directly account- 

 able." 



Referring to the recent compromise, the 

 Governor added that " I and ray friends will 

 faithfully carry out the terms of the agreement 

 we have entered into, which I desire to remind 

 you was strictly confined to matters of regis- 

 tration and election ; and I trust your party, 

 who virtually assumed the responsibility of 

 the violence and intimidation heretofore exist- 

 ing in the State, will carry out your part of the 

 agreement by suppressing the same." 



During the months of September and October 

 there was a constant state of excitement grow- 

 ing out of events relating to the approaching 

 election. Rumors of political disorders were 

 numerous; especially from the northwestern 

 parishes came many reports alleging on the 

 one hand that the Democrats were using their 

 efforts to intimidate the negroes so as to pre- 

 vent them from registering, and on the other 

 that the authorities of the United States were 

 making numerous unwarrantable arrests. Pub- 

 lic anxiety was increased by the charge, public- 

 ly made, that the Republicans, for political 

 purposes, had questioned the legality of the 

 naturalizations made by the Second District 

 Court in New Orleans. Since 1864 this tribu- 

 nal had issued naturalization papers to up- 

 ward of 8,000 persons, who, it was presumed, 

 were in the Democratic ranks. The authority 

 of this court to naturalize aliens under the acts 

 of Congress was now questioned, and there 

 seems to have been some diversity of opinion 

 on this point among the leading lawyers of the 

 State. The Democrats also publicly charged 

 that large numbers of negroes had been fraud- 

 ulently registered in New Orleans and other 

 places. 



On the 14th of October Governor Kellogg 

 published a reply to a proposition made by 

 McEnery to submit the election returns of 

 1872 to a Board of Arbitrators. Objections 

 were made by Governor Kellogg to the form 

 of the propositions submitted by McEnery, but 

 the former expressed a willingness to have the 

 returns examined by arbitrators appointed by 

 President Grant, and to abide their decision. 

 In concluding his letter, Governor Kellogg 



