460 



LOUISIANA. 



Louisiana, and to the present usurpatory State gov- 

 ernment are earnestly invited to cooperate for the 

 purpose of holding a State Convention at New Or- 

 leans on the first Wednesday of January, 18<6. ^ 



Resolved, That in making said call this committee 

 disclaims any intention to revive the question of the 

 Wheeler adjustment, so far as it has fixed the status 

 of the present House of Eepresentatives. 



The following resolutions were also unani- 

 mously adopted by the committee : 



Resolved, That it is the sense of the Democratic 

 and Conservative people of the State that all con- 

 stitutional means should be taken, both in the Sen- 

 ate and House of Representatives in Congress, for 

 the decision of the Louisiana question, and the 

 recognition of the McEnery government. 



Resolved, That these resolutions be forwarded to 

 our members of Congress, to be submitted to both 

 Houses of Congress. 



The Democratic-Conservative Convention 

 gathered at St. Patrick's Hall, New Orleans, 

 January 5, 1876, and continued in session two 

 days. The following platform was unanimous- 

 ly adopted : 



Whereas, The usurpation of the government of 

 the State of Louisiana, through the perversion of 

 functions of the General Government, is an^ evil 

 which Weighs heavily on the people of this State, 

 and while it is a constant menace to the perpetuity 

 of representative institutions ; and the Federal Con- 

 gress, whose duty it is to guarantee to the several 

 States a republican form of government, cannot ig- 

 nore the present condition of despotism and anarchy, 

 so detrimental to the material interests of Louisiana ; 



Whereas, The Wheeler adjustment had no refer- 

 ence whatever to the elections of November, 1872 ; 

 nor did it ever extend to all the contested elections 

 of November, 1874; but was expressly limited to 

 the investigation of seventeen contested seats in the 

 House of Eepresentatives, and to two contested seats 

 in the Senate, among the newly-elected Senators ; 



Whereas, The said adjustment never pretended to 

 ascertain or determine anything beyond the status 

 of these contested seats of the General Assembly, 

 and inasmuch as the powers of the Legislature are 

 strictly defined and limited by constitutional provi- 

 sions, and it was not competent for them to submit 

 to arbitration the conflicting claims of the rival State 

 governments, and as those who supported said ad- 

 justment never intended or contemplated that, by 

 any possibility, said adjustment should embrace any 

 question beyond that of the contested seats in the 

 Legislature; 



Whereas, The radical party of Louisiana, at whose 

 promptings the said usurpation has been foisted upon 

 this State, has devised the most comprehensive sys- 

 tem of measures, through iniquitous election and 

 registration laws, arbitrary Returning Board with 

 unlimited prerogatives, and through fraudulent cen^ 

 sus returns, measures devised for the purpose of 

 perpetuating the existence of this usurpation, with 

 which it is thoroughly identified ; and 



Whereas, The said usurpatory government has 

 never been acknowledged by the people of Louis- 

 iana : and it does not maintain its precarious tenure 

 of power with their consent or willing support : 



Be it resolved by the Democratic-Conservative 

 partv of the State of Louisiana, in convention as- 

 sembled 



1. That the memorial of the people of Louisiana, 

 praying for relief at the hands of Congress, be again 

 presented for their consideration by our Represent- 

 atives in Congress. 



2. That the primary test of membership of the 

 Democratic-Conservative party of Louisiana is an 

 unrelenting opposition of the usurpation, and, with- 

 out regard to past political affiliations-, all those who 



join in the crusade against the usurpation are in full 

 fellowship in the party. 



3. That we advocate the abolition of useless offices, 

 more especially those of tax-collectors, which offices 

 should be remitted to the sheriffs, and a reduction 

 of salaries, fees, and perquisites of office, and a vigor- 

 ous retrenchment in the expenses of the various de- 

 partments of the city and State governments. 



4. We advocate a substantial reduction of taxa- 

 tion, State and municipal, and, while we are in favor 

 of meeting punctually the payment of the legitimate 

 debt of Louisiana, we are immovably opposed to the 

 recognition of the dishonest and fraudulent obliga- 

 tions, issued in the name of the State ; and we pledge 

 ourselves to make a searching investigation in the 

 matter. 



5. We advocate the reduction of the exorbitant 

 appropriations for public printing and metropolitan 

 police purposes, and demand that the whole system 

 of police and public printing be remodeled. 



6. We declare our hearty opposition to all monop- 

 olies whatever. 



7. We recognize and reaffirm the democratic doc- 

 trine that gold and silver be the legal currency, and 

 favor a return to a specie basis as soon as it can be 

 done without injury to the material interests of the 

 country. 



The memorial to Congress, which was adopt- 

 ed, sets out with several assumptions. It is 

 assumed that "it has been established before 

 both Houses of Congress that the acting gov- 

 ernment in the State of Louisiana is a usurpa- 

 tion ; that the individuals personating it were 

 never elected by the people of the State, but, 

 on the contrary, were unquestionably defeated 

 at the elections held for the offices which they 

 fill in 1872 and 1874." It is further assumed 

 as equally well established that the lawfully- 

 elected Governor and other State officers, and 

 some of the Senators, ^Representatives, and 

 local officers, "were and are excluded from 

 said official positions by the unlawful interfer- 

 ence of the Federal authority, through its 

 courts, and through its military power." It is 

 also assumed as established "that the right 

 of the people to elect their officers and repre- 

 sentatives has been taken from them, and vested 

 in a partisan State Returning Board of five mem- 

 bers, chosen by the usurping State Senate, and 

 having the power within itself to fill vacancies 

 that may occur in its membership ; " and it is 

 finally assumed that " it has been demonstrated 

 that this usurpation can exist only as it is sup- 

 ported by the military power of the Federal 

 Government." It is then declared that the 

 people did not, by the acceptance of the Wheeler 

 adjustment, acquiesce in the "usurpation," for 

 the following reasons : 



1. Because the people of Louisiana did not sub- 

 mit, for the adjudication of the Wheeler committee, 

 their constitutional right of self-government. 



2. Because the persons who submitted their own 

 claims to seats in the State Legislature to the decision 

 of the Wheeler committee, never submitted, nor in- 

 tended to submit, the conflicting claims between the 

 lawfully-elected McEnery government and the usur- 

 pation, and said latter claims are not covered by, nor 

 embraced in, the award of said committee. 



3. That the rival claims of the dejure and de facto 

 State governments were never submitted to said 

 committee, and said committee, in their official re- 

 port, expressly state that their investigations were 

 restricted to the legislative difficulties of 1874 and 



