484 



LOUISIANA. 



our victories at the ballot-box, and to destroy the 

 liberties of the people : therefore, be it 



Resolved, That the Central Executive Committee 

 of the Democratic Conservative party of the State 

 of Louisiana earnestly urges upon the Democratic 

 and Conservative members of the Legislature to ex- 

 haust every means in their power to prevent such an 

 outrage upon the people of the State as the passage 

 of an election bill containing any provision estab- 

 lishing a Keturning Board with unlimited power, or 

 with any power which will enable them to defeat 

 the will of the people as expressed at the ballot- 

 box. 



The Republican Convention for the nomina- 

 tion of delegates to the National Convention 

 at Cincinnati was held at New Orleans on the 

 30th and 31st of May. W. P. Kellogg, P. B. 

 S. Pinchback, S. B. Packard, and W. G. Brown, 

 were the delegates at large. The platform, 

 after alluding to the achievements of the Re- 

 publican party, and pledging cooperation in 

 support of its principles, submitted the follow- 

 ing measures of national policy : 



1. The nomination of a candidate for the presi- 

 dency whose personal character will afford a guaran- 

 tee of an honest, able, economical, and effective 

 administration of the national Government upon 

 Kepublican principles. 



2. A system of Federal finance which will insure 

 the collection of the revenues, punish all official or 

 other frauds upon the Treasury, and bring about a 

 steady, speedy, and permanent return to the pay- 

 ment of specie into and out of the Treasury in ail 

 Federal transactions. 



3. A system of revenue, taxation, and assessment 

 which, while it shall provide ample means to meet 

 the public expenditures and obligations, shall assume 

 the protection of certain national interests against 

 the destructive competition of foreign productions, 

 especially insisting that the capital and labor em- 

 ployed in the production of the national staples of 

 sugar and rice should be included among any articles 

 entitled to such protection. 



4. The just apportionment of Federal appropria- 

 tions for national works of internal improvement. 

 Taking into account the immense advances received 

 by our more fortunate sister States during the period 

 when Democratic domination denied to the Southern 

 States their just share of the common fund, such a 

 measure of equalization would justify national aid 

 to a Southwestern Pacific Kailroad and branches, to 

 the protection by levees of the capital and labor 

 employed in the culture of cotton, sugar, and rice, 

 and to the effectual navigation of the Mississippi 

 Eiver, its principal tributaries, and its outlet. 



Resolutions were also adopted declaring that 

 the delegates to the National Convention 

 should be left untrammeled in their action, ex- 

 pressing approval of the Administration of 

 President Grant, and declaring the Hon. O. P. 

 Morton was " entitled to the warm gratitude 

 of the Republicans of all the Southern States, 

 and especially of Louisiana." Opposition was 

 declared to the Hawaiian treaty, and the fol- 

 lowing was also among the resolutions adopted : 



Resolved, That the assassination of many hundreds 

 of prominent Union men in the South on account of 

 their political principles, the massacre of thousands 

 of inoffensive colored citizens, the relegation of 

 nearly all the Southern States to the control of the 

 disloyal elements whose treason brought about the 

 war, and the election of a national Congress largely 

 composed of ex-leaders of the Confederate army, 

 indicate grave national dangers, which demand the 



enactment of such additional laws, and the enforce- 

 ment of such a policy, as shall secure to every citizen 

 of the United btates, in fact as well as in name, the 

 inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of 

 happiness, irrespective of his political views, and 

 irrespective of race, color, or previous condition of 

 servitude. 



The Republican Convention for the nomina- 

 tion of candidates for State offices began at 

 New Orleans on Tuesday, June 27th. There 

 were two prominent factions, and a permanent 

 organization was not effected until the follow- 

 ing Saturday, when P. B. S. Pinchback was 

 chosen president. On the same day a plat- 

 form was adopted, consisting of the following 

 statements, and a reaffirm ation of the princi- 

 ples declared at the previous convention : 



1. The Republican party of Louisiana, in conven- 

 tion assembled, reaffirm the tenets and principles 

 of the national Eepublican part}' as declared from 

 time to time, and especially^ as enunciated in the 

 platform adopted at the National Convention held 

 at Cincinnati, June 14, 1876. We particularly com- 

 mend and indorse the declaration that the United 

 States of America is a nation and not a league, and 

 that upon the nation devolves the duty of protect- 

 ing the citizens of the United States in all their 

 rights, at home and abroad ; thus maintaining fully 

 the Constitution of the United States and the amend- 

 ments thereto. 



2. We hail the nomination of Governor Eutherford 

 B. Hayes with pleasure and pride, believing that in 

 his elevation to the presidency the country will 

 secure an Administration which will maintain the 

 rights of all classes of citizens of the republic, and 

 which will administer the government economically 

 and execute the laws faithfully. We are not less 

 gratified at the nomination for Vice-President of 

 William A. Wheeler, whose reputation as a Eepub- 

 lican and character as a statesman are national. In 

 our ticket we see a guarantee of success. We in- 

 dorse and ratify it. 



3. The Republican party of Louisiana are in full 

 accord with the national Eepublican party upon all 

 financial questions as declared in the Cincinnati 

 platform ; and we believe that during the Adminis- 

 tration of President Hayes a resumption of specie 

 payment can be effected through a return to general 

 commercial and productive prosperity throughout 

 the Union. 



Two more days were occupied in making 

 nominations and agreeing upon a State Central 

 Committee. The ticket for State officers final- 

 ly accepted was : For Governor, S. B. Packard ; 

 for Lieutenant-Governor, C. 0. Antoine; for 

 Secretary of State, Emile Honor6 ; for Auditor, 

 George B. Johnson ; for Attorney-General, W. 

 H. Hunt ; for Superintendent of Education, 

 W. G. Brown. The candidates for presiden- 

 tial electors were: J. H. Burch, William P. 

 Kellogg, at large; and L. A. Sheldon, Peter 

 Joseph, Morris Marks, A. B. Levissee, O. H. 

 Brewster, and Oscar Joffrion, from the dis- 

 tricts. P. B. S. Pinchback was made chairman 

 of the State Central Committee. 



The Democratic nominating convention was 

 held at Baton Rouge, beginning on the 24th 

 of July, and continuing four days. The report 

 of the Committee on Credentials was not made 

 until the third day, and then organization was 

 promptly effected, and the following platform 

 adopted : 



