LOUISIANA. 



LOWELL, JAMES R. 



467 



ing to the Agricultural and Mechanical College, 

 and has also 136 $1,000 bonds of the State, 

 and one of the city of New Orleans, which for- 

 merly belonged to the university. No provis- 

 ion has been made for the payment of interest 

 on the latter for some time. The Board of Su- 

 pervisors of the institution directed the Secre- 

 tary of State and State Treasurer, who were 

 custodians of the bonds, to present them to the 

 Board of Liquidation for funding, but they re- 

 fused. A mandamus was obtained requiring 

 them to do so, and then the Board of Liquida- 

 tion declined to fund the bonds. Steps are to 

 be taken to have the whole subject determined 

 oy the Supreme Court. 



The Board of State Engineers, created by 

 an act of the last Legislature, has in charge the 

 business of constructing and repairing the 

 levees. There is a three-mill tax specially 

 levied to meet the expense of this work. The 

 board had contracted before the close of the 

 year for the construction of 1,030,000 cubic 

 yards at an average cost of 22f cents per yard. 

 It is estimated that 1,475,000 cubic yards will 

 have to be built in 1878. The contract with the 

 old Levee Company has been annulled, and the 

 settlement of accounts with it has been left to 

 the Board of Liquidation. 



There was a slight excitement in the parish 

 of Calcasieu in the early summer, occasioned 

 by the seizure by officers of the United States 

 of timber in the lands of private persons, which, 

 it was alleged, had been taken from govern- 

 ment lands. There was at first some slight 

 resistance to the action of the deputy marshals, 

 but it speedily ceased. The timber taken, in 

 the form of logs, was sold on government ac- 

 count, and further depredations prevented. 



A meeting was held in New Orleans early 

 in October by the "friends of immigration." 

 A committee was appointed to make arrange- 

 ments for a convention to be held January, 

 1878, at which delegates from all parts of the 

 State should be present. The object of the 

 convention was declared to be "to procure 

 such action by the Legislature of the State as 

 will invite, encourage, and foster immigration 

 to the State of Louisiana." 



The case of John 0. Moncure against An- 

 toine Dubuclet, involving the right to the 

 office of State Treasurer under the election of 

 1874, to which reference was made in the 

 preceding volume of this work, was decided in 

 favor of Moncure by the Sixth District Court 

 of the parish of Orleans. It was then removed 

 to the United States Circuit Court, on petition 

 of Dubnclet, but in December was remanded 

 to the State court on the ground that no suffi- 

 cient reason was shown for the transfer. Judge 

 Billings in decision said: "There is no doubt 

 but that the defendant here intended by his 

 affidavit to admit that the laws and methods 

 of proceeding in the courts of Louisiana were 

 without any discrimination on the ground of 

 race, for the laws and the Constitution make 

 them available to all races alike. If there b 



any discrimination from other sources than 

 the system of laws, or the methods by which 

 they are put in operation, it would not be a 

 good ground for the removal under the law of 

 Congress." 



^Vhen the Legislature of 1878 met on Janu- 

 ary 8th, there were in the Senate 36 members 

 of whom 20 were Democrats and 16 Republi- 

 cans, the seat of one of the Republicans being 

 contested ; in the House there were 64 Demo- 

 crats, 62 Republicans, and 2 Independents, 

 while returns from two parishes had not been 

 received. The right of six of the Republicans 

 to their seats was contested. Speaking of the 

 circumstances under which the session opened 

 Governor Nicholls said in his message : 



To-day peace and quiet prevail throughout the 

 State. Political excitement has ended: the voice 

 of the people is everywhere respected ; the rights of 

 all are fully guaranteed; the laws, through the in- 

 strumentality of the courts, are properly and impar- 

 tially administered and enforced ; and, in spite of 

 the unpropitious season, which has disappointed the 

 expectations of our agriculturists, and marred to 

 some extent the bright material prospects of 1877, 

 there exists a strong feeling of hope, relief, and con- 

 tent among all classes in Louisiana. 



His message closed with the following pro- 

 test : 



1 cannot close without entering my solemn pro- 

 test against the action of a majority of the United 

 States Senate, under the forms of the Constitution, 

 in refusing to Louisiana the representation in that 

 body to which she was entitled, by rejecting the 

 claim to a seat therein of the Hon. Henry M. Srofford, 

 who was elected by you in accordance with the Con- 

 stitution and laws of this Stole and of the United 

 States, with exceptional unanimity. 



LOWELL, JAMES RUSSELL, appointed Minis- 

 ter to Spain by President Hayes, in June, 1877. 

 Mr. Lowell is a member of one of the oldest 

 and most distinguished families of Massachu- 

 setts. It is descended from Percival Lowell, 

 a merchant, who emigrated from Bristol, Eng- 

 land, in 1639, and settled in Newbnry, where 

 he died, in 1665. Among his descendants are : 

 I. JOHN LOWELL (1743-1802), statesman and 

 judge, who was the son of the Rev. John Low- 

 ell, the first minister of Newbnryport ; II. 

 JOHN, lawyer and political writer, son of the 

 preceding (1769-1840); III. FRANCIS CABOT, 

 merchant, brother of the preceding (1775- 

 1817); IV. JOHN, Jr., founder of the Lowell 

 Institute in Boston, eon of the preceding (1799- 

 1886); V. CHARLES, clergyman, son of Judge 

 John Lowell (1782-1861); VI. MART, author- 

 ess, daughter of the preceding, and wife of 

 Samuel R. Putnam, a merchant of Boston, who 

 died in 1861 (1810-); VII. ROBERT TRAILL 

 SPBNOE, author and clergyman, brother of the 

 preceding (181 6-). VIII. JAMES RUSSELL is the 

 brother of the two preceding, and was born in 

 Cambridge, Mass., February 22, 1819. He 

 graduated at Harvard College in 1838, and re- 

 cited a " Class Poem," which was printed in 

 1889, and which contained many strokes of 

 vigorous satire and muoh sharp wit. He stud- 

 ied law in Harvard Uni*erty, was admitted 



