State Colored Men's Convention

State Colored Men's Convention

Article

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1873.LA-11.18.NEWO

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STATE COLORED MEN'S CONVENTION.

Pursuant to the call issued by the Hon. William G. Brown, calling a convention of the colored men of the State to meet in this city yesterday, Monday, the seventeenth day of November, 1873, for the purpose of taking the necessary steps looking to the protection and continuance of the State administration, and also to elect delegates to the National Colored Men's Convention, called to meet in the city of Washington in December next, the delegates representing the different congressional districts assembled at twelve o'clock in the Mechanics' Institute.

Hon. William G. Brown called the convention to order, and occupied the attention of the delegates for a short time, confining his remarks more to explanatory topics of the duties the convention was called upon to perform than to subjects foreign thereto. At the conclusion of his remarks. Mr. Brown called upon Hon. T. B. Stamps, of Jefferson, to act as temporary chairman of the convention.

Mr. A. Bertonneau, of Orleans, moved that a committee of two be appointed to escort the chairman to the platform. which motion being carried, the chair appointed Messrs. A. Bertonneau, of Orleans, and A. Williams, of East Baton Rouge.

Mr. Stamps, on taking the chair, delivered an eloquent and elaborate speech, in which he thanked the convention for the honor that body had conferred upon him and stated that he hoped that the proceedings of the convention would be characterized by harmony and good feeling among its delegates.

Captain W. H. Green, of Orleans, moved that J. Minor Holland, of Orleans, be elected as temporary secretary.

Mr Henry Demas, of St. John, nominated Mr. Charles A. Baquie, of Orleans.

Mr. Baquie, being present, thaked the convention and declined the nomination.

Mr. A. S. Henderson was subsequently elected as assistant to Mr. Holland.

Colonel R. B. Baquie, of Orleans, moved the appointment of a committee on credentials to be composed of thirteen delegates, which motion being adopted, the chair appointed the following committee:

COMMITTEE ON CREDENTIALS.

First Congressional District—William H. Green, P. Z. Canonge, A. Bertonneau, of Orleans.

Second Congressional District—R. B. Baquie, William G. Brown, W. G. Elliot, of Orleans

Third Congressional District—Henderson Turley, of East Baton Rouge: John Gair, of East Feliciana.

Fourth Congressional District—C. C. Antoine, of Caddo; George Y. Kelso, of Rapides.

Fifth Congressional District—David Young, of Concordia; William Murrell, of Madison.

Hon. J. Henri Burch, of East Baton Rouge, moved the adoption of the rules of the State House of Representatives for the government of this convention.

The motion was adopted unanimously.

Hon. Henry Demas, of St. John the Baptist, moved that the chair appoint a committee on permanent organization, to be composed of nine delegates. Carried.

The chair thereupon appointed the following committee on permanent organization:

Henry Demas, of St. John the Baptist, chairman; W.P. Green, of Jefferson; T.T. Allain, of East Baton Rouge; David Douglas, of Orleans; W.T. Southard. of Ouachita; F.C. Antoine, of Orleans; P.G. Deslonde, of Iberville; A. Dejoie, of Orleans; R.J. Walker, of Tensas.

The conventlon, on motion of Hon. C.C. Antoine, took a recess of thirty minutes to allow the different committees to prepare their reports.

After Recess.

At the expiration of the recess the convention was again called to order, Hon. T. B. Stamps in the chair.

The committee on credentials submitted its report, which was adopted by the convention.

Mr. Allain, of East Baton Rouge, moved that the report of the committee on credentials be received and adopted, and that the list of delegates submitted by the committee be made the roll of the convention.

The report of the committee on permanent organization was subsequently submitted, recommending the election of the following named gentlemen as the permanent officers of the convention: For president, Hon. C. C. Antoine, of Caddo; for vice president. W.F. Southard, of Ouachita; for secretary, J. Minor Holland, of Orleans; for assistant secretary, A. S. Henderson, of Orleans; for sergeant-at-arms, Paul W. Dunbar; assistants, John Mason and Joseph Boutte; doorkeepers, J.B. Keller and Joseph Sarotield.

Mr. Johnson, of Orleans, moved that the president appoint one vice president from each congressional district. Lost.

At this stage of the proceedings three enthusias.ic cheers of "Viva Cuba" started from the lips of the delegates and also from the crowd in the lobby, caused by the sudden appearance in the lobby of the Cuban General Rafael Quesada, accompanied by Dr. J. G. Hava, agent of Cuba, Dr. Joaquim De Zayas, Senor Santiago Lapeyra and Senor Luis Cabaleiro.

These gentlemen were escorted by the Hon. James Lewis, the Administrator of Improvements of the city of New Orleans. The convention immediately passed a vote cordially inviting the representatives of the Estrella de las Antillas to seats on the platform. which the General and his escort accepted; and they ascended the platform amid deafening cheers of applause.

The convention resuming its business, a committee, consisting of Messrs. T. T. Allain, J.A. Gould and William Murrell, was appointed to escort the permanent president to the chair.

Hon. C.C. Antoine, on taking the chair, made a few appropriate remarks of thanks.

Mr. Allain offered a resolution to the effect that the president appoint a committee of fifteen on resolutions. Adopted.

The follwoing resolutions were offered by T.T. Allain, of East Baton Rouge:

Resolved. That as the sense of this con-

Resolved, That as the sense of this convention and the constituents thereof we acknowledge and return our sincere thanks and support to the national Republican party of the nation for the progress made by our race since their enfranchisement, and despite the terrible disabilities imposed upon them by years of bondage.

Resolved, That in the intelligence, just and patriotic appreciation of the rights and duties of citizenship is a subject of profound gratitude to God and of congratulation to the friends of humanity, and we find in the success that has attended our initial and earliest efforts as freemen not only encouragement for continued and hopeful endeavor in well-doing, but occasion and cause to return thanks to those of our white fellow citizens who have, irrespective of politics, welcomed and cheered us with there sympathy and approval of our struggles to meet the obligations and enjoy the privileges belonging to and growing out of our present condition as American citizens.

The above resolution has referred to the committee on resolutions.

Mr. David Young, of Concordia, was accorded the floor, and stated that he desired the unanimous consent of the convention to invite the Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback to address the convention.

The chair appointed the following committee to escort Senator Pinchback to the platform: Hon. David Young, of Concordia: F.W. Barrington, of Ouachita: T.T. Allain, of East Baton Rouge: C.F. Ladd, of Orleans; William Murrell, of Madison; Peter Joseph, of Orleans.

Senator Pinchback mounted the platform amidst the cheers and applause of the assemblage. Steping forward on the stand Senator Pinchback preceded to state that owing to the importance of the occasion, and this being an opportunity which seldom presents itself for free and candid expression, he had though it proper, quite contrarily to his habits, to have for the occasion a prepared address, in which he had reviewed the most vital points concerning the obligations that this convention was called upon to fulfill. After a few words of apology, pronounced with that placid and

self-possessed manner characteristic of the gentleman, Senator Pinchback spoke as follows:

SPEECH OF SENATOR PINCHBACK

Mr. President and gentleman of the convention—The forcibleness of our utterances depend, among other considerations, largely upon the propriety of the same. He who speaks in harmony with the occasion can not speak without force.

Governed by this maxim, I would in my remarks make only such suggestions as are pertinent to the purposes for which this convention is assembled.

You are here, gentlemen, specifically to strengthen the existing State government of Louisiana, and thereby more effectually guard your political rights.

A speech, therefore, somewhat political in its tone is allowable; but there are other matters, not political, which may be furthered and should be furthered by your assembling.

Political

A retrospect of our political affairs is encouraging.

More than a year ago the people of this State, at the polls, indicated the officers who should constitute the government of the State for the current term, and who, under the constitution, should be, in the interest of the whole people, charged with the enactment and administration of the laws. I, with others among you, took part in the initial organization of the present State government.

It was born in a storm, and has lived and grown strong, though surrounded by turbulence, because possessed of the innate strength that right always gives, and further, supported by the strong arms and patriotic impulses of the Republicans of Louisiana. Twelve months ago it was a babe in swaddling clothes; to-day its healthy infancy has developed into vigorous manhood, and supported by the majority of the masses and in harmony with the national authority, the present State administration of Louisiana bids fair to be an eminent success. .

Positively assured of a large majority of registered Republican voters in the State, and knowing that our republicanism was too real and intelligent to permit votes to be either idle or diverted from Republican ends, we claimed in the beginning of the contest a Republican victory in the elections of November last. This assured fact, though clouded to some extent by the illegal withholding of the official returns in many cases, has since been made clear and unquestionable by the developments made by the State registrar of voters and his associates. It now appears, from irrefutable evidence, that there was actually cast a majority for the Republican candidates of not less than 15,000.

The temper developed in our present contest reminds me of the bitterness of the opposition met by us as people on the occasion of our enfranchisement.

Liberated from a bondage terrible in its exactions and strong in its age and prejudices by the great American people, who were prepared for this crowning act of their greatness by the exigencies of a great war, the ruptured political and social relations of 4,000,000 people placed for solution before the nation a problem hitherto unsolved. Four millions of former slaves, without property, without experience and in their infancy, were suddenly forced to assume the full responsibility of full manhood.

The Republican party, sustained by the nation, declared that this people, charged with the burdens of manhood, should have its prerogatives; they should not only be free, but citizens and suffragans, and the constitutional amendments and reconstruction acts were adopted to render this citizenship possible and operative.

Our progress has vindicated the wisdom of this course. But we know, nevertheless, that the proposition to enfranchise the colored people of America met with an opposition little less bitter than the act of their liberation itself. If the necessity of the constitutional amendments and the acts to enforce the same needed vindication additional to that already given, it would be found in the conduct of the anti-Republican party of this State in November last, in which those who have heretofore opposed freedom to the enslaved and then opposed suffrage to the liberated, and determined that the suffrage which had been conferred should not be exercised by us freely and without intimidation.

We owe our successes, gentlemen, under God, first to ourselves. Without abatement to the meed or dues of the true men that helped us in our distress, I affirm we possessed the elements in ourselves that needed the occasion only of a great revolution to develop them.

The colored race of America, in their individual manhood, furnished an aggregate of political and commercial forces that, in contact with and under the quickening influence of a Christian civilization, like seeds in the field of the husbandman, maturing and ready to germinate, needed but the summer of liberty to spring into life and fruitfulness, and the wisdom of the American people, even more than their mercy, was demonstrated when they took us up.

Still, while truth and manhood requires this statement, we have had generous and powerful friends, and it is meet and our bounden duty to thank them for what they have done.

We can not name them all; we owe much to every Senator, Congressman and citizen who has spoken the truth in our behalf, to every paper that has published it, to every man, woman and child that has prayed that the truth might prevail, but, after each has received his meed of praise, we owe most for our present success to President Grant, who, aided by his noble Cabinet, when our condition was chaotic and undefined and our peril most imminent, with the clear head of an honest man grasped the true philosophy of our case, promptly accepted the responsibility that devolved upon him and, despite the hesitating and uncertain action of Congress and in the face of vilification and abuse, has stood in the breach and like "the beaten anvil to the stroke" has been true to his duties as embraced in the constitution and the laws.

Industrial

The material prosperity of the country as much concerns us as it does any white citizen, and we are under equally as strong obligations to build up the industry of the country.

I propose, gentlemen, to call the attention of this convention to certain great industrial and commerical enterprises which vitally affect not only the interests of you and I, and our children but the State of Louisiana and the States of the Mississippi valley—enterprises which we can further, and which we can not afford to ignore, I shall have something to say on this questions levees, of an outlet from the Mississippi to the Gulf, and of a revision of the treaties now existing with the West Indies and other Spanish American countries.

Why speak of these? Because they are all necessary in handling and distributing the material products or values of this and our sister States of the Mississippi valley.

We are hardly prepared at present to appreciate the magnitude of these material interests. A few statistics will aid you in forming a correct judgment of the same.

The surface drained by the Mississippi exceeds 750,000 square miles, being territory enough to make several States as large as Louisiana, besides many States not drained by this river are dependent upon it, to furnish an inlet for their tropical supplies. The population of this area is more than 16,000,000, almost half the population of the United States. In the year 1869 its food production was:

Indian corn................................650,000,000

Wheat....................................180,000,000

Rye........................................ 4,000,000

Oats......................................... 170,000,000

Barley..................................... 14,000,000

Buckwheat................................ 5,000,000

Potatoes.................................. 40,000,000

Total............................... 1,063,000,000

The animal food received in Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati and New York from the West amounted in the aggregate to 1,136,502 head of cattle. There were also of hogs

packed at the same time, more than 4,000,000. Add to this the manufactures of the four chief cities of the valley, St Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago and Louisville, $450,000,000; add to this the amount of coal, iron, lead, copper, salt, lumber, cotton and tobacco; this, the product of an empire little longer under man's culture than half a century, is but the earnest of the great bulk of values soon to come with the rapidly increasing population and the wonderfully multiplying and improving appliances that the genius of man is originating for the creation of wealth.

In handling and distributing values, such as sugar, cotton, rice and tobacco, the levee question, especially to Louisiana, and largely to Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee and portions of Missouri, is a question of vital importance. The great Father of Waters, that has borne upon his bosom the fertilizing elements that in the course of time have been deposited and made the alluvium that constitutes our most fruitful heritage, sometimes wastes as lavishly as he bestows. The floods sweep away the fruits of the husbandman's labor. Men will not plant where they can not gather, nor sow where they can not reap; security to the products of their labor must be afforded to stimulate the laborer to work. How ill you protect these fertile lands from overflow.

The expedient of cut-offs has long since been abandoned, and the highest engineering authorities have decided that an adequate and complete system of levees will alone meet this want, and afford the protection sought.

The individual States are not able to bear the burdens of building and maintaining levees necessary for the protection of their people. Private capital, acting in corporate form, under State charters, can not be trusted with a work of such magnitude as is required, nor would it be able, without crushing exactions upon the people, to bear the heavy burden of expense that the management of the levees would involve. The cost of construction and maintenance is so great and the importance of the interest so grave that the work attains national proportion, and will never be adequately and satisfactorily executed except by the general government, or under its supervision.

We should therefore urge Congress to nationalize in some form the levees of the Mississippi and its tributaries.

Protection secured to the products of the valley from overflow, the next question of importance is to find an outlet from this inland sea to the gulf, and thence to the markets of the world for our surplus products.

Heretofore various methods have been adopted to remove the obstructions at the mouth of the river, but dredging has been mainly relied upon, and the national government has annually for some time made appropriations to that end. And it is due to the present competent management of the federal dredges at the passes of the Mississippi river to say that the result of dredging this season has given great satisfaction to the commercial community, and this method has more nearly met the demands of commerce than in any year previous to its adoption; but the system is defective and incapable of giving the depth of water demanded for a prosperous commerce. Besides, it is expensive and continuous, depending upon a constantly recurring appropriation of public money, and said appropriation of public money, and said appropriation, in its turn, depending upon a varying public opinion and a changing majority in the national Congress.

These seventeen million people of the valley, with their thousands of millions of annual products, demand an outlet commensurate and assured, that no political combinations can disturb; and such an outlet, in the judgment of the most accomplished engineers of the United States, is to be found by an artificial channel or ship canal from the Mississippi river, at or near Fort St. Philip, and running thence six or seven miles to Breton island sound.

Canals as a means of efficient and cheap transportation are neither new nor experimental. The Chinese, more than a thousand years ago, conceived and executed a system of canals many hundreds of miles in length, and the same are in successful operation to this day. Holland adopted the system in the twelfth century, and owes its prosperity to the same. In the fifteenth century was constructed in Lombardy a

canal that made the Lombards a commercial people. England, in 1755, built her first canal, and has at present more than two thousand miles of canals in successful operation. France, under Louis XIV., projected and carried out the great enterprise of connection the waters of the Bay of Biscay and the Mediterranean, and this canal, several hundred miles in length, is one of the most successful works of its kinds. The Suez canal, lately constructed under French and Egyptian auspices, at a cost between eighty and ninety millions of dollars is one of the grandest enterprises of the age, furnishing water communication by a direct line of less than a hundred miles between Europe and Asia, which had previously been separated by fifteen thousand miles. The Erie canal, Chesapeake and Ohio, and the James River and Kanawha canals in the United States, aggregating more than a thousand miles, and constructed at the expense of more than a hundred millions of dollars, abundantly attest the success and utility of canals as a cheap and reliable highway of traffic.

The Fort St. Philip project is not a new scheme, having been a matter of investigation and survey since 1831 to the present time, surveys and estimates having been made during that period by both the United States and the State of Louisiana looking to its construction, and the estimates of cost ranging from $3,500,000 to $10,000,000.

The public mind, no less than the public needs, demands outlets for the constantly increasing values of the fertile lands of the Mississippi and its tributaries to the gulf and to the Atlantic. New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk and Savannah have projected systems by which they propose to meet the demands for cheap freight, depending for the completion of the lines of transportation to these terminal points upon a combination of the upper lakes with canals completed partially or in full, or in combination with railroads, minor rivers and projected canals to the Atlantic seaboard. New Orleans and Louisiana present the Mississippi river, supplemented by the Fort St. Philip canal as a cheap highway of traffic, in some sort a competitor of the routes indicated, but having independent merits that demand and justify national aid, even if each of the other routes should receive the same.

Congress is already favorable considering this project, and with united and earnest co-operation on our part the work will be done. When we have given protection and security by a perfected system of levees, and afforded access to the markets of the world for our products by securing an outlet through the designed canal, that the full benefits of commerce will accrue to us, the present oppressive tariffs imposed upon American industries in our nearest markets, Cuba and South American countries should be removed. To this end existing treaties should be revised by Congress and action taken to secure such modifications therein as will place us upon relations with those countries of reciprocal trade. The valley States need and should demand a reciprocity treaty with the countries south of us similar to that now exist between the United States and Canada, by which the Eastern, Middle and lake States are so much benefited. Our opponents assume that we have no substantial interest in the material prosperity of the country, we are supposed, because not as a rule wealthy, nor owning large landed estates, to be indifferent to the building up of the country in wealth, and not to feel any interest in its permanent growth, provided only, that the simple wants of the hour are met. In my judgment this is a mistake, an unauthorized ignoring of our value in the work of making Louisiana a great State, and the United States a great nation. When 4,000,000 of people were freed, $4,000,000,000 of property was not, as is generally supposed by this class of the community, destroyed; but the ownership thereof was

changed, so that 4,000,000 of people should own it, instead of 300,000 as formerly.

We are not insignificant and uninfluential elements, gentlemen, in the prosperity of Louisiana; all its industries feel our presence and would languish without our help. We are important commercially now, more than ever, as consumers. As bondsmen we consumed annually $80,000,000, as freeman $320,000,000, and to that extent we stimulate and build up the prosperity of the country. By the accepted tables upon the subject, an able-bodied emigrant in the West is supposed to be worth $850 annually to the wealth of the country. We, a people with muscle and endurance, and furnishing a million sturdy workers of equal value with the Western emigrant, bring to the country's great aggregate of products, in the many forms that our energies assume, annually, $850,000,000.

If domestic violence or foreign wars demanded a rally around the country's flag, we could furnish a half million of strong arms and brave hearts for the service.

Whether as a soldier, a consumer or a producer, our value and status are fixed. Honorable and influential, we can no more shirk the duties of the situation than we can afford to forego its privileges and abandon its rights.

An additional reason for my claiming your attention to these commercial questions is that in them, directly and indirectly, is found the guarantee of our social, civil and political rights. The immediate effect of pressing and perfecting the commercial enterprises particularly referred to, is that that the Mississippi, cutting our State and washing the borders of our chief city, will be the channel through which the intelligent and unprejudiced millions of the West and Northwest will ship their products to Europe and receive return products through the same channel therefor. The millions of values changed and interchanged will be followed by millions of owners, with large and liberal ideas.

The attention of thought and personal contact will wear off and destroy insensibly but surely all prejudices founded on color, so that we shall no longer exercise the rights guaranteed by the constitution and the laws with misgivings and under sufferance, but as freely and fully as though we had inherited the same for generations.

Gentle men of the convention, permit me in conclusion to be somewhat personal. I Think I have reached a just and sober estimate relative to the future of my race. Our condition is almost inconceivably better than before our enfranchisement, but we would come short of a correct conception of our condition, if under the exuberant and joyful feelings of a new found liberty we should count our lives a holiday. Freedom has brought not only its joys, but its duties and its cares. Neither liberty nor citizenship are the portions of children, but of men, and it becomes us, in the just appreciation of our high estate, to struggle earnestly for individual advancement in intelligence and in the virtues that adorn the freeman and for the public good.

Gratefully appreciating what my party and my country have done for me, and highly prizing the continued and generous confidence that my people have given me, I propose in the future, as in the past, never to give up the ship nor forsake my people, but in the new sphere in which I am called to serve them to give my best endeavors and watchful care to their interest and never to cease my labors until Hon. Charles Sumner's civil rights bill has become a law and free Cuba is a part of our great country.

At the conclusion of his address three rousing cheers were given for Senator Pinchback.
The next speaker was Hon. James Lewis, who, after occupying the floor for a few minutes, moved that committees be appointed to carry out several points mentioned in Senator Pinchback's address.

Mr. W. H. Green followed, and after a short, but remarkably able speech, moved that, in addition to the above committees, a committee of five on statistics be appointed by the president. Adopted.

Mr. Burch moved that the address of Senator Pinchback be adopted as the expression of the sentiments and will of this convention.

Hon. James Lewis took the floor and urged the appointment of the committee proposed by him.

The question recurring upon Mr. Burch's motion, it was submitted to the convention and referred to the committee on resolutions.

Mr. Stamps moved that Senator Pinchback's address be referred to the committee on resolutions. Adopted.

Captain Canonge, of Orleans, offered a resolution inviting the Hon. J. R. West, United States Senator, and Hon. W. P. Kellogg, Governor of Louisiana, to address the convention to-day. Adopted.

Previous to adjournment the following committees were announced:

Committee on resolutions—A. Bertonneau, W. H. Green, H. Mahoney, T. A. Cage, W. G. Brown, T. B. Tramps, T. T. Allain, John Gair, J. Henri Burch, R. Blunt, William Harper, George Y. Kelso, William Murrell, T. W. Barrington, James Lewis.

Committee on nominations—Ed Butler, A. Bertonneau, W. G. Brown, C. F. Ladd, L. A. Fullen, John Gair, J. W. Armstead, Joseph Connaughton, G. B. Hamlet, J. E. Burton.

On motion the convention adjourned to meet again at 11 A. M. to-day.

COLORED MEN'S CONVENTION.

Second Day.

The convention was called to order at 11:30 A. M. by President C. C. Antoine.

Prayer was offered by Rev. Mr. Thompson.

A motion to take a recess until noon was lost.

Secretary Holland called the roll, and thirty two parishes answered. All the wards of Orleans parish responded.

The minutes of the first day's proceedings were read, and, after a correction or two, were approved.

On motion of Mr. Johnson, of Orleans, several gentlemen, Cuban patriots, were invited to take seats on the platform. Mr. B. F. Joubert and Mr. John Lynch were also invited. The gentlemen responded.

Mr. D. Young, of Concordia, moved that all smoking be prohibited. His motion was carried.

Mr. S. B. Hamlet, of Oaxchita, offered a resolution petitioning the United States Congress to establish a district court in the northern part of Louisiana. Referred.

Mr. C. S. Rains, of Claiborne, offered a resolution concerning the law furnishing homesteads to actual settlers. Referred.

Resolution by the member from Iberville, tendering sympathy to the Cuban strugglers for freedom, was adopted. The American flag is to be placed at half-mast in memory of the slaughtered.

By Mr. Burch—A resolution looking to the reduction of taxes. Referred.

A motion to suspend the rules to take up Mr. Burch's resolution was carried. The resolution was adopted.

Mr. Young, of Concordia, desired to have some of the most important resolutions acted on immediately.

Carried, and the rules were suspended.

Mr. Raby, of Natchitoches, called up the resolutions on Grant and Cuba.

Objection was made, and Mr. Burch made the point that the rules had been suspended to read his resolutions, but he would not force them.

The resolutions of Mr. Raby were read

Mr. Gair, of East Felciana, in the chair.

Mr. Isabelle, of Orleans, moved the resolutions be referred to the committee on resolutions.

The chair decided the motion out of order, the resolutions having just been called up from that committee.

the resolutions having just been called up from that committee.

Mr. Murrell, of Lafoniche, then addressed the meeting on the subject of Cuba.

Mr. Ward, of Grant, desired the convention should know that the condition of affairs in his parish.

Mr. Murrell, of Madison, commenced to tell about affairs in his parish, and was interrupted on the point that the affairs of Cuba were before the house. He continued, however, and made an eloquent appeal to the convention to consider these outrages. He moved the adoption of the resolutions.

Mr. Burch then addressed the convention, and deprecated inflammatory speeches of any kind. It was not the purpose of this convention to ask that troops be sent anywhere. The outrages of these parishes were terrible, but the government was putting out its hand to prevent them. He would not vote for any resolution containing an implied censure of the government.

He appealed to the convention in the name of freedom, of justice, of hope and peace, in the future to keep steadily in view the single object of the meeting. He desired that every delegate should have an opportunity to make any address he saw fit. He closed with an eloquent appeal on behalf of free Cuba, and urged the adoption of the resolutions.

Mr. Stamps, of Jefferson, asked that the resolutions be read again. He then offered an amendment.

The amendment was adopted and on the main question the resolutions were passed, as follows:

WHERAS, Many of our brethren have been most fully slaughtered for the political opinions in the parish of Grant, in this State, and

Whereas, There is proun for freedom now going on in the island of Cuba that deserves the captive attention of our people; be it

Resolved, That the sympathy of our people in convention assembled is heartily tendered to the bereaved families of our murdered brethren in Grant Parish, and be it further

Resolved, That we deplore with sorrow the treatment inflicted on our brethren for their political opinions, and we appeal to his excellency, the Governor, the Christian feeling of the American people, to use all legal measures in suppressing the lawlessness and depredations that have been committed and are now being committed in the various parishes of our State, and we ask all law abiding citizens to assist the legally

of taxation; therefore be it

Resolved, That this convention earnestly recommends to our Representatives in the General Assembly to repeal the present revenue laws of the State, and to enact such equitable measures as will relieve the people of the burdens, vexations and iniquities which characterize the present system, under which a portion of citizens are compelled to bear not only their own allotments of the public expenses, but also those of a large and increasing class of chronic delinquents.

The resolutions were adopted.

[Governor Antoine in the chair.]

T. T. Allain, chairman of the committee appointed to draft resolutions on the subject of the national convention of colored men, reported a resolution to elect twenty delegates from this convention, and that the convention separate into congressional districts for the purpose of election.

The resolutions were unanimously adopted.

Mr. Green announced to the convention that Governor Kellogg, Senator West and other distinguished guests were present.

The further action on the resolution was therefore postponed, and the gentlemen invited to the platform.

Among them were Attorney General Field, Hon. J. M. G. Parker, Senator Wharton, Hon. A. B. Harris, Senator Pinchback and others.

Mr. Green moved that Senator West be invited to address the convention.

Governor Antoine then introduced Senator West, who was received with cheers.

Senator West said:

Mr. President and Gentlemen—Allow me to express my acknowledgments for the compliment you extended to me in your invitation. When I was waited on last night I was deeply impressed with the importance of this meeting. When I read Senator Pinchback's able address this morning I was still more impressed. I feel it due to you to say that I recognize in i s amplest sense the right of the colored people to assemble in convention to devise means to protect themselves in the rights that God and the constitution of the United States guarantee them.

The war on you is not on account of your political opinions and actions, but because of your color. You have had the manhood to assert your freedom, the bravery to insist on your rights, and hence your offense. Although there are many of your old enemies who will now accord you your rights, there are still more of them whose sole doctrine is contained in the one sentence, they "don't intend to be under nigger rule."

This senseless and brutal idea is that which can not conceive that if it were not for the labor of the black man the State of Louisiana would be a desert waste. The time has passed when there is nothing to come out of the black man but the sweat of his body. Out of his brain are springing conceptions of life and liberty as high and noble as any ever conceived by man. The time has come for a reversal of the old sarcasm that the white man was as good as a black man if he behaved himself. I have a word of advice to my Fusion opponents—the black man is as good and equal to the white in all respects according to his behavior.

I have been less with you than I should like to be, but I am always with you in spirit. You have been told that it is improper, or shows a lack of prudence in holding a convention entirely of colored men. But you are warred on as colored men, and you should defend yourselves as such. Suppose you were Irish and were ostracised as such, or Germans, or French, or Italians, and you were attacked as such, would you not rally as such? What objection, then, is there to a convention of colored men? The best means of protecting ourselves is to establish and maintain the government of our choice. We know that Louisiana was Republican in November, and

Louisiana was Republican in November, and we have faith that our Redeemer liveth.

I am asked what I think of the Louisiana case in Congress. Why, Louisiana never had any case in Congress. She has no business there. We settled the case here. There are persons who think differently, and some of them will have their claims settled by the House of Representatives. When you ask the Congress of the United States to set an example, and impose on them the duty of settling a contested election in a State, you throw open so broad a door that I think even the most desperate Fusionist ought to shrink back in horror. I took occasion last evening to say that there was no man in Louisiana that I would offer a more cordial welcome than to Senator Pinchback. After reading his speech this morning, if it were in my power to select the man who would do Louisiana the most good, my choice would be Senator Pinchback.

I do not make these remarks to pander to any one, but you may rest assured that before thirty days Senator Pinchback will be in his seat in the Senate of the United States, and that will settle the Louisiana question.

It devolves on us, on you, to so conduct the affairs of government as to redeem Louisiana from oppression; that this State, paralysed by rebel power, may be galvanized into prosperity by the colored men of the Republican party. You must satisfy the people by giving them such a government that they will have nothing to complain of. We are citizens of Louisiana as well as they.

I am asked to say what Congress will do in regard to Cuba. Congress will do whatever the people desire. A member of Congress is just as much of a man and a citizen after he gets there as he was before it. It is the sentiment of the people that the time to act in the Cuban case has arrived. In my opinion the alternative will be presented to Spain to "sell that island to me or you will enter the humiliation of having it wrested from you by force." I was gratified to read what Grant said this morning. It reverberates the old expression of "I propose to immediately on your works." When a statesman contemplates the map he finds that Spain, England, France, Denmark and all powers have a foothold there except the United States. There is another reason why we should take it, the act will free 700,000 slaves. The Cuban problem will have to be reopened, and the blood of the martyrs will be the seed of the church.

This convention is about to send men to Washington. Now the atmosphere of that place is peculiar. You want men to go there for your advantage, not theirs. I trust the convention will be careful in their choice.

Senator West was listened to with eagerness and was frequently interrupted with enthusiastic applause.

Senator Burch then moved that a special vote of thanks be rendered Senator West for his address, and to the committee who invited him. Carried unanimously.

Governor Antoine then introduced his Excellency Governor Kellogg to the convention, which received him with enthusiasm.

Governor Kellog said:

I have listened with satisfaction to the remarks of Senator West. I see here two members of Congress, and I, like many here, desire to hear from them. They and I and your presiding officer constitute your government. They say we are on trial. I shall not say much on that point, because I think it is more appropriate to hear from our representatives. I am a part of you, and I must stand or fall with you, and I am glad it is so. I thank you for the compliment and the generous welcome you have given me. when these fiery signals of animosity have been around me for the past eight months. I lean with renewed confidence on the great heart of the Republican party as represented in this assemblage. That party has traveled footsore? for the past twelve months. The time is not far distant when I will return with you over the same ground. Life is full of changes and contrasts. One year ago we were denounced. One year ago today a court took jurisdiction of a case, and it is sufficient to say is is alone. It is a maxim of the common law that he who is entitled to the possession of a thing, no matter how he gets it, can not be dispossessed of it. The Times, an able and fair-minded journal, though opposed to as, says the colored people are Republican to a man. Then the Fusion registration shows they are a majority in the State of 9000. They have a right to be heard. I am glad to say they all vote and record their votes. Then, no matter what technicality of that case may be upset, it can't upset us.

The black man is politically as good as a white man, and though he may not be able to enter his parlor he has the right to go everywhere any man can go by paying for it: and any man who would deprave him of that right is a thief and a robber.

Governor Kellog then contrasted this convention with the one which which was to meet next week. He drew a parallel between the work they would try to do, and the contradictory progress they were engaged in. He gave a scathing review of the Legislatures of 1865, 1866 and 1867 which measured the State debt $16,700,000, when there was not a black man in it, and compared that with the later ones, very much to the disadvantage of the former. He implored his audiors to support him that he might not be in the position at the end of his term of being compelled to pay as Governor Roman and in 1842 (when there were no thieving carpet-baggers or ignorant negroes in the Legislature):

"I leave the office with which I have been honored with the painful conviction of having done very little for the good of the State, and having often failed in preventing what was injurious. It affords me some relief, however to be able to say that I have refused my signature to various bills which,

but for my disapproval, would have added to the debt of the State the sum of $7,185,000, and that the act which binds us to pay, without any consideration, $500,000 for the Clinton and Port Hudson railroad, does not bear my name."

We have done wrong, may be, but let not our Fusion antagonists forget their history. This government is administered justly and equally to all people, high and low, rich and poor, white and black. I say to you from the bottom of my heart, I expect your aid and support. We want economy, honest dealing, fair legislation given the people, a fair election from this time out, have harmony between the races, encourage the colored man to save his earnings, educate his children to become good citizens and good officers.

You only want the rights the law gives you, and we all join hands and lift up the good name of this commonwealth, which has been so slandered and denounced. We will march together to the triumph after our trials and tribulations are ever, and will clasp hands on the top of the mountain of victory.

Governor Kellogg's address was one of the most eloquent he ever delivered, and met the approval and aroused the enthusiasm of his entire audience.

Hon. T. T. Allain of West Baton Rouge, then moved that a special vote of thanks be tendered to Governor Kellogg, and the convention manifested its approval by a rising vote.

The convention, with tremendous cheers, rose up in a body, and teh Governor bowed his acknowledgements.

Colonel R. B. Baquie then called for General T. Morris Chester, who was present on the platform, to address the meeting.

General Coester then made a few remarks, as follows:

We regret the peculiar circumstances by which we are surrounded, which necessitates the assembling of colored conventions; but just as long as men are oppressed on account of their color, just as long as a right is abridged or a privilege is denied to the image of God carved in ebony, so long will justice and self-respect convoke colored conventions. We would be willing, now and forever, to disband every organization of whatever character among us, tinctured in the least with color, if our white fellow citizens would only set us the example. With the aid of their powerul public senti-

citizens would only set us the example. With the aid of their powerful public sentiment, they compel us, very much against our will, to be colored on board of steamboats, upon railways, at places of amusement, in hotels and under many other circumstances in violation of our civil rights; but upon the day of election, when officers are to be chose and honors are to be conferred, we are unblushingly asked to surrender our self respect - to forget our wrongs and outrages, the restraint upon our private and public rights, with every hotel closed against us, denied accommodations in first class saloons and upon steamboats, with degrading proscriptions upon railways and in places of amusement - we are solicited to elevate to positions of public trust the men who are responsible for our wrongs and who are doing everything in their power to perpetuate this most unholy crusade against our unfortunate people.

As the dove fears the hawk, as the lamb shudders at the approach of the wolf, and as men rush from pestilence and death, so do we dread political contact with our reactionary fellow citizens, so do we shrink with just apprehension from all associations with them, and so do we repudiate in our very souls the idea of supporting men who are always signing for "the good old times," and whose moral and political influence is still exerted in quickening the spirit of oppression. We are ready to united with all good elements of every color in developing the resources of the State in lightening the heavy burdens of the people in reduction of taxes consistent with public necessities: in diminishing the indebtedness of the State by a faithful application of the revenue; in increasing its credit by a sound financial system calculated to inspire popular confidence, and the many other matters tending to promote its prosperity, but the Mississippi will flow up stream, the waters of the ocean will become fresh, the sun will shine at midnight, and the moon beams at high noon, while thundering Niagara will reverse its impetuous course, before any political union can be consummated between us, unless they become converted to the gospel of freedom according to the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, including the civil rights bill.

Hon. J. Hale Sypher was then presented, and made a short address.

General Sypher remarked that he was too ill to speak, as he was suffering so severely from a headache as to be unable to see plain enough to recognize his friends. He called the attention of the auditors to the fact that their opponents never were satis-

parishes, the names being all from New Orleans.

Senator Burch said it was an insult to the convention for the member from Orleans to say that there was no one outside of that parish who was fit to represent him. He moved to lay the resolution on the table and called for the previous question.

Mr. Green said he was misunderstood. He did not wish it to be thought that these were the only ones fit to represent him. He had not intended to cause any ill feeling, and withdrew his resolution to restore harmony. He then moved the nomination by a rising vote of Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback, which was carried amid the wildest enthusiasm.

Senator Burch then nominated General Barber.

F. C. Antoine and W. G. Brown and many others were put in nomination, but it was impossible to catch the name or tell who nominated them.

Senator Pinchback, with a few well chosen words, poured oil on the troubled watera, and being listened to with marked attention, the election of Messrs. Barber, Brown and Antoine was had without difficulty.

Hon. J. E. Burton was then elected.

The delegates are as follows:

At large–Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback, General A. E. Barber, Hon. F. C. Antoine, Hon. W. G. Brown, Hon. J. E. Burton.

First Congressional District–C. W. Ringgold, J. L. Dupart, W. H. Greene.

Second Congressional District –C. F. Ladd, W. P. Greene, Edward Williams.

Third Congressional District–August Williams, Pierre Landry, Arthur Ahtoine.

Fourth Congressional District–W. F. Southard, William Murrell. Cain Sartain; alternates, Duncan Hill, Curtis Pollard, Scott Raines.

Fifth Congressional District–C. C. Antoine, Clifford Morgan, Raford Blunt.

The convention then adjourned until today at twelve o'clock.

State Colored Men's Convention

Third Day.

The convention was called to order at 12:!5 P.M., Governor C.C. Antoine in the chair.

Prayer was offered by Rev. Daniel Cain, of Baton Route.

The reading of the minutes of the previous meeting was dispensed with.

MR. T. W. Wickham offered a resolution that the convention proceed to the election of ten delegates, five white and five colored, to go to Washington to present the Louisiana case to Congress.

Mr. Green, of Orleans, offered an amendment, proposing the names of J.H. Ingraham, James Lewis, T.B. Stamps, J.H. Burch, James Longstreet, A.K. Johnson, John Ray, E.L. Weber, David Young and H.C. Dibble.

Mrs. Green subsequently withdrew his resolution, to be called up later.

Mr. Burtonneau, of Orleans, desired to add to the list the names of two more delegates to represent the Creole element of Louisiana. He nominated Hon. B.F. Joubert and E.C. Billings, Esq., and moved the committee be increased to twelve.

Mr. Ladd, of Orleans, desired to offer an amendment, which he believed would be satisfactory to the Creole element.

Points of order were raised by Mr. Gair, of East Feliciana, Mr. Allain, of West Baton Rouge, and Mr. Ladd called for the previous question.

Mr. Murrell, of Madison, desired to withdraw the name of General James Longstreet, as he would not be able to attend.

Mr. Gair then obtained the floor for ten minutes, by consent, on a privileged question. The question was how the convention could select the wisest brain. He deprecated the making of motions, like the previous question moved by Mr. Ladd, which prevented the proper discussion of affairs. He thought that New Orleans had been considered too much in these delegations. He asked the convention to vote down the previous question.

[Mr. Young, of Concordia, in the chair.]

Colonel Lewis was accorded the floor and was proceeding to address the convention.

Mr. Murrell, of Madison, made the point that the previous question should be voted on, but the convention refused to order the main question.

Colonel Lewis proceeded. He deprecated the attacks the gentlemen had made on the different opinions expressed. He only proposed to speak on the question of the committee of twelve. Mr. Joubert had stated he would be unable to attend at Washington. Other gentlemen had said the same thing. He thought not more than half the committee would be able to attend. The convention ought to select a committee with power to send those who were able to go.

Mr Burch state his name had been used as a member of that committee, and he wished to withdraw it. When the committee was organized it was a unit, and came

before the convention with clean hands. All the trouble has come from one ward of Orleans. The country members came to the city to get advice. Having resigned from the committee, he desired to speak his mind. He did not desire to be elected from a convention which at this moment stood before the country as not having power to grapple the question. The committee must not be made up from the discordant elements that had been offered. Better that they stay at home than go to Washington a disorganized body. Some of those composing a faction here would rather rule in hell than serve in Heaven. They opposed and scoffed at the country, and if it were not for the votes of the country for Kellogg these men wouldn't have a bone to pick. The city men may do very well to hold this convention three or four days, so that the country members would be forced to go home and they could have their own way. But if the country members make a charge on you you will never hold another convention in New Orleans. But the city and the country should not be opposed, they should be united and together work that the convention might not be a byword and a reproach. He was willing to have the chair appoint the committee, to have the interests of the party intrusted to Senator Pinchback or to any one who would represent harmony. He would not go to Washington as a member of a committee which would dis-eminate antagonistic ideas. He closed with an eloquent appeal to the convention to harmonize.

It was moved to lay the whole matter on the table.

[Governor Antoine in the Chair.]

Mr. Green briefly detailed the matter in its various stages, and moved that the whole matter be referred back to the committee.

No second.

Mr. Robert Ray, of East Feliciana, moved that the committee of twelve be appointed by the chair.

Seconded by a dozen members.

The main question was ordered.

The motion of Mr. Ray that the chair be authorized to appoint twelve delegates to proceed to Washington to represent the Louisiana case to Congress and to secure a full representation in that committee, was then put and carried.

A motion was made to reconsider the vote.

A motion to table that motion was carried.

Mr. Ladd moved that the convention hear the report of the committee on resolutions.

The motion was carried.

Mr. T.T. Allain, of West Baton Rouge,

chairman on the committee on resolutions and business, presented the report, and called on the secretary, W. G. Brown, to read it.

The report presented the following resolutions as substitutes for those which had been referred to the committee:

WHEREAS, The extraordinary and unparalleled attempts made to cheat the colored men of their right to register and to vote at the late election, and the robbery of the ballots after they were cast, and the systematic misrepresentation and inflammatory appeals made to the white people, both of this State and the country, for the purpose of revolutionizing our Republican State government and obtaining the sympathy of the Northern people, and thereby to influence Congress to set aside an election in which the Republican party of the State had been successful and our interests protected have rendered it imperative that we assemble to convention and in constitutional and organized form petition Congress to sustain the Republican party and government in its hard earned victory.

Resolved, That the claim made by the Republican party of the State of Louisiana of a victory at the election on the fourth of November, 1872, for offices, State and federal, [[gronnded] upon the well established fact of a large majority of registered Republican voters in the State, and the abundant evidence of successful efforts by intimidation and fraud to prevent the free registration and casting of said votes in thousands of instances, and the abstraction of votes after having been cast and the substitution of others in their stead, and the altering of returns has been triumphantly sustained by primary evidence, showing that despite of fraud and intimidation a large majority of votes were case for the Republican candidates, thus proving the legal claims of the present government to its tenure of office, and vindicating the action of the federal executive in sustaining the authority of the same.

Resolved,That not only the efforts of the anti Republican political elements of the South to prevent the bestowal of citizenship upon the freedmen demanded the interposition of Congress through the constitutional amendments and reconstruction acts for the protection of said newly liberated race, but the persistent efforts of the same classes in the South, aided by recreant so-called Republicans, to prevent the colored citizen from exercising, with hindrance or dictation, his rights as a suffragan, as exhibited in his recent election in this state, furnish additional vindication of the necessity and wisdom of the reconstruction and similar congressional acts.

Resolved, That in behalf of ourselves and constituents, we declare our continued adherence to the national Republican party

and our unabated confidence in President U.S. Grant and his administration, and in behalf of our people and ourselves we acknowledge our obligations to him for his just and clear appreciation of the true condition of affairs in Louisiana, and for the prompt and efficient support given thereafter to our State government; and we express the earnest hope that the national Congress, at its approaching session, will, as a matter due alike to truth and to the will of the great masses of the people of this State, sustain the action of the President in maintaining the present State government, by promptly admitting to his seat in the Senate of the United States Hon. P. B. S. Pinchback, the duly elected Senator from the State of Louisiana, and the several Republican Congressmen who were elected from said State on the fourth of November, 1872.

Resolved, That our heartfelt thanks are due and are hereby tendered to Senator O. P. Morton, the chairman of the United States Senate Committee on Elections and Qualifications, for his able report on the Louisiana case.

Resolved, That we appreciate highly the services of Senator J. R. West, not only in his watchful care of the interests of the State in the national Senate, but for the steadfastness with which he has fought for our rights in our present disturbed political condition, and we pledge him our continued support.

Resolved, That in the official conduct of Hon. E.H. Durrell, judge of the United States District Court, State of Louisiana, this convention recognizes the ability of an accomplished jurist and the patriotism of a profound statesman, and tenders to him, under the cloud of misapprehension and calumny to which he has been subjected by the venom of partisanship, the expression of its highest admiration and respect.

Resolved, That we pledge our hearty and undivided support to the State administration of which his Excellency William P. Kellogg is the head, feeling and knowing it to be the legally elected government by a majority of the votes cast at the election November 4, 1872, and that our congratulations are offered to him that, notwithstanding the stupendous obstacles he has had to encounter during the past year, his administration has been eminently successful: that our thanks are hereby tendered to him for his prompt approval of all laws passed during his administration for the protection of the rights of the citizens of this State.

Resolved, That the odious distinctions made and ostracisms practiced in various parts of this country on our people on account of color renders the passage by Congress of Hon. Charles Sumner's supplemental civil rights bill—the last special legislations we trust we shall need—absolutely necessary for our protection in the enjoyment of rights guaranteed to us as citizens of the United States, for the perfect obliteration of race antagonisms and for the establishment of that mutual confidence and genuine reconciliation essential to the future peace and prosperity of the people of Louisiana, and our Senators and Representatives in Congress are specially requested to urge most seriously upon Congress the passage of this salutary measure.

Resolved, As the sense of this convention, that the prime industrial necessities of the State of Louisiana, in common with her sister States of the Mississippi valley in order to protect production, give access of the same to the markets of the world and to secure a market adequate to the products annually furnished by us, require a more perfect system of levees along the Mississippi and its tributaries, a more reliable outlet to the Gulf and a more enlightened and equitable system of tariffs upon American products than now exist in Cuba and other Spanish American countries, and that we therefore earnestly request the United States Congress to nationalize the levees of the Mississippi and its tributaries; to contract the ship canal from Fort St. Philip to Breton Island sound that shall be free to the commerce of the world, and to revise our treaties with all Spanish American countries so as to place the same upon the basis of reciprocal

trade.

Resolved. That the present high rate of taxation in this State, ostensibly paid by the property holders but really paid by the laboring classes, should be reduced, and we hereby respectfully but seriously urge upon the members of the General Assembly at its next session to enact such laws as will enable the administration, upon a much less rate of taxation to raise it sufficient revenue to administer the government and pay the interest upon the public debt.

WHEREAS, The recent executions in Cuba, without adequate trial, of persons claiming the protection of solemn treaties and of national law, prove the Spanish home and colonial authorities to be without a due sense of duty, or a power to restrain the lawless element which has committed the atrocities; and

Whereas, An alarming doctrine has been advanced, that foreign power can not intervene for the protection of life or right in the affairs of Spain and her turbulent colonists, without thereby incurring serious perils of damage in money for so doing; therefore,

Resolved. That in this demonstrated barbarism, and avowed inability to restrain or prevent its future perpetration, the colored citizens of Louisiana entertain grave fears for the future spread of emancipation from African bondage:

1. Spain will, under such doctrines, have little to apprehend from a refusal to decree immediate and unconditional emancipation of the slaves in Cuba since any attempt on the part of foreign powers to enforce the execution of her public pledges in this respect might involve the immense liability for the money value of these slaves.

2. In the event of such act of emancipation the desperate and ungovernable Ku Klux of Cuba—the element which has committed with impunity the outrages complained of, will never allow the law to be

plained of, will never allow the law to be put in force, or permit the enfranchised slaves to enjoy the rights of life and labor accorded them.

Resolved, That every sentiment of sympathy and of self-protection impels us, in view of these considerations, to adjure the government of the United States, in the name of Republican principles, universal emancipation and the violated laws of humanity to recognize at once the independence or belligerency of the Cuban patriots, they having proclaimed civil and religious freedom, with emancipation of slaves from bondage.

Resolved, That such a declaration by our government would carry with it the rights of civilized warfare, the arrest of worse than Modoo?? atrocities, and would give to the philanthropists and sympathizers with freedom an assurance that if the slaves of Cuba be emancipated it will not be folowed by their immediate extermination.

Resolved, That we deplore with sorrow the atrocities, indignities, insults and murders that have been committed during the past year in the various parishes of this State, on those of our race who have dared to assert their opinions, and who, in return for such acts on the part of our lifelong enemies, did, during the late contagion which afflicted the northwestern part of our State, cheerfully assist in nursing and caring for those who but a few days previously had banded together for their extermination; and notwithstanding the same, remained faithful and true to the natural and proverbial impulses of our race, nursing our enemies, burying their dead, and providing for their widows and orphans, thus rendering good for evil; and we pray that the day is not far distant when such conduct on our part will be duly recognized and appreciated by the white people of this State, and be the medium of eradicating the last vestige of prejudice engendered by our previous condition, and eventually be the cause of uniting the people of this commonwealth in carrying out its motto of "Union, justice and confidence."

Resolved, That we respectfully but firmly protest against the discrimination being made between the white and colored planters and producers of this State on the steamboats and railroads carrying their produce, and we ask, in justice, that equal facilities and accommodations be accorded on the common carriers of this State, to all

shippers of producerespective of their race or color.

The report of the mittee was accepted and the resolutions pted.

Mr. Allain then prnted a supplemental report containing olutions to be presented to the coloronvention at Washington.

Mr. Burch then ented the following resolution of coment to the press, which was unanimo adopted:

Resolved, That thanks of this convention are due, and tsame are hereby tendered, to the New [Oans Republican and Times for their comte and the impartial report of the proceedds of this convention.

Mr. W. G. John, of Orleans, offered the following retions, which were adopted:

Resolved, That thanks of this convention are due and a hereby tendered to Lieutenant GovernC. C. Antoine for the dignified manner inich he has presided over the deliberatioof this convention.

Resolved, That the secretaries and other officers of this convention rece ve our thanks for the satisfactory manner in which they have discharged their several duties.

Mr. A. Williams East Baton Rouge, then offered the foling resolution which was laid on the tab

Whereas, It is sense and purpose of this convention to ress a determination for the advancemeand economical management of this State government; and

Whereas, It is ngly urged upon the Legislature of this state by the press and taxpayers to use ry measure to reduce the expenses of tsame, in order to relieve her citizens the burden of heavy taxation now impd upon them by the previous government and

Whereas, Nearl500,000 can be saved the State by the Gral Assembly uniting in removing the Se capital from the city of New Orleans to its former and appropriate location; therefore, be it

Resolved, That this convention do earnestly urge upon s excellency, William Pitt Kellogg, Genor, to urge the General Assembly of this tate, in his next annual message, to ur passing such a law as will favor reprig the old State House and removing e State capital to the city of Baton Rou

On motion of Mr. C. F. Ladd, seconded by Mr. R. B.quie of Orleans, the convention then adjourned sine die.

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