THREE GREAT JUDGES.

A SPEECH IN TWO LANGUAGES—­LONG SESSIONS—­MATTHEWS, MARTIN, AND PORTER —­A SINGULAR WILL—­A SCION OF ’98—­FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS FOR A LITTLE FUN WITH THE DOGS—­CANCELLING A NOTE.

The Legislature of Louisiana, forty years ago, sat in New Orleans, and was constituted of men of varied nationalities.  It was common to see in close union, Frenchmen, Germans, Italians, Englishmen, and Americans, with here and there a Scotchman, with his boat-shaped head and hard common sense.  The Creole-French and the Americans, however, constituted the great majority of the body.

When the cession to the United States took place, and the colony soon after was made a State of the Union, the Constitution required all judicial and legislative proceedings to be conducted in English, which was the legal language.  But as very few of the ancient population could speak or read English, it was obligatory on the authorities to have everything translated into French.  All legislative and judicial proceedings, consequently, were in two languages.  This imposed the necessity of having a clerk or translator, who could not only translate from the records, but who could retain a two-hours’ speech in either language, and, immediately upon the speaker’s concluding, repeat it in the opposite language.

This complicated method of procedure consumed much time, and consequently the sessions of the Legislature were protracted usually for three months, and sometimes four.

This fact caused many planters, whose business called them frequently to the city during the winter, to become members of the Legislature.  At this time, too, representation was based on taxation, and the suffragist was he who paid a tax to the State.  The revenues of the State were from taxation, and these taxes were levied alone upon property.  There were no poll taxes, and very few articles except land, negroes, and merchandise were taxed.  The consequence was, the government was in the hands of the property-holders only.

The constituency was of a better order than is usually furnished by universal suffrage, and the representation was of a much more elevated character than generally represents such a constituency.

Party spirit, at that time, had made little progress in dividing the people of the State, and the gentlemen representatives met cordially, and constituted an undivided society.  There was no division of interest between different sections of the State, and the general good was consulted by all.  The Legislature was then composed of substantial men.  The seat of government being in the city, and the sessions held during the winter and spring months, men of business, and especially professional men, might represent the city constituency, and yet give a good portion of their time to their usual avocations.