The Weekly Echo

Public Speaking at Opelousas
We clip the following from a lengthy report in the Opelousas Courier of the 20th ultimo, of a public meeting there of the Opelousas White League Club. The regular speakers were Col. Alcibiade Deblanc, of St. Martin; Robert S. Perry, Esq., of Iberia; and Donald Caffery, Esq., of St. Mary:

"As he (Col. Deblanc) took his seat, there was a loud call of "Wells." "Wells." from the audience. The first summons Mr. Wells did not obey, but the call became so emphatic that, nolens volens, Mr. G. H. Wells, of Calcasieu, was forced to present himself to his vociferous friends.

Whether prepared or not, we would like to know when this same G. H. Wells ever found himself at a disadvantage in addressing any assemblage. His power of felicitous expression, his cultured eloquence, his wide range of thought make him emphatically a speaker to whom all men listen with more than pleasure. We regret we can not publish his speech at length.

With that manly independence of thought and expression which marks his public address to the voters of the district. Mr. Wells announced himself a candidate for their favor in the approaching Senatorial contest. Though not a member of the White League, and confining himself strictly to his published political views, he left no doubt in the minds of any one present that in his opinion the policy of the Republican party was to Africanize the Southern States. He paid a beautiful and graceful compliment to Col. Deblanc, the hero of the "White Camelia" the defender in past times of an abstract principle, which he vitalized in his own life and actions. Like the immortal charge of the six hundred at Balaklava, Col. Deblanc never paused to count the odds against him when duty led him on. He might suffer, he might die, but life and death alike must always be to him the interpreters of heroic and patriotic action.

We regret that we can give Mr. W.'s eloquent address no farther space. We think that with his high sense of duty and responsibility, and his rare facilities of expression, Mr. Wells will prove a powerful advocate for his political principles. He, too can point to a clean record, and an honorable and consistent course, which, in these days of greed and bartered consciences, should weigh in his favor at the polls.

When Mr. Wells had concluded his remarks, which were constantly interrupted by marked applause, there was a final clash of music, and the densely packed house slowly thinned."