ROBERTS VAUX.

GOVERNOR COLES TO ROBERTS VAUX

_My Dear Sir_:--When I had the happiness to enjoy your society
last summer in Philadelphia, you were so kind as to express a
wish to hear from me on my return to this State. I should long
since have fulfilled the promise then made you to comply with
this request which I felt was as flattering to me, as it was kind
in you; but for a mass of business which had accumulated during
my absence, the preparation for the meeting, and the labor and
interruption attendant on the session of the Legislature, which
adjourned a few days since; and the novel and extraordinary
efforts made by some of my old political opponents to supplant me
in the office of Governor, by thrusting in my place the
Lieutenant-Governor a zealous and thorough-going advocate of
Slavery. I had heard nothing of this intention (for although many
letters were written to me, it so happened not one ever came to
hand, or has since been heard of) until I reached Louisville on
my way home, when I was told by a friend that he had been
informed by a distinguished opponent of mine that it had been
determined that I should not be permitted to resume the office of
Governor. On my arriving in the State, I found that there had
been several caucuses held in different places, by what are
called the knowing ones, for the purpose of devising the best
mode of proceeding, and of organizing their forces to act against
me. All the Executive officers of the State recognizing me as
Governor, I found no difficulty in entering at once on the duties
of the office. The Lieutenant-Governor, however, still remained
at the seat of Gov't, contending that I had vacated the office by
my absence from the State, and that he was, under the
constitution, the acting Governor. On the meeting of the Supreme
Court, he applied for a mandamus against the Secretary of State.
The court refused the mandamus on an incidental point, and got
rid of the main question without deciding it. Soon after this the
General Assembly met, and efforts were made to induce it to
recognize the Lieutenant as the acting Governor; but these
efforts having failed, he made a communication to both Houses,
setting forth his claims to the office of Governor, and asking to
be heard