New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1853-11-05
SATURDAY MORNING, NOVEMBER j. 1853.


estnable privilege Of voting to a very numerou
claSs to all those in fact, whether natives o
Immigrants, who had resided in the State fo
hVe years, but who had not acquired lande
property slaves"
rive years J! This then is your incapacita
tlhg test Tor self-government Five wears O
resldehce you would impose upon the man, how
ih'ellReht anu upright, who had the mis-
fortune OF being born in another State If tbi
Union Whatever aptitude had been imparte,
70 MN oy edueation, whatever principles Of pat
rlotlsm and honesty he had imbibed in mn,
Universities or public schools, could not in von,
estimation entitle him to vote in Louisiana
Durant is right there, my lord Condescend
10 cast your noble eyes on the forlorn situation
created by your amendment to the numerou,
class Of naturalzed citizens who had spent II
another State the five years residence requires
OF them by tue laws Of the Cnited States. They
nave TO begin 1t over again, and reside FIVE year.
more IN Louisiana: in all ten years !, Nv lord
the Native Americanism Of Mr.. Durant himself
would be satisfied with this feature True it i.
that Congress was of opinion that five year.
residence was sufficient imitation for the Door
outeasts who, in their homes. had heard ot
American liberality True it il that reason
would seem to have the presumption Of teaching
us that a citizen of this Union might we'll be a
citizen OF any State without prejudice to that
/ State
But what is Congress, and what is reason.
when we are blessed with your own Olympiap n
dictates Would charity and fraternity dare
raise their voices against your prescriptions
and pretend that they lie the foundation of our
| democratic principles that they laid the cor
stone, and reared with their hands the Do
tent fabric of this Republic How ridiculous
| these poor virtues By what process of ratio
clnatlon have you enabled yourself to construe
even your own letter as defense Of your posi-
ton: DO you not admit that your amendment
required five years residence in the State ia
establlsh the right of suffrage Is not that
sufficient to impugn you before the tribunal of
democracy, and Of the people at large; Is NOT
that sufficient to shake the pedestal upon which
adulation has raised your f,ncied lealtv to
democratic principles DO you entertain those
opinions now By the tenor of your letter
which you present as justification. there can
be no doubt on this subject. Therefore you are
opposed to our present system of suffrage,
Therefore you would withdraw. or at least Won
would have withheld, the privilege of voting
from the numerous class Of citizens who will
proceed to the polls next Monday, and contrib
ute, Tor the greater part, in electing set of
senators and Representatives who are anxious
to participate in the honor of attaching to your
august shoulders the Senatorial robe of these
good United States. Behold, my lord behold
the benign disposition Of those whom you would
behold, how they forgive and how they FORGET
IN the majesty of their omnipotencel
Permit me to quote again from your letter to
the editors of the Southerner 'sBut while I
am opposed to an inclusive property qualifca-
tion, am equally adverse to system of lezis-
lation which would extend the rights of suffrage
to n class Of population which is identified with
the interest of the State neither by the ties of
property nor of residence
What would be tho mode of n ac+ion of +ba ,,.
TEN enunciated in the foregoing lines: Let us
see Under the Constitution of 1872 the right
OF suffrage was extended to all citizens of the
United States who had resided one year in the
county in which they offered to vote. and who
had paid State tax six months previous to the
election. Did this provision establish in your
mind sufficient identity with the interests of
the State:
1t foresees and imposes the ties and ouali6ca
ton OF property, one of the alternatives of
fered IN your communication. Wherefore the
banker, merchant, business men in general
who hocked to our emporium, and who were
happy nough to pay a State tax under one of
the cases provided by the Constitution, could
leisurely establish their right to suffrage by
one years residence, and that year once passed,
they were enabled to resume their wings which
had been clipt for that short period, and trans
port their spleen or their pleasures to other
chimes during SIX or seven months of Il year
1t was all justice, was it not, to afford them
the means, with Louisiana money, of paradinr
their lordly absenteeism in the capitals and
watering resorts of the North or any where
else Oh they were identified with the in
terests Of the State! 1t was good Justice But
the poor sailors, My lord, what was to be their
lot: They could not pay tax, that supreme
equivalent for the five years residence under
your plan. They might have sacrificed one
year OF their life to acquire the inestimabe
privilege of voting. But five years that was
an eternal prescription pronounced against
them In fact what business have they to be
poor: They composed the greater part of that
floating population which you are misrepre-
sented as branding in the debates on Mr..
Brazeale,s bill Yes, they are floating popu-
latlon. True, they do not float from New York
to Boston, or from New Port to Saratoga, but
they float on every sea, my lord they float from
storm TO storm and from wave to wave they
float on mast-tops from frigid to torrid cimes.
Why carry American genius and American
civilization in the regions Of the idols and the |
pagods. They dispute inch by inch the lands /
and waters of barbarism and idolatry Really,
in order to achieve all that, they have enough
to do. They could not devote five years of their
lives to residence in Louisiana. Now suppose
that every State should enact a law similar to
the one proposed by you, would it not have the
effect OF shutting every political avenue and
every feiuSe upon THESE nardy sons 0t their
own labors and of their own virtues. 1t would
operate something like the ingenious system
adopted by Louis Napoleon to prevent the
French army from voting A residence was re-
qured from the soldier in the place in which
be offered to vote; but the facetious President
had already taken particular care to arrange
matters after his own way For instance, he
would transport every Marseilas to Touraine,
under the plausible pretext of atiording him
an opportunity to correct his bad accent in the
classic land Of the French language-and 50 on
But you are much more reasonable You re
luire men to reside here the five years which
they are obliged to spend in China, or India, or
Japan.
Now, Mr. Editors, in the midst of the conflicts
md individual disputes and quarrels what
should the democracy do If had to answer
hat query, | would tell them: Go to the polls
md vote for the entire democratic ticket; dis
,ard all personal interests; do not suffer your
elves to be disbanded by private schemes The
representative whom you will send to Baton
Rouge must and will be controlled by the pres
ure of public opinion and if it devolves upon
hem to elect Senator of the United States,
hey must choose a man whose opinions shall
lave been in strict conformity to the democratic
reed. 1t is the devout prayer Of my heart.
DEMOCRAT
SAD AeeIpENT .-0n Sunday, the 2Ith ut., while DR.
loore, of Moscow, Ky. and young named Orange
Cincinnati hunting in the woods the gun of the
after accidentally discharged the contents passing