Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-08-07
TIE FRENCH AND LOUISIANA.

latlons between tDat ROVER auu Tue p'rtlo
of the C,nfeieracy which lies nearest to it,
Frenchmcn residents of New Orleans have a
ready invoked the protection of their Empe
tor against the expressions and spoliation O
the Washington Government. But all othe
, residents of Louisiana, and especially tn
citizens of French descent, have also certain
claims upon the French sovereign. We have
heretofore touched upon this subject in tht
Enquirer but as late events add new sig
ni6cance to it, we return to the question.
The treaty of Paris on goth April, 1903
cedinc Louisiana to the United States. pro-
yided thus BY its Sd Article:
"Tbe inhabitants of the ceded territory
SHALL be incorporated in the Union Of the
United States, and admitted as soon as posi-
bic, according to the principles Of the Federal
Constitution, to the enjoyment Of all the
rights, advantages and immunities of citizens
of the United States and, in the meantime,
they shall be maintained and protected in the
free cnjoymenrof their liberty, property and
the religion which they profess
The first Emperor Napoleon, then first Con-
sui, in approving the treaty, used this lan-
guage:
"I.es the Lou;sauians know that We sepa-
rate from them with regret, that we stipulate
in their favor everything that they can desire
and let them hereafter, happy in their indie
pendence, recollect that they have been
Frenchmen: and that France, in ccding them,
has secured for them advantages which they
could not have obtained from any European
Power"
Thus France stipulated" and /" ecured,"
by treaty. But it may naturally occur to
Louisianians that the plumber Of their plan
tations the wholesale burning Of their houses
and towns, and the stealing of their negroes.
all done by tho authority of the United States,
amount 10 formal and fragrant breach of
that treaty. This is not the free enjoyment
Of liberty and property" nor is it enjoyment
Of all the rights, advantages and immunities
Of citizens Of the United States"
Phat Treaty. of Paris, then, being broken,
and the guaranty announced by the First
Consul being ses at nought, have the people Of
Louisiana, or have they not, any claim to in
eminent to insist on the observance Of the
Treaty?
At this very moment, France, England and
Austria, deem it their duty, as parties to the
T-catr &c Vienna, to demand of Russia Ger.
taia changss in her treatment of the Polish
na.:op, u0- - accordance with The stipulations
Of hat ius.rurnent. The Sovereignty Of Rus
Ms, q Al stria, and of Prussia, over their
res ,sive shares of Poland, was guaranteed by
H. r-caty Of Vienna, upon certain conditions:
FUSS, has Systematically violated those condi'
toms ,od hence the duty of the other parties
70 intrrpGse If there be any difference be-
Ftwee5, he Two cases, it is that France is much
Iso;a 1.-.;.-,; 20 resent the breach of tho en-
gaseranfa touching Louisiana, than she and
Enslanl AZ with regard to Poland. France
dill not CO Poland to Russia. Poles had never
hsen FREE men. The ties between France
ard polart had never been Of so close and
raterna IL rature rs those which united her to
ths Colon she had planted; and which she
bad permitted to form new political associa-
tor, with s.ipula.ions and securities.
T. Re the " ashington Government may
reply to ri! this that they arc still willing the
Lou;sieuisns should "enjoY all the rights and
privilege nF the citizens of the United States;"
that they are in fact engaged in bringing them
back to the enjoyment of those rights-which
the Louisianians had renounced-that all the
seventies exercised upon them are only q
necessary consequence oftheir revolt, &c. But
this is no answer: or rather, it is q mere Yam
kee bubble. Louisiana was to come into the
Union according to the principles of the Fed
eral Constitution" which Constitution was a
compact. She became party to that compact
precisely on the same footing with Virginia or
Georgia. If the compact was violated with
her, by the Federal authority, she had neces-
cessarily the same right to terminate it that
Virginia and Georgia had-else she would not
have been member of the Union according
to the principles of the Federal Constitution.
The main fact is, that France having parted
with Louisiana to the United States with the
express agreement that her people should have
all the privileges and rights of the People of
the United States, now sees her ancient colony
ravaged, p!undered, disfranchised and turned
into bowling wilderness by those very United
States.
Now, we DO not present these considcra-
tons with view Of invoking intervention on
the part Of France, for the protection Of any
part Of our Confederacy. Louisiana, like
Virginia, has concurred with other States in
erecting new ConFederacy and Government
1t is for this Government and the Confede-
rates in general, to protect and relieve Lou
isiana; and they arc using all possible exer-
tions for that purpose. 1t is our belief that
louisiana like all the rest must owe her in
dependence to the arms of her own sons and
those Of our allied States. But We have men
toned the relations which arise out that treaty
merely to indicate what may be the course of
procedure Of the Emperor, in case he should
be disposed to use his position in Mexico to
bride the arrogance and repress the outrages
of the United States. lie has, if he wishes
to use it, clear casus belli with the Wash
ington Government We may be very sure
that the whole Of the transactions we have
mentioned are perfectly familiar to him; and
as the uttcrances Of the First Napoleon form
his gospel, or lice Napoleonienne, he cannot
but bethink him that a treaty made by the
First Consul must not be trarnpled on at will
by parcel Of Yankees.
Be it recollectcd that we do not trust The
Emperor. Like other potentates, he will con-
suit mainly the interest of his own country
and his own dynasty: and we arc very far
from counselling ourConfederatcs to place the