Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1866-08-14
The New Orleans-Riot.
From the National Intelligencer.


,of the, Convention was illegal. The New Or
leans Tribune, the organ of the Radical agita-
tors In an article published on the 24th of Ju=
ly, urging the re- assembling of the convention,
said We admit the convention to be illegal );
but at the same time we must recognize that it
has exercised power &c factos and that it bids
far to still exercise a similar power It adds
this remarkable confession 's1his convention is
1 an e&sraneous power which does not emanate
4 from the whole people, and the proceedings
of theldelegates are hailed In advance as the in
auguration Of political revolut:on--''a a revolu-
I tIon more deep and more Important than any
! ofthe reforms already attempted or partially
realized. .ae. 4
In addition to this avowal of the illegality
and revolutionary purposes of the convention,
only asmall minority Of whose original mem
bers were willing to participate in the proceed
ings, it is evident that the authors Of this revo-
4 lutionary scheme anticipated and intended to
produce riot. On the night of the 9th of
July they held a public meeting avowedy in
! favor of negro. suffrage. The audience was com
posed almost entirely Of ignorant and excitabe
negroes. The New York Times has made up
from the New Orleans journals of the following
day just summary of the proceedings and i'm
mediate results of this meeting:
1T was addressed by members of the con-
vention, who urged upon their celored auditors
4 the duty fpreparng to sustain the convention
/ BY force and upholding its resolves though at
the cost of bloodshed. AS the object Of the
meeting was declared by one of the Speakers,
4 Mr. judd to be ito strengthen the coming con-
yention, and to give it backbone its utterances
now possess special significance. And they
were utteranees worthy of Partisan club in the
early days of Robespierre's power. Universal
suffrage was insisted upon as right to be con-
tended for at all hazards; one of the resolutions
affirming that until this be granted there will
and can be no permanent peace Dir, Dostie,
who has since paid the penalty of his violence,
threatened annihilation to those who should in
| terfere with the convention and the negroes
were instructed to repair armed to the Mechan-
les Institute, where the convention met. The
tone OF the proceedings was calculated to pro-
| duce bad feeling between the blacks and the
whites, and to incite the former to the course
/ they subsequently pursued. A procession of
colored men came after the meeting. and in its
| progress through the streets furnished a fore
taste of the disturbance of Monday The Pic
ayune reports the majority as carrying clubs
and heavy missiles, and as many were under
the effects ofliquor. collisions with passing cit
Izens, were with difficulty prevented by the Jpo-
lice. Later in the night conflicts with the po-,
| lice were precipitated by negroes in various
parts of the city. Shots were fred, knives and
sticks were used. and it was only by the inter-
ference of struggling party ofsoldiers that the
officers We're enabled to hold their ground. -
From all the details it appears, concusively,
| that this riot was, with full knowledge of the
consequences originally planned under the SUI
pervision, and with the cognizance and conni--
vance, if not at the instigation, of the Radical
leaders in Congress that it was an open and
! fagrant attempt, in violation of all law, and in
defiance of an overwhelming adverse public
opinion, to inaugurate a political revolution,
] and premeditated and deliberately planned ef-
fort to execute an unlawful purpose in open
! and armed resistance to the legally constituted
authorities of the State and municipal govern
ments.
With singular unanmity and forbearance, the
white citizens generally obeyed the injunction
of the Mayor and the advice of the leading law
/ abiding citizens to refrain from gathering in and
about the place of meeting of the convention.
! The details show conclusively that the riot was
confined principally to the police on the one
side and the members of the convention and
their negro supporters and defenders upon the
other. One portion of the police was occupied,
lin keeping the ponulace away from the scene of
action. while another was endeavoring, at the
risk Of their lives, to arrest the authors of this
| fearful disturbance of the public peace The
] conflict was begun by an attack upon the police
! by the negroes assembled outside the building
| The occupants of the building were not inter
{ fered with until they commenced pouring upon
! the police murderous fire from the windows
| of the hall in which the members of the con-
vention, supported by a numerous body of
| armed negroes, were assembled. The police
/ had succeeded in arresting the principal authors
Of this terrible tragedy, when the arrival of the
military prevented any further progress of the