The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1866-04-07
n The following editorial is from

I H. The following editorial is from
the columns of the Philadelphia Age,
which is an honest, able and peerless
advocate of therights of the South. A
hundred such editors would soon open
the eyes of the deluded negro worship
pers: ..-
--LATEST TREAsON.-TheR Rev. Leon
srd Bacon, New England preacher,
has been making a tour through the
South, with benevolent design, appa-
rently, of gathering material for an
attack on the impoverished people of
that region. Although sadly destitute
Of the neeessaries of life, they are by
no means, as .'poor in spirit as the
pious soul of Mr.. Bacon conceives that
they ought to be. He reports that
impenitent rebels abound on every
hand-that the graves of traitors who
fell fighting in the unholy interest OF
slavery are kept green by the fingers
OF their hardened widows and factious
oTphans-and that, although the peo-
pie render outward obedience to the
authority of the government, they are
as heart as hostile to it as when the
FIRST shot SKINNED the waters of
Charleston harbor and crashed into
Sumter. This power of fathoming the
hearts of people and discovering latent
treason under submissive and loyal
exterior. seems to bea giftwhich nature
distributed very bountifully among the
party to which Mr.. Bacon belongs
Il transcends in its marvellous char
Gcter all the feats of mesmerism and
spirit-rapping. The persons who prac
tee those occult arts confne them
selves to telling you how many blades
you have in your knife, how many
keys on your bunch, and how much
money in your breeches pocket. They
penetrate no deeper than your cloth
ing and solve only the problems which
lie buried in it's recesses. But Mr.
Bacon, and hundreds of emmissaries Of
his kind who are wandering over the
South collecting data with which
Messrs. Sumner and Stevens may gar
nish their speeches, and the Tribune
Ianliven its columns, scorn such vulgar
mechanical tricks as these. They
pass absolute judgment on the loyalty
.of whole State from the testimony Of
the first communicative freedman OF
;mendacious vagabond they meet with
Sin its borders. They form perfectly
Eclear apprehension of the character o.
"a city by inspecting its negro quarter
They read individuals like books, or
rather, like mercantile signs, which
can be perused at distance. In short
Ethey are as astute as the witness on the
f trial of Fitz John Porter, who pro
Enounced that gallant officer a traitor
+ ''because." said he, II Saw treason n
his eye"
/ 1t is a sufficient reply to all the stuff
(which emanates from these Abolition
/ agents in the South about the smoth.
+ cred dlsloyalty which exists there, thai
/ the Governments does not deal anG
I has no business with the secret thoughts
and hidden cherished feelings of the
/ people. 1t takes eognizance of over
acts along, and leaves undisturbed thai
relation between the hearts of men anC
their Maker which is out of the reach
of human laws, is silent, sacred, anG
only to be understood in another WORLD
than this. So long as the people o.
I the South are obedient to the laws Of
the land, and faithfully perform theil
duties as members of this Union, they
are at liberty to think what they please
ON any and every subject. They may
worship by their fresides the memory
of the dead who have laid down thei1
lives for secession. They may dream
with bitter yearning Of the splendorI
of that separate empire for which they
sacrificed everything dear in thi
world. They may hate, if they choos,
with deadly hatred the political lead
ers who effected their overthrow
They may hold fast to the belief tina
the negro was better off in slavery thai
he ever will be out of bonds On thes
and scores of other subjects they may
/ differ as radically from us as We d
from each other on a thousand thing
d Just as momentous. But we canno
help it. Force, if we dared to use ii
would compass no change. You can
not imprison the thoughts of men no
confscate the affections of their hearts
i The most ruthless law that the malig
, nifty of Stevens could devise, or tn
rhetoric of Sumner advocate, woul
be impotent to change the conviction
of a single soul.
!! RELEASE OF THE Hon. s. r. MAI
3rnpv We ara ,.ra&;fad IN state III.