Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1866-08-06
spEarpsYs DISPATCH.

General SHrRIDAN's dispatch to Gen
GRANT is,a crusher 1t establishes the
character of the Conventionists, and, BY
implication, charges upon them the re
sponsibility for the riot and bloodshed Of
last week. The leaders" he says
we're political agitators and revolution
AIRY men" This is precisely what they
we're, and is proven by the following from
Radical New Orleans paper previous
to the riot:
we admit this Convention to be IL
local; but at the same time we must re-
cognize that it has exercised power dc
faeso, and that it bids fair to still exer-
else similar power.
And then adds this remarkable con-
fession: "This Convention is an erfTa-
neous po~er, wkich does not endndte
from the vhole people, and the pro
ceedings of the delegates are hailed IN
advance as the Inauguration OF pohti-
cal reyolution-'a revolution more deep
and more important than any of the re-
forms already attempted or partially Or
ganized.
BANKS is reported TO have assigned, in
debate, as reason for voting against
the proposition to appropriate one
million dollars towards the recon
struction Of the levees on the Mis-
sissippi river, that there would be rev
oln,ion in the South, that the Govern
ment would assist the negroes, and that
the levees would be again destroyed.
The testimony is pretty strongly TO the
point that the Louisiana movement was
intended to produce great agitation,
if not revolution. BANKS seems to
have foreseen it, and Horace GREELEY,
from the manner of his wailings, indi-
Gates that he was cheated Of its fruits.
The cool admission Of the Radical edi
Ter of New Orleans that the Convention
was illegal, and the cooler one that il
was revolution excites our wonder,
while it accounts for the death of thirty
or forty negroes.
We deplore the death Of so many de
luded negroes. They we're the victim
Of revolutionary men, as Gen SHgRI
DAN styles them. The audacity they ex-
hibited is surprising, and wound be nnac
countabe, but for the teachings of Con
gress and the Radical party. Prssiierh
Johnson was supposed TO be too timid
man 10 suppress d convention got III
avowedly to overturn State government
There never was more fatal mistake
The action of the city authorities we ad
nit was hasiy, and the result dep orabl
But the assemblage of great body o.
armed negroes for any purpose whaieve';
was unlawful, and it was the duty OF Ih'
police to dispense them. There is ne
proof that we have seen, that iht
city authorities would have inter
fered with the meeting Of th.
members of the Convention. Thei
dispersion is understood to have resulteo
from the difficulty with the negroes. l
was the intention of the President t.
protect the people from the revolution
lists. Their new constitution would have
excited, perhaps, more ridicule thar
alarm, and could never have gone into
effect except in virtue Of successful
revolution. And yet, after all the damn
ing facts Of an intended revolution for
the ayowed purpose Of elevating TO
power an upprincipled faction of agi-
tators," they are sought to be made
club with which to break the head Of the
President. and secure the triumph of the
Radical party in the fall elections The
thing has failed.
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