New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1866-08-04
THE LESSON OF THE mAssACRE.

THE LESSON OF THE MASSACRE.
Dreadful as were the riots at New Orleans there is
dread which they suggest far greater. Those scenes
of blood and death have more terrible significance
when we reflect that they were not exceptional, that
they too faithfully express the spirit of strong class
at the South and its Northern friends and that they
are the result of national policy. We should attach
little Importance to q single outbreak if there was
reason to believe it due to local causes, but the
conviction is forced upon us that NewOreans means
the whole South as Predcntally reconstructed, and
we shudder to think of the future.
When the war ended. and tho South, PROSTATE on
the battlefield. lifted up its hands and implored
mercy of its conquerors We too, pleaded in Its behalf
That for four years it had fought against the Union
with ferocity which aliens might have been ashamed
of that it had imposed upon the country vast debt
which generations unborn would be heavily taxed to
pay; that it had forfeited every right it formerly pos
sessed-all this We remembered. but we did no
forget that on our part we had fought and conquered
these enemies to keep them forever our countrymen.
To retain the Southern States in the Union the
war had been waged and won, and not alarmed by
the fable Of the man who warmed the VIPER IN his
bosom, we desired the Government to win the South
to the Union by magnanimous pardon, rather than
TO bind by chains Of fear. Then we urged universal
amnesty, and with it. with equal forvor, universal
suffrage The first alone has raised the enemies OF tho
Union to their ancient power it has given back the
whip into their hands, and already in New-Orleans
they have grasped tho sword. Bat what has 1t done
for the friends of the Union in the South The
white mea are in a powerless minority. and
~. T. oiiv ed
and delenselcss, without voice in the Government
abandoned to the very men who began the war TO
maintain and extend the slave system This may be
called mercy, but it is cruelty. 1t is punishment to
the loya it is reward TO the traitors The seed thus
sown has sprung up in poison flowers over all the
South and npened in bloody fruit in the riots oil Now
Orleans.
Universal suffrage would have destroyed the cause
of all quarrcls When the war ended, the South eH'
pected impartial suffrage to be required, and would
gladly have agreed to it. Too gladly would nine
tenhs Of the leading Rebels have purchased amnesty
by this simple concession for who could have thought
that in common justice the Government would have
given less reward to it, true aud consistent friends;
would have required less for its own honor and the
interests of humanity. When IL culpably failed
to insist that the right Of franchise to all
LOYAL men should be the precedent OF forgiveness to
traitors il surrendered all the moral and nearly all
the legal powers it possessed over the Rebel States
II abandoned every position Of strength, tii to-day
it stands as the apologst for Rebellion and the de-
fender OF Rebels. But IL has not discouraged the
friends Of impartial suffrage, nor caused them to
abandon their work. II never will; we are resolved
70 have T. and the New.Orlcans massacres are the
strongest proof that it is the only hope for the restora
ton Of the South and the peace of the Union.
The Louisiana Convention had broken no law, or
if they had they willing TO have the case adj
iudged in the courts But the mere suspicion Of an
effort to obtain the franchise for the blacks, peaceful
rs it was, aroused the worst passions Of Slavery, and
assured tina, the Government would not interfere, the
mob resolved to make a bloody example of the re-
formers and teach them that such Convention could
never be held in any Southern State This is the result
ofpardonng traitors without eniranchising Union
Had the freedmen been given the right TO vote, its
exercise might have led to disturbances at tho polls
similar to the partisan fights which have always
occurred but this general conspiracy TO establish
Reign of Terror throughout the South could never
have been organized Now, there are but two
courses, either We must forever submit 10 see the
Rebel power dominant, and the loyal blacks reduced
TO the condition Of serf or we must continue
10 demand their rights To the disgrace we
can never yield; never, never was the duty
of working for universal rights more sacred. We have
tried policy which has dishonored the nations it
has made Sheridan the mere Lieutenant of Rebel
oIicer it has murdered the Union men of louisiana
it has proved to be the parent Of revolution and
death. Let us adopt tho true policy Let us COM
bne the two principles Of Universal Amnesty and I'm
partial Suffrage, and we establish Peace. Continue
to divide them, and though we may still escape
war, we are certain of continued trouble.