New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-09-24
spEECH OF rHApDEUs STEVENS.

for the negro as the one aim of their pohcy
There are other ends Incidental to their main
object, but the first step in their programme
as means of securing the perpetuatlon of
their power is the full reimbursement Of the
negro With shrewdness which has marked
their leaders since the organization of their
party they have successfully managed hitherto
to conceal their true objects from the masses
of the Northern people. Under the guise tdf
g war measures" their purpose assumed q
distinct shape during the progress of the
resent war. But it was necessary to court the
strong Urion sentiments of the people in
order torsconcile them to Unusual and reyo-
dictionary action. 1t was not, they asserted
their purpose to interfere in any way with the
guarantees of the Constitution. 1t was only to
perpetSatel its true principles and restore the
hostile States to their places in the Union by
breaking down the belligerent power which
\ had suddenly been called into existence.
i WITH that power broken, they insisted that
thesConstitution, IN its full force, would once
more prevail over the whole land, and the
States then forcibly Withheld, would at once
resume their places IN the galaxy of States.
But when the war closed new theories were
lseEolyed. Equal lights to all persons in the
-late beligerent States was the Gig; but their
equal rights when practically applied, meant
q deprivation Of nearly every right to the
masses Of the white people. and the heaping
| of partial favors upon all other classes.
To attain this object the most plausible
sophisms were employed invoking inconsis-
tencies which were clear to all who might
| view. them without prejudice. But these
appeals were addressed to that class of
| the Northern people in whose hearts the
latent prejudices of half century had
I been developed, by the war, into spirit
of bitterness. They listened, with favor,
to any proposition, however absurd OF
revolutionary, which might strike at the hap
4 piness or prosperity of those whom they de-
tested When the radical leaders proposed
| the overthrow Of the last vestige of the rights
of the States, the Northern mind refused to
| believe that a concession to Congress Of the
right to local legislation in Southern State,
| was concession Of their right to legislate also
for local purposes in Southern State. The
appeals Of the radical demagogUes We're well
calculated to deceive them. The enfranchise-
ment Of the negro at the South, by whatever
act Of revolution it might be accomplished,
was means of Furnishing the obnoxious
whites; therefore, the proposition was accepta-
bic to the radical mind. 1t did not occur to
the masses of their followers that the leaders
might soon apply the same principles to
Northern States.
The late radical convention at Philadelphia
startled the conservative portion Of the radi-
cal party by its proposed action in this res
peet, The doctrine openly asseverated there
that sauce for the Southern goose should also
be sauce for the Northern gander, produced
the greatest CONSERVATION. The advocates of
Efuniyersal rights" were willing to eoncede the
justice Of the theories which they So loudly
advocated !; they were willing to declare even
that rights should be universal, provided the
negro's rights to the ballot should be local
lied in the South, and not be permitted to |
invade the free and enlightened Northern
regions Of ''great moral ideas" They were
willing to compromise on the reign
Of the negro at the South, provided the radi-
cal white men We're permitted to hold sway at I
the North. Their ideas of equal rights to all |
seem to have assumed this practical shape.
But the leaders have not abandoned their
purpose Of enforcing negro suffrage |
throughout the whole land 1t is deemed
polite, for purposes of power to restrict it at |
present to the South. But party policy
already points to the necessity of soon extend
ing it to the North. The speech of Mr..
Stevens at Bedford, Pennsylvania, demon
strates this fact He is the acknowledged
eader of the radical party. He dictates his
will to the scongressional caucus-and he is
the political whipper-in of every Eloit-
ering radical His views may therefore be ]
Justly regarded as the true indication of radi-
cal policy
We will not attempt to follow his speech
through the pages of bitter inyective, of
sophistry and of standardization, with
which it abounds. A comparison of any one
part will be found to be sufficient reputation
o some other portion of his speech, except
n the minds Of those who desire to believe
n contradictions. His charge, for instance, {
hat the President is a traitor, will be cred
ted only by those who believe that treason 4
consists in an adherence to the law and to the
and his assertion that the {
southern States are conquered provinces" {
viii meet with favor only in those minds who r
lesire the overthrow Of constitutional rights (
i 3 means Of party aggrandizement a
But as their acknowledged leader he must /
'e considered as the oracle Of his party, and
MS associates and opponents are equally L
'ound to consider that he speaks ca catRedra, Y
rhen he promuIgates the political tenets upon y
'hich the radical policy is based. He dis 1
inetly announces that policy, without equivo- 6
alton, in the following words. Abiding to n
he errors Of Congress, he says:
But our GROWING sin was the omission to, give p
omesteads and the right Of suffrage in the rebel
tates to the freedmenwho had fought our battles tt
Thezmost effective argument fif argument
can be called which will be used by our oppo, :"
ents, is the effort made by Republicans to give n
Inal rights to every human being, even to the II
frican. As / said before, the great =
sue to be met at this election is the question of st
sgro rights. shall not deny, but admit that ri
ndamental principle of the Republican creed is :,
AT every being possessing an immortal soul is ~
lua before the law. They are not and cannot eft
equal in strength, height beauty intelligence n,
ID moral culture or social requirements these r
uyhin Al