The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-03-13
OF Uses admission only in case the Consti-

Uses admission only in case the Consti
tutional Amendment shall become
part of the Constitution Of the United
States. If, therefore, the State of Lou
isiana should be so serEile as to comply
in every respect with tho requirements
Of the Act, she is not pernittedto enjoy
any of its supposed benefits unless
eight of her sister States should prove
as obsequious as herself, and submit,
with the same patience, to the indigni.
ties which are sought to be put Oh them
by the iniquitous legislation Of the
Federal Congress. And even, on the
supposition that all these conditions
are complied with, that the State is adj
mitted and her representatives to Cons
gress elected, such representatives arc
to be denied their seats unless they can
take an oath that they did not take
sides with the Confederate States in
their struggle for independence.
We have been thus particular In sta
ting the provisions of the Act of Con-
gress because its language is SO obscure
as not to be understood at the first
glance, and because the better it is TN.
derstood the more abominable it ap-
pears to be. That the plan of recon
struction will find advocates we have
not a reasonable doubt 1t is perfect
god-send to small politicians. The
'ablest and most virtuous men of the
South once out Of the way, they will
reap an abundant harvest. There are
men enough among us to gil all the
offices, who hid in the bushes while
their neighbors were fighting the bat
ties of their country, and who, whether
they held Offices or not, can consistent
ly swear that they took no part in the
glorious struggle for Southern indepen-
dence. Such men will feel no abase-
ment in going around among the igno-
rant negroes and soliciting their votes,
because the negroes, in most instances,
are not SO degraded as themselves
But we take it, that every true South
erner will spurn the offer to sacrifice
his honor, and will prefer q perpetual
state of political vassalage that has
been thrust upon him, to one that is the
result of his own free will. 1t matters
not that, in a fair contest, the Radicals
may be beaten at the polls, and that
there are enough able young men to
fill the Offices, who are not disfran-
chised. We oppose the bill on princi-
pie; We will not voluntarily adopt a
system which places the ablest men Of
the South below the negroes who have
but recently emerged from a state of
bondage.
tits true that, if we elect to remain
under the provisional government,
with a military commander over us,
the qualifications of voters are made
the same as under the government to
be formed by the proposed Conten-
ton. But even on the supposition that
we are to submit to Congressional reg
ulation Of the right of suffrage, without
testing its constitutionality, the cleo
ton for Legislature next Fall is the
only important election that is to be
held in the next two years. As the
Radicals can hardly have time to Or
ganise we can easily carry that cleo
ton, and will then be in condition to
wait two years for a change in the
present condition of things. At any
rate, II we should be in as bad a condi-
ton under the provisional as under the
reconstructed government, we should
have at least, under the former, the
satisfaction to know thatwe were not
instrumental in our own degradation.