The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-07-31
RADICAL COMPLICATIONS

release the people from the tyranny
and oppression under which they have
suffered ever since the accession of the
Black Republican party to power
There are unmistakable signs at pres
emit that such a contamination cannot
be delayed much longer, and that the
next general election, if the people be
true to themselves, will result in the
of Conservatism and the down
fall of the organization which now dis
graces the American republic.
1t is impossible that any free people
should submit for any length Of time to
such outrages as those which the domi-
nant party have heaped upon the heads
of the American people for the last two
years. A reaction must take place,
and when the revolution in popular
sentiment once commences it will not
stop as long as vestige of Radicalism
remains on the American continent
The American people are a Constitu-
ton loving people, and while they may
in moment of passion lost sight of the
old Constitutional landmarks, they will
certainly return to them when reason
shall have resumed her sway, and the
passions of the hour have passed away
with the causes which gave them birth.
That the American people will SUBJ
NIT to the recent legislation of Con-
gress for the government of the South
ern States, we have too much respect
for their intelligence, courage and sense
of justice to believe. That legislation
displays such an utter contempt OF
Constitutional obligations, such dis
regard of the dictates of Justice, and
such q Punic faithlessness in the re-
demption of the pledges of the govern
ment, as would disgrace any civilized
nation on the face of the earth. The
South was told that if she would lay
down her arms she should be received
again into the sisterhoOd of States,
since the object of the war was only to
maintain the integrity of the Union,
whose dissolution was held to be an
impossibility. And yet when her arms
were grounded at the end of an honor
able and a gallant contest, the South.
ern States were treated as outlaws, be-
yond the pale of the Constitution, their
State governments declared illegal, and
their people subjected to q military
satrapy, in comparison to which the
despotism of the Russian autocracy is a
paragon of mildness, clemency and JUS
tice. Southern soldiers were paroled
and the faith Of the Federal govern
ment pledged to protect them as long
as they should obey the law OF the To-
cality in which they happened to re-
side. And yet the laws Of their domi-
ellis have been made mockery, men
are arrested and tried by tribunals I'M
known to the Constitution, and the
dominant party is clamorous for an Act
of Congress which shall take away
their property and bestow it upon their
former slaves. And all this time the
people of the South are not only denied
representation in the Congress which
passes laws for their goycrnance, but
the machinery is already at work to
take from them forever all participa-
ton in such legislation and bestow it
upon an ignorant race, which is expect
ed to prove a willing instrument in the
hands of the Radicals in the accom-
plishment of their infamous objects.
Such legislation is bound to work the
destruction of it's authors, and, as we
said, we can observe signs Of a reaction
which must secure that destruction al
no distant day. The uncertainty which
has hung over the political future Of
the Southern States has paralysed its
industry, and distracted from the
wealth of the nation the immense rev.
enues formerly contributed to it by the
}, great agricultural States Of the South
The destruction Of so much wealth is
the more sensibly felt now that the i'm.
mense national debt has called for al
amount of taxation never dreamed O
by the founders of the government. II
addition to che taxes necessary for tht
ordinary expenses Of the government
the payment of the debts of the States
contracted before the war, as the Pres
ident shows in his message, must b
provided for by the Federal govern
9 ment now that it has been officially de
clared that no legal State government
; exist in the insurrectionary States
Moreover, the wall of individual dis
tress which comes up from every ham
let in the South, all of which is charge
< able to the action of the dominant par
! ty, has aroused the sympathies Of tn
Q people, and calls for retribution il
tones too plain to be disregarded.
Since these things are the only fruit
that can be traced directly to the Blacl
. Republican party whose organization
: was to usher in a golden age on thi
side Of the Atlantic, it is very natura
that the people should chafe under it
! supremacy and seek q ruler under tn
; agis Of some other party. If the Blac
Republican party, after succeeding j
e dissolving a Union which was said t
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