The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-12-18

confidence can only be retained by careful "
y intoxicating the principal Of justice and r.
ionor on the popular mind, and by the Il
most scrupulous fidelity to all our engage In
ntnts of every sort. Any serious breach III
Of theorganic law persisted in fora con5 y
siderable time, cannot but create fears for ID
the stability of our institutions. Habitual
violation Of the prescribed rules which we =
bind ourselves to observe, must demor allzs t
the people. Our only standard OF civil le
duty beings set at naught, the sheet anchor II
Of our political morality is lost, the con {
science swings FRONT its moorings and yields
to every impulse, passion and interests. II /
we repudiate the constitution, we will not
be expected to care much for more pecunia-
ny obligations. .,aifa, IN, .tlfE
The violations of such pledge as we
made on the 22d Of July, 1861, will assured
" diminish the market value Of our other
promises. Besides, five now acknowledge
that the national debt was created, not to
hold the States in the Union, as the tax
payers were led to suppose, but to expel
them from it, and hand them over to be
governed by negroes, the moral duty to pay
Il may seem much less clear. Isay,it may
seem 50, for do not admit that this OF any
other argument in favor Of population can
| be entertainments sound, but its influence
on some classes of minds may be well ap-
pretended. The financial honor OF a great
commercial nation, largely indebted, and
with a. republican form OF Government,
administered by agents OF the popular
choice, is q thing of such delicate texture,
and the destruction of it would be followed
Iby such unspeakable calamity, that every
true patriot must desire to avoid whatever
might expose it TO the slightest danger.
The great interests ofthe country require
Immediate relief from these enactments,
Business in the South is paralyzed by the
sense of general insecurity, by heIterror OF
c6nfscation, and the dread ofinegro supre-
'lmacy. Southern trade, from which the
North would have derived SO great aprotit
under government Of law, still languishes,
and can never be revived until it ceases to
| be fettered by arbitrary powers which makes
!. all its operations unsafe. That rich coun-
try, the richest in, natural resources the
world ever say, is worse than lost if it be
not soon placed under the protection OF a
free constitution. Instead Of being as it
ought to be, source Of wealth and power,
I BIT will become an intolerable burden upon
/. 1the rest of the nation:
Il Another reason for retracing orr steps
will doubtless be seen by Congress, in the
: late manifestations Of public opinion upon
q this subject. We live in country where
popular will always enforces obedience to
+ itself sooner or later. 1t is vain to THINK
q of opposing it with. anything short OF lega
/ authority, backed by overwhelming force.
nj It can not have escaped your attention
: that from the day on which Congress fairly
e and formally presented the proposition e
+ lpovern the Southern States by mllitar..
. force, with a view to the ultimate establish
y ment of negro supremacy, every expression
% of the general sentiment has been more 9
# less adverse 10 it, The affection OF thi
of Q, r,eration. cannot be detached from IN
a institutions Of their ancestors. Their de
" termination to preserve the inheritance 9
=, N a free government In their own hands, an
i. transmit it undivided and unimpaired !
n. their own posterity, is toostrongt to be SUI
cessfully opposed. Every weaker passlo
Il will disappear beiorethe love OF liberty an
10 law. for which the American people q
NJ distinguished above oil others in the wori
he How the duty Of the President 20 Pr
i'm serve, protect and defend the conssisu W