New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1867-05-01
oFFIoE---No. 81 ST. CHARLES STREET.

extension to what they had long
regarded as an evil, the madness,
sent by the gods, again caused King Cotton
to overreach himself, and appeal to arms.
Thus in day, as it were, is accomplished
the gigantic work for which we and our
fathers have labored, and prayed, and wait
ed, without daring to hope that our eyes
should see it accomplished. Over these
hills, now tinging with the first green
promise of spring, have gone, on foot, from
house to house thirty-six or seven years ago
before had completed my youth, when yet
school girl, getting signatures to petitions
for the abolition of slavery in the District of
Columbia. Then I answered the question,
as best I could, propounded as it was in
almost every house, Has the negro a
soul?n Pennsylvania was then coming up
out of the darkness of slavery, and such
was the material out of which her Republi-
can majorities were eliminated. The elec.
tioneering documents used in the early days
of the campaign were of this stamp, " For
this is the part that have chosen, saith
the Lord, that ye undo the heavy burden,
| and let the oppressed go Free "0pen thy
mouth, for the dumb plead the cause Of the
poor and needy ~ ETC., etc.
Now that the one objection to the Consti-
| tuition, slavery, is removed, movement is
started to remove the other, by introducing
into the preamble, formal recognition of
the existence of Supreme Being; His au-
thority, as Governor, of the universe he has
created. A convention, to promote this OBJ
ject was held in Pittsburg during the late
war: and a committee appointed to visit
Washington. President Lincoln received
the committee very cordially, and expressed
his approval of their object. Rev. DR..
Gurley, of Washington, and Rev. Dr.. Chan
ming, then Chaplain Of the House OF Repre-
sensatiyes were appointed on local COM
mittee; but among the many amendments
to the Constitution, this one has not yet got
before Congress. Il is a strange anomaly,
that while we profess to be Christian peo.
pie, that while both sides in the late con-
fict appealed to the Christians God for aid,
they should both be content to live under
Constitution, which would answer Just as
we'll for a nation of Pagans. For all that
appears in our fundamental law. that statute,
on the dome of the Capitol, for which Mr..
Jefferson Davis contrived such a comical
head dress, as would defy the ingenuity of
convention of French milliners, may be
the God in whom the people trust.
Can any rejecting man doubt that the
want of religious obligation, in the official
oath required of our national officers, is
one principal cause of the perjury which
has marked the history of the rebe lion
What solemnity is there in an oath, which
| has no reference to future state of rewards
| and punishments; or to an Almighty Ruler
who can punish here as well as hereafter!
| second convention was recently held
in Pittsburg to urge the Christian amend
ment to the Constitution, and to the oath re-
| quired of the President. As nothing is pro-
posed which can interfere with the con-
science of any protesting Christian, Catholic
| or Protestant, it is to be hoped that the
attention of Christians will be SO called to
this question that this nation shall give
a national recognition of the existence and
authority of that God to whose care We,
individually, ascribe its prosperity and pre-
seryation.
Southern relief societies are still active.
May We not hope that Southern rebels will
muster little selfrespect and SO mitigate
their hatred and persecution of loyalists
that they, as "a people, may be raised above
pauperism If they could give up their
schemes of vengeance, go to work, and lei
others go to work, the land of the South
would soon be worth double the value for
merly set upon it, and the slaves who
under the name of tilling, brought barren
ness to it. When the Southern people learn
the magic of setting every man to work, or
his own account, Z" under his own vine and
fig tree this land will sooR abound with
corn and wine. Let the landless white and
the late slave be tried ON their own acres
and if they will not work, let them follow
the Bible rule and die, when workers will
soon take their place and prosperity flow
JANE G. SWISSHELM.