The south-western. [volume] (Shreveport, La.) 1852-1870, 1867-10-30
The st. Domingo Of the South.

purpose Of carrying out the reconstruction measures
of Congress 1t will be the members elected
all Radicals of the deepest dye This, of course
only cxpected but it assured certainty Of the
reconstruction measures 1t deliberately pre-
arranged in the Radical caucus at Washington last
spring. 1t was carried boldly into effect with all the
dash and all the dudacity Of tie plant tool Of that
party, the late military commander OF this district
who is now receiving in the pauds of Radical au-
diences in the North the approval CT well done
thou faithful servant" But what distinguished citi.
will compose this convention, the able repre-.
sentatives of the people Of the State, charged with
the great rpst of framing its organic law-who these
are that solicited to discharge the duty hereto
fore confded to such citizens as John r. Grymes,
Isaac Preston, Randell Hunt, J. P. Benjamin, and
Christian Roseus, exchanges do not enable US to
report. Nor they chargeable with any inditter-
the public interest in the matter 1t is simply
impossible for the press make known the characters
capabilities of large majority OF the men elected
1t can only mention the names OF the honored ndl-
yduas with brief indication of their color Or the
recent term of their residence in the Sate-as for in
stance that the members elect from the parish OF Cad
do are two negroes and one white man, the last late
addition to our population. This is substantially the
account far received from the countrv parishes. 1t
varies in one cases, in Claiborne, old and
we'll known citizen is elected Blackburn of the Homer
HAD and Ouachita we understand Mr. Ludelipg is re-
turned. These, however, exceptions
The convention will consist with few exceptions Of
such men the members elect from the parish OF
Caddo. They will constitute large majority OF the
convention and to this majority conded the sover
egn power of the State under the limitations imposed
by the military bills and the stronger requirements Of
the Radical party. With the sovereignty placed in
such hands, is the State of Louisiana, politically in
better condition than St. Domingo?
In a material point Of view, the condition of our
people invites if possible sadder comparison. The
resources OF the State to be dried up-lterally,
to have wiltcd.and died from the touch of Radcalsm
We have large and increasing population of laborers
from education, from habit and from necessity, Injured
to toll and acclimaed here, whose production, few
years ago, added many millions to the commerce of
the world. They not to-day se-sustaining From
one end of the State to the other, they have been
to their employers and enailed by their deness
their want of thrift by their pecuations and their pol
ltlCS, Sucn NcaFF losses upon tHe
large portion of the landed proprieos Of the State
will have the carry agricultural opera
tons for another year Is the State better off, in this
respect, than St. Domingo?
Cast your eye over the surface of the State, and see
what breadth Of land the finest auvon of the world
i'll the highest culti9ation protected, by hun
dreds of miles by immense levees against the nunda-
tons of our numerous bayous and rivers. Where are
those costly works those monuments of the industrial
energy of our people, those indispensable guards
against disastrous overhows? Destroyed here and
there, during the war; for military purposes, broken
again in other places by the fury Of tremendous fresh
cts their remains the monuments of past age, OF
the poverty this, and of the vindictve neglect of
dominant faction. The lands which they protected,
in their luxuriant fertility reproducing the prime
val forest growth where late the "gardcn bossomcd
like the rose" and cotton and sugar yielded their mill
ions to wcll-directed labor. In its declining produc-
tons and its outlying waste lands, is the State better
off than St. Domingo?
If in POLITICAL material or industrial view, the con-
dition of the State at present. is superior to that
tropical island abandoned, by false philanthropy and
treacherous Government in what respect, if any, is
the State superior to St. Domingo? Is its future more
hopeful? Its white population is decreasing by emf
grafton, while the black is rapidly increasing
from immigration. There is no hope here Then, i'll
what lies either the present future prominence of
the State over St. Domingo? In this and this alone,
the presence of a superior and different race-n their
contact, their sympathy and their cooperation with
men of their own race in other States and sections,
upon whose moral and material aid they rely. The
race is not always the swift the battle to the
strong The future destiny Of Louisiana, whether it
shall belong to this that, depends upon the
courage, the energy, the persistence and the intel
eence Of the two races TO that which is superior
in these particulars, and to the moral support which
these qualities always in efficient allies These
allies we have from California to Connecticut The
victorious cheers Of friends in Ohio and Peunsy
yana will not allow us to despond, even if we were
cowardy enough to do so, from poverty our dis
Embellishments, and the insulting degradation Of our
race prefgured in the composition Of the State
venton-in its majority of semi-savage negroes and
moral bybrids, of recent Importation with the faces of
one race and the hearts of the other. Against the
power which these CONTROL the few decent old citizens
in the convention mpish--nothing. Let US
not rely upon any expectation Oh tins Sort out go 10
work, like men, organise throughout the State, hold
mass convention of our ablest and best men, at the
same time with the mongrel convention, and show our
grievances, and our gratitude, to our Democratic
friends in the North.
Shall Louisiana be and remain a st. Domingo?
REACTloN.-Wise heads have told US that a change |!
has ransped in the sentiment and feeling Of the great
masses of Northern people, and we are led to believe
the by the result of the elections in several
of the Northern and hitherto Radical States. The peo
pie are last it conscious of the fact that if
they silently acquiesce in the usurpntions and outrage
of the Abolition minority Of the North represented
by the so.callcd Congress Of the United States, they
will not only be sponsbe for the overthrow of the
liberties Of the people of the South but will thus tao
lily to the abrogaton of their rights and
the utter destruction Of the Republic. They are, at
last, beginning to realise the solemn and important
TRUTH that there must he return by the law makers
of this country to the Constitution. They at last
that the Constitution is all that can make govern
without it we are but mcbocracY fit only
for the rule of courts martia and standing armies
They feel that there can never he rue renon of the