New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-02-23

Ahu Wnen uDerIY no longer IneaHt slavery,
they all at once determined to burst up the
hated governments and make new one.
Now, 1t Is well enough for our disloyal
friends to remember that this government is
notthe one they used to love, but the one
they tried to break up. It is the same gov
eminent against which they fought, and the
same constitution which provides the death
penalty for treason. (Applause.)
Now, why this complaint and resistance
Of the manifest win ofthe nation? By what
precedent do they claim the right to criti-
else and condemn the terms imposed by the
government when they Internationally sur
rendered to the power they could not Whip?
claim that the government might Justly
have executed the leaders Of the rebellion;
exported 25, 600 others, confscated sufficient
property to have paid the national debt, and
distranchised all remaining from voting or
heldtng any Office Of trust or profit,
And upon no other principle can we
excuse ourselves for not having recognized
the independence Of the confederacy. For
II their cause was just, ours was unjust.
But If our cause was just If we were right
in marching armies against them and de-
stroylng their people and oVerruuning their
country, then the government had the
right to punish them, indemnify the past,
and secure the future. (Applanse.) Some
rebel listening will dencance this sentiment.
Let me ask him was it right for Beaure-
gard to urge the passage Of law by she
confederate congress for the execution of
all dbolitionists !? Was it right for the con-
federate government TO confscate all the
| debts Of Southern merchants to Northern
creditors Was it right to drive citizens
| from their homes and exile them from their
states because they were loyal, to the re-
| public? Was 1t right to imprison citizens
for their loyalty, and massacre them, as
was done in Texas, because they loved their
| government II these acts were right for
the confederates whose cause was slavery,
and whose wicked inspiration led them to
\ the most damnable excesses, what kind OF
punishment would be justi6able in an in
nocent and outraged government? Gap.
plause.)
do not refer to this course with o view
to urge retaliation, or even to suggest 1t,
but TO bring to your comprehension the
! course which the government might justly
have pursued-in order to show its magma
nimity and concession.
And now what has the government done
| which should not be welcomed by every
rebel and applauded by every loyalist for
its magnanimity?
Show me single case where a rebel has
been executed for his offense? Show me a
single case of expatriation Out of half a
million traitors, with all OF their chieftains
captured, who in addition to the crime OF
treason were guilty of breaking their most
solemn oaths, not one has been punished
capitally or by imprisonment. The govern
ment has executed none. 1t has exported
none. Ithss oonfiscatedno property since
the termination of hostilities.' It has per-
mauently disfranchised none, and the few
thousands who have been prescribed from
holding office are promised removal of ldisa-
bility when they give evidence OF future
good behavior. r6u8slhHgs
What terms could have been expected or
hoped for miideF than those contained in the
fourteenth amendment to the constitution
4 rob fho riurht n Tynfa
ferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and Beaure-
gard are as much entitled to vote under 1t
as Ulysses s. GrBnt or w. I. Sherman. 1t
allowed rebels to disffanchise loyal black
men who had fought in the army,
and only prescribed as penalty that they
should not have representation in congress
for those disfranchised. And the only
feature at all Objectionable to them is the
/ clause prescribing certain classes of men
who had prostituted their Offices and oaths
to the wicked attempt to destroy the ma
tional life.
Were ever such terms proposed by the
victor to the yanQuished? Scan the pages of
history and point to single instance where
such grand magnanimity has been dis
played. Yet these terms, singular to say,
| were rejected, and with such accompanying
legislation as aroused the people and
brought the nation TO its feet. The same
wicked and peryerse spirit which instigated
under the encouragement of President
johnson, and manifested IT'S determination
to destroy the friends of the country or
drive them from Southern soil. The wicked
and infamous enactments in relation to
labOrers, which practically re.enslaved every
4 man made free by the war; the prescription
and ostracism Of Onion white men through
out the South, with the assassinstions, mur-
ders, and massacres, encouraged and pro.
tected by the officers sworn to execute the
law, exhibited the error Of congress and
showed the people Of the country that there
could be no loyal governments, no protec
ton for loyal men unless every citizen wal
armed with the ballot box. (Great applause
And when congress declared the great
principle that alE loyal men should have an
I equal voice In the government of the coun
try it sounded the key note Of the constitu
Anything less than universal suffrage would
have been a wanton and wicked betrayal O.
loyal Thousands, and barter Of the fighti
Of four millions Of loyal people to conciliats
wicked and contgmacious foe. ZAP
plause) aAA
The acts Of congress on Reconstruction
simply emkody this principle, and our con
stitution. almost completed by the conven
ton, will soon be submitted to US for oul
ratification. II will. no doubt, have defects
and we will wish that many things in Il
were different; but, as a whole, have M
doubt but it Will receive the general ap
prevail. Cur grand object Is toget our STATE
back into its proper place in the Union
We want the light Of our republics sun. We
want to feel4h6 influence Of home friends
We want our interests considered, and aid
J in the work of the general welfare. In the
Union, with tie rights Of ell the people
secured in the bulWarks Of our constitution
with free press and free speech, we know
, that any reform we may find necessary will
be easy to attain. The great paramount
object now to be attained Is the establish
ment OF eQnal suffrage. aud the breaking
down Of the barriers to eqnal civil and
political rights. All other questions are
equal suffrage We Will have no payment oi
al obligations; no renewal Of hostilities
aeainat the nation by state authority; nc
re enslavehent OF any class Of people; nc
proscriptive measures; no wor8hiping o
rebel heroes; but instead we will have loyal
governments, (applause) loyal measures
Loyalty viii be ct q premium and dieloyalty
at.a Discount, and We soon altall Gee ali fhS
people Accepting the situation" III good
faith gCheers.l
shall the new constitution be ratified
Not completed we yet know the main prin
cipleai a 6ontaing The great opposition X
twill be On account Of Its provisions OF
the question OF elective franchise.
Some VIII 01no1e Ii bocauBe Il establishes
universal negro suffrage; others because il
disfranehises white men, aud others fol
both reasqngs q y estiuefed that not onl
thousand white men VII b dlslranchisei
. under the new Consultation, and the legis
/ iatuwo X authorized 20 enlfauchine then