The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-06-10
INCAPABLE DEsPoTTsM.

If a man kas no escape from despotism, it
is some consolation for him to know that he
is under a capable despot A slillful rider
does not needlessly gall, ehafe, lacerate and
worry his horse; and competent ruler, even
though despotic, will take care to adapt his
rule to the nature and circumstances of his
subjects, so that it will sit upon them, as
nearly as may be, with the easiness of a we'll
fitting garment. All this is reversed in the
case of the radical work of usurpation and
tyranny which has held full swing for the
past three years. from the Potomac to the
Rio Grande. If the result were merely the
pressure of oyer-mastering power, exercised
with Judgment and frmness, and with the
composure Of conscious strength, the despot-
ism would be comparatively light and endur-
able. 1t is the manifest and prodigious inca
pability of the despots which, in this
instance, makes oppression bitterest 1t is
this which makes the regime of radicalism
not only fatal to constitutional liberty, but
fatal to social tranquility and material pros
perity 1t is this which explains why radical
policy is universal calamity. Amore miser-
able combination of Unsuitable lust of power
and pitiable incompetency to use it, is not re-
corded in the gloomiest pages of history.
Among the conspicuous proofs of radical
inability to accomplish any purpose by smooth
and easy processes, or to organize peace and
order anywhere, are the shameful scenes
which were recently enacted IN Washington
City. The rioting and outrage which occurred
there in connection with the municipal cleo
ton, were as much the work of che radical
majority in Congress as though these Con-
gressmen had personally called out and led
the negro mob, had seized the poll books,
had torn up adverse returns, and had VIC
lently occupied the council rooms and offices
OF the city government. The congressional
experiment Of forcing negro suffrage upon
communities which did not ask for it, and
were not prepared for it, commenced in the
District Vt Columbia There, under the i'm
mediate view of Congress, within arms reach
OF its power of exclusive legislation in
all cases whatever"-there, if anywhere,
the experiment ought to have been tried
calmly and thoroughly, and without violence,
bloodshed and confusion. The event ex-
poses at once the essential mischief of the
policy and the profound and incurable ignor-
snce and incapabihty of its authors They
have assumed 10 govern despotically ten
States at a distance, and about whose affairs
they know nothing personally, and yet they
are unable to secure peaceful government
over district of few miles in extent which
is under their very eyes. Under their rule,
disorder, license and sanguinary violence APP
pear to be more imminent the nearer the |
scene is TO the central seat of their power;
and it would be no extravaganza apprehension |
to anticipate that few years more of radical /
legislation would render Washington City a
Of one of those Mexican towns |
which for half a century have been almost |
the scenes of pronunciamientos and |
revolutions, and of plaza surprises, battles
and military executions. And that would be |
a picture, in miniature, of the political situa-
lion throughout the country. The trouble is
not so much III the mere policy of negro suf-
rage as in the wicked purpose which inspires
t. and in the reckless stupidity of the devices
which are adopted for carrying it out In
hort the secret of the thickening evils of the
lime is not in the negro, but in the enormous
and incompetency of the radical
ule, which menaces the permanent subver-
ion Of free government and the universal
uin Of the country.