New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-11-30
Communicated
SUFFRAGE AND AMNESTY.

EDITOR REPUBLICAN:
The recent elections, and the triumph
General Grant as the next President of
these United States, for four years from the
fourth March next, opens wide field for
the reflections OF every Southern man, as
well as to every well wisher of his coun-
try's destinies.
The reconstruction policy of Congress
has been reaffirmed at the ballot box, the
last appeal of free people-next to the
conflict of arms. That question has re-
oeived its quietus, and thank God, peacea-
bly,. All the South has to do is to ac-
quiesce in the verdict of the people with
the best grace possible.
Whether suffrage to the negro was right
fully bestowed or not is not the question
now. 1t has been irrevocably settled that
that class shall have the right of suffrage
in the South, whether it is agreeable to
the people of the States respectively or
not; on which side or for what party their
sufrages will be cast in future elections,
is the great question at issue now-among
opposing political parties. | don't, for
one, see any serious objection to their
holding the right of the ballot, bat while
l would freely sgrant this right to then, l
am equally opposed to Withholding that
precious privilege inherited by every free
born American citizen from the Revolu-
tionary sires, from the white man. Hence
my doctrine is this
Universal suffrage" and "universal
amnesty" and furthermore believe that
these sentiments are in accord with those
of General Grant, and if adopted speedily,
would tend to promote harmony and peace
throughout The length and breadth of the
land, and their sequence would be, as Cen
eral Grant says in his letter OF acceptance,
Universal prosperity all over the coun-
try
We of the South, to be wise, must &C.
commodate ourselves to circumstances.
Tout est bien, tout est bon, tout est grand sa
We must bend to the yoke, which we
can not break, and make the best out of a
bad bargain. ''as the tree falls. so it must
lie;' as we make our bed, so will it be
soft or hard, and so must we repose upon
it. We have to take the reconstruction
laws ust as they are until time, and a
wiser and better and more generous and
Just council prevail in Congress, and then
and ! trust speedily, we shall see them
amended by adding universal amnesty"
for past political offenses to every individu-
al now DISTINGUISHED from these causes in
this boosted LAND Of liberty"
Allow me to say to you, Mr.. Editor, that
the hand that guides this pen is the same
which wrote the first fifteen planks in the
platform Of the Union Republican party of
Louisiana nearly two years since, and be-
fore any party had formed itself in the
South. There was certainly no Democratic
party, and then no Radical party. If the
so called Republican party or at least a
large majority Of them, slid off into the
Radical campfire extremists, l was not
one of them, nor have l ever acted with,
or written a line favoriug their extreme,
and still believe their suicidal policy, as
carried out in this State and in the legisla-
| ton of Congress toward the South. The
same hand wrote and published an address
to the colored people Of this State and Of
| the South relative to their duties as voters
| for members Of the convention to form the
Constitution Of this State, and giving them
my views of their duty and the course to
pursue for their own and for the best inter.
ests ofall. They were voters then, and are SO
still, and will in all probability forever re-
main so. | accepted that Reconstruction
act as a fact, and went to work in my feeble
way to assist in freeing us from military
rule, but having the best interests Of the
people of my own beloved South of bott
races sincerely at heart. There stands the
platform and there the address, and to-da!
they are in fact the principles Of the De
mocratic party of the South, although SOM
of them don't like to confess them openly
o Time what curious revelations dost tho
work
l have acted with that party-the De
mocratic-as the Republican party becam
, too radical for my conservative notions
and still think pardon my frankness)-
that if you want to see Republican princi
Piles flourish in the South you must strik
: from your party the name Of Radical" an
: with it all proscriptive legislation, an
cease to legislate for a party, instead {
. the good of the whole people as well j
u State affairs as in national. Favor uni
g versal amnesty, and teach the colored rae
n to look upon the white man as not h
enemy, and the white man to treat the co
ored as part of common tenantry capabl
: of great improvement, morally, intellec
J, ualIy and industrjally, and then there al
/ good grounds for believing tha. the Repal
J. lican party of the South may attain strengt
/. and respectability.
! A SOUTHERN UNION MAN.
The Planters Banner, published
e franklin ST. Mary parish, has the followi