The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-10-15
THE Military MAINTENANCE OF RECON-.

why it is not abolished2 Let Memphis, New
Orleans, Camilla, give answerl" This screech
| is from the latest of the New York Tribune's
| owlish ululations over the condition of affairs
which the Tibune's party has managed to
create in the South. The same paper shrieks
| in continuation: "The rebels kill enough
Unionists as it is. They want to kill more,
and to kin them with more absolute impunity
Elect Grant and we shall not need nearly SO
many soldiers to keep them in order"
1t is Characteristic of the double ointed,
numbering sophistry of poor old Greeley to
falsely PROFOUND a political conundrum in
the first place, and in the next place to falsely
answer it. We of the South have not asked,
no rational person anywhere has asked, why
the army is not abolished? Nor have we de-
sired, nor has any good citizen anywhere de-
sired, the abolition of the army. The mill
tary organization within its proper sphere is an
excellent thing. The soldier of republic,
in the discharge of his legitimate office, is
one of the most useful and most indispens-
able of functionaries. And that Office is, to
defend the country against foreign foes, and,
in case of need, to protect the people in the
enjoyment of self-government and in the
maintenance of civil institutions of their
own choice.
Nobody has dreamed of doing away abso-
lutely with the soldiers vocation except the
hysterical set of bifurcate grannies to which
poor old Greeley belongs. But this they only
think of doing after they shall have brought
the world in universal subsection to their in
sane hobbies after, that is to say, they shall
have established call rights for all, given
everything to everybody" and converted the
whole of mankind into q race of miscegens,
sweltering mass of mongrelism, working like
maggots in the body of dead and putrid
civilization. In the meantime nobody is SO in
tent as they upon the most latitudinarian use
of the military arm. And this brings us back
to the Tribune's conundrum, falsely pro-
pounded, and to its false answer thereto.
"Do you ask why it (the army is not abol-
ished 2" No, we have not asked or demanded
anything of the sort. But people who are So
icitous of constitutional liberty, and of the
civil muniments and organs of self-govern-
ment, have asked, and do ask, why the army,
for nearly four years since the fighting ended,
has been concentrated almost wholly in the
South. The object it is clear, is not to defend
the country against foreign attack. 1t is
equally clear that the army, thus concentrated,
has been used, not to maintain the civil insti-
tutions of the peoples choice, but to forcibly
overthrow them and impose others in their
place. And to perpetuate this violent and un-
natural state of things is the only perceptible
reason why this army is not withdrawn from
this illegitimate and unworthy field of service.
In Short though the conflict of arms ceased |
nearly four years ago, the soldier is condemned |
to the opprobrious task Of continuing to make |
war when there is no enemy in campaign con-
demned to the vile and loathsome Office of as
sisting an infamous pack of political despera-
does in subverting civilized society in the
South and installing barbarism upon its
ruins.
LET Memphis. New Orleans, Camilla,
give answer" screams the Tribune. Pre-
cisely. And what do they testify? Why, that
Radical reconstruction the three places
named are in reconstructed States, so-called-
is thus far essentially incapable OF creating
stable civil governments. or of securing peace
tary force which has been kept in the South
to guard the precious spawn of this political
monster
"Elect Grant, and we shall not need nearly
so many soldiers to keep them in order" And
yet the same paper tells us that Grants election
would mean the guarantee, at all hazards and
by all means, of that same Eckety fabric of
OFF -xrIs oh |
utterly failed to secure peace and order. If
this failure could not be prevented by the
number of soldiers now in the South, by
what arithmetic is it to be shown that in the
same circumstances, much less number of
soldiers would be abundantly adequate to the
purposes of peace and order simply because
Grant had passed from the position of general
ln-chief to that of commander-in-chief of the
army? The idea is perfectly preposterous.
The fact is, Grants election, if it should mean,
as all his Radical supporters say it would
mean, the infallible perpetuation of the recon-
struction infamy, in remorseless accordance
with its design and origin, would necessitate
an enormous increase of the army to perform
the inglorious work of military police over
communities made desperate by intolerable
and rapacity. If the cost of effect
ing the so-called reconstruction has been up
wards of one hundred millions, the cost of
maintaining fascinating mill
airy expenses alone-would assuredly run
over two hundred millions. 1t would be
necessary to almost populate the interior of
'very Southern State with troops and keep
hem constantly supplied with munitions and
mems of transportation. Such system
would break down from its magnitude and
'ostliness; but not before bankrupting the
ederal government and spreading over the
south ten-fold deeper gloom of desolation.
grand mass meeting will take place on |
>ongo Square, next Saturday evening, under
he auspices of the central committee of the
Democratic clubs of the parish.
The meeting will be addressed by Hon. Geo. \
l. Braughn, A. VOORHEES,, M. A. Foute, Gen.