The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1868-03-05
sOuiHLhk ANTI-RADIcALs AND THE
FREEDhEE.

feated rebellion, it pursues the political So
premacy of the Southern blacks on the as
sumption that the ballot in the hands Q
freedmen isnecessary to enable them to pro
tect themselves against the implacable hos
tility of their late masters. If, on the on
hand, it looks almost like an impossible sup
position that considerable portion of th,
Northern people, above the intellectual seal,
of idiots, can credit such preposterous as
sumptions, it is, on the other hand, almos
uncomfortable that the reconstruction ex
tremists in Congress can have any other hold
on popular opinion in the North than {
measurably diffused belief in these assump
tons. 1t is for this reason that the Crescent
has SO frequently taken occasion to state
frankly and clearly the real disposition of the
surviving adherents of thelate Southern Con.
federaey towards the federal government, to.
wards the people of the North, and towards
the black population of the South. For the
same reason we would urge upon the Demo-
cratic and anti-radical press of the North
the importance of bringing frequently
and forcibly to Northern attention
the true ideas and feelings entertained by our
people in the above enumerated relations.
There never was a time when the body of the
Southern people cherished allegiance to the
federal government as the visible embodiment
of the Union, under considerations more pow-
erful than those which now impel them in
that direction. Nor was there ever a time
when.they felt more strongly disposed to Gull
tivate political and social fusion with the
Northern people. to sink all sectional distinc
tons lin either public or private relations, to
invite and to welcome all who come from the
North, with reputable intent, to settle or to
sojourn among them. As to their disposition
towards the Southern blacks, the kindly in
terest which they feel for that population is
traditional Emancipation did not destroy or
even shake this sentiment, but developed it
into an anxious solicitude respecting the lot of
the freedmen suddenly introduced to the re-
sponsibilities and perils Of freedom. And
this feeling still exists; still exists in spite of
the malignant devices of radical policy to first
stir up aferocious enmity in the blacks against
the whites, and then to put the latter under
the heels Of the former. That it should sur
vive in such circumstances is wonderful, and
proves degree of toughness init that can be
hardly short of indestructibility.
An opposite expression of opinion and sem
timent regarding the freedmen occurs in the
resolutions adopted by recent meeting of
citizens in St. Landry parish,
which were published in yesterdays CREs-
CENT. The fourth of these resolutions. the |
one to which we refer, deserves in this con-
nection to be reproduced, and We SUBJ
Join it
!. Resolced That, by reason of our previous rela.
lions to the freedmen Of the country Character.
zed by confidence on one side and protection on |
NE other our earnest sympathies are enlisted in |
heir behalf; that we are sincerely disposed to &C.
,oId to them all their civil rights and to qualify
hem for useful citizenship, by providing for their
'ducauon and encouraging Ia them habits of tenn
'erAnce, fueslty and industry; but that in their
present uniniormed condition, We think they are
for selfgoyernment, and should be
egulated BY laws framed for their advancement
md protection by superior race that while We |
ntertsin these friendly dispositions, and have
heerfully scquiesced IN their emancipation, we /
ave good reason TO complain of the persistent
nd unscrupulcus efforts which, for mere party
imposes, have been made to create an anta0o |
ism between them and onrselves-their true |
riends and protectors.
These declarations have O large significance
rom the fact that they possess the character
a typical or symptomatic utterance. Be-
ond question, ninety-nine per cent. of intel
gent and well meaning white people in this
tate, and throughout the South, entertain /
nth respect to the freedmen precisely the ..
ame opinion and feeling as are expressed by
le anti-radical citizens of st. Landry parish.
here is not the shadow of the hostility 10 the .
eedmen on the part of the ex-masters which t
le radicals assume as plea for instant and |
UNIVERSAL negro suffrage. But, even supposing G
lch hostility to exist, the ex-masters are too '
nall part of the total population of the !
outh to be in themselves formidable enemies {
three millions of freedmen. Hence, if the
agro needs the ballot for selfprotection. he 4
ust need it to protect himself against the a
eat mass of white people in the South. But :
re again, the radical argument crumbles at
% touch of fact. The ballot alone could y
'yer defend the blacks against a white n
'pulation outnumbering them three to
e, immensely superior in intelligence and o
morally superior in wealth. This propo- a
ion is in the nature of an arithmetieal n
18th. 1t can not be false while relative num- b,
rs remain the same. Political power, in Il
last analysis, is resolved into physical :.
zee. If three millions of negroes are '
onger, physically, than eight or nine mil a.,
ms of whites, they may arrive at permanent Il
lltical power under the electoral conditions 81
radical reconstruction. But if not not. =,
e political supremacy which radical policy II
as to give them, is utterly impossible even w
semblance without exterior military sup ey
t. And, therefore, in any shape in which -
Is practicable, it must signify, in point of W !"
!, not negro supremacy, but the dominion be
central despotism subjecting both blacks S E,
whites to different measures and forms P fI
slavery. ed
SB
WE5IERN POLITTcR WI