New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-03-15

existing circumstances in our state 1t was
no simple thing to hit the point where JUS
tice and liberality meet. To restore their
political privileges to as many as possible
of our citizens who had forfeited them by
voluntary support of the rebellion without
endangering the cause of liberty, or the
stability of the advantages gained by the
war, was q problem whose solution was as
difficult as desirable, An impartial exam
nation of article ninety-nine, which pro-
vides for Acknowledgement, will show that
this result has been obtained. This article
restores to the right of suffrage all whe are
estopped from claiming it by reason OF
their having abjured their allegiance to the
government ofthe United States,o or ofhaving
levied war upon it, except the following
classes, viz
Those who held Office, civil or military,
for one year or more under the organiza-
ton styled "the Confederate States of
Americas" those who registered themselves
as enemies of the United States; those who
acted as leaders OF guerrilla bands during the
late rebellion; those who in the advocacy
OF treason wrote or published newspaper
articles or preached sermons during the
late rebellion, and those who voted for and
signed an ordinance of secession in any
state.
Even these are permitted to resume the
franchise on condition Of voluntary writ
ten acknowledgment that the late rebellion
was morally and politically wrong, and an
expression of regret for participation in it..
There is, moreover, prOViso that
mo person who prior to the first
of January, eighteen hundred and
sixty-eight, favored the execution of the
laws of the United States PRpularly known
as the reconstruction acts Of congress, and
openly and actively assisted the loyal men
of the state in their efforts to restore Louis
lana to her position in the Union, shall be
held to be included among those herein ex-
cepted, and that registrars of voters shall
take the oath of any such person as prima
facie evidence of the fact that he is entitled
to the benefit of this proviso."
What more on the score Of liberality
could be asked? Is it not a universally
acknowledged principle that repentance on
the part of wrongdoer and an open con-
fession should precede pardon? Surely,
If any wrongdoer owes a PREPARATION to
society, it is he who drew his fellow men
into the fearful crime of treason es-
pecially if for this purpose he abused the
sacred influences of the press or the pulpit.
And even this humiliation, deserved as it is,
is escaped by all those who have taken the
part Of good citizens, and manifested their
repentance and the sincerity of their good
intentions by promoting the restoration Of
the state under the congressional plan of
reconstruction.
Other additional provisions in this ad-
mirable instrument deserving of special
notice are those abolishing tacit mortgages
and distinctions in the public schools on
account of race or color.
That the system of tacit mortgages as
now existing in this state is fruitful Of an
noyance, wrong, and injustice is so gen.
orally admitted that it would be superero-
cation to enlarge on the subject. That system
has always been clog on the interchange Of
real estate, and its abolition will be hailed
with almost universal appreciation.
With regard to the school question, the
arguments already offered touching the
admission of eolored people into public
conveyances cover the point The children
of both races play together in the street,
in the yard, in the parlOr. The objection
to their sitting side by side in schools
springing as it does from stubborn pride of
race, must give way to the demands of jus
ticer or be Over-ridden by the car of pro-
gress.