The morning star and Catholic messenger., 1868-02-09
easily set at naught civil process OF military

easily set at naught civil process OF military
coercion. i4--s.- fs'--A -
Bat labor they exclaim. The great evil
bf the day is want of labor. Let the gov
brnment go on never SO smoothly, unless
khe land is cultivated there will he no pre- I
duction, no real prosperity or plenty A
Universal blight will. settle ON the face of
nature. -
1t appears to us that this source OF appre-
hensi0n has far less importance than the
former. The same population ia here that
formerly performed such satisfactory labor,
aud experience shows that, even with the
imperfect system of employment hitherto
adopted, q large proportion, probably three
fourths, of the work formerly done by it, !
can be still obtained. Even that amount OF
labor juiliciously applied, and with favora-
ble seasons, would soon restore consider-
able degree of prosperity to the country
We are told that even this amount of ex-
ertion on the part of the freedmen can not
I've counted on for more than few years;
that in short time their old habits Of in
.d,lstry will have worn off and they will then
lapse into the utter erindolence of their nature
as manifested in .famaica and San Domingo.
But We must not forget to take into ac-
count the vast difference of their condition
affec.4s,} of the two differ
ent regions. There labor is not necessary
to the support of life !; here one must labo
or perish. The pangs of hungerand priva-
ton will eventually enforce<a better days
work than the lash ever could.
:. Will not enter upon the mooted question
of the capacity OF white labor to produce
the staple crops Of the South, but a refer
! enee to the customs of European cosntries,
j in latifudes where the heat is more oppres-
q size than with us, would probably go far to
q a1eassHre- readers s-on-the- subject of
81 white labor, and it's capabiiity to make the
South far more productive than it has ever
been.
d Let us not be too Respondent, then. The
present depression is the natural result OF
war, which apparently enriched the coun-
= try by flooding it with vast quantities Of
paper money, while in reality it impover-
ished it by Withdrawing an immense
amount of labor from production. This
whole country, North and South, East and
West, has boundless resources Of wealth
and prosperity, yet~but little tried.
-, .lh a continuance peace we may rea-
sonably expectto see the Mississippi Val
ley bloom into development Of power and
opulence never yet equaled. New Orleans
[sifs AT the gates-ef the ocean and the land,
and her position would naturally make her
= the =qneen Of all this empire, the emporium
of all its tributary commerce. - =
Prosperity, heweyer, is never certain, n"
matter what number of natural causes con-
spire to produce it. The Almighty has re-
served to Himself the disposal of results.
; EVERY good and perfect gift is from the
hand Of God" He says, and though all the
elements of success may be present, His
power must quicken them into fruition. A
region may be as favored as the Valley OF
the Euphrates, and as desolate; as fair rs
Naples, vet blighted with the ashes of some
angry Nesnvius \
There is a prosperity too, which is not a
good gift and which should not be desired
d prosperity founded on injustice fruitful
of corruption and sudden in its extinction
1t was of such history that the prophet
spoke when he said, Babylon, the mighty
-l4Jis fallen, is fallen" 1t is to be hoped
that the Catholics of New Orleans will seek
for their city true and solid prosperity, Joy
the Precipitation of that power which alone
can give it that they will try to build uI
a great Catholic city-Catholic i'll her love
of letters and science, Catholic i'll her mon
uments Of faith, and above all, Catholic il
her charities.
The Pope and His Defenders, -