New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1868-02-11
THE CONTEMPORARIES COMMANDING
nuupBAr

And 9ess IN AAQM---lE6 OlMNAHQAAO
GENERAL
On Saturday Last the convention adopt
ed, with but twelve dissenting voiees, aEsi-
Gle l52 Of the new constitution, providing
"for an election for all state, Judicial,
parish, and municipal officers, for members
Of the general assembly, and congressional
representatives simultaneously with the
submission of the constitution to the people
for ratification or rejection. By this action
the members Of that body have insured
anew for themselves the grateful acknOwl-
Judgments of the loyal people Of the state,
who viii ratify the new constitution all the
more certainly and heartily that this
feature has been added to it.
| The question new Of immediate Interest
| is whether the commanding general will
exert the powers given him by the acts Of
Reconstruction, in what he can not deny to
be the spirit Of those aets-in cooperation
with the convention, and thus sustaining
the arms and hearts of the Union citizens
of the state, and fastening the work Of
reconstruction whether he will abuse
his delegated authority, and show him
self unfathfil and reereant to bis
mission by exhibiting in his own
p.rsou the greatest of the hindrances and
distractions which it was made his special
duty to remove. No one who is not at
heart an enemy to reconstruction in Louis
lima can fairly object to the proposed sec
ondary feature in the coming election. The
real and plain object Of those who oppose
tits to hinder, delay, and defer the recon
struction Of these states, and to use the
time thus lost and gained to weaken and
injure the Republican party in the state and
national issues that are approaching. Who,
for example, sees any honesty of purpose
in the doctrine, which has been urged in
certain quarter with owl-like gravity, that
in SO seriOns work as the consideration Of
q constitution, the desirable calmness and
equanimity, forsoSth, of the popular miad
should not be disturbed by any collateral
issues? Or who does not see through the
cheap DISCUSSES Of those who have sud
denly taken to quibbling and special plead
ing, as to the force Of this proposition or
that noun in the laws referred to ?
When it is borne in mind under what
circumstances these acts became laws, the
series of events that preceded their passage,
Che succession Of mild and concessive
measures toward the South, which had
proved TO be only prelndes to fresh
petulaney and presumption, to new sever
tiles OF legislation toward the freedmen,
to worse and widespread atroci-
ties to those freedmen, and to Onion men
generally in these Southern states, Gull
mlnating now and then in ouibursts Ike
those Of Memphis and New Orleans, who
can fail to see the spirit that
pervades these laws of reconstruction, and
she Fallness Of meaning Of the final section,
whereby it is enacted that the law shall b
construed li5ernEly 10 the end hat on dle in-
isNts hereof may be fully and PERFECTLY car
RED osst2n
Let it be remembered, too, tkat, as we
have repeatedly said in these columns,
the convention in this late ordinance
has merely used power legitimately
belonging to 1t, and followed rule
which custom has most fully established;
that, to 60 no further back than 1865, when
conventions were held in various Southern
states under the call and auspices, too, Of
reconstruction's worst present enemy in
North Carolina The convention provided for
just such a simultaneous secondary cleo.
ton, which was accordingly held, and whose
sualldity has never been questioned; that
the same thing was done, and at about
the same time, in Mississippi and
FLORIDA, and. if We renem'ber lightly, Ia
Georgia, South Carolina, Alabama, ana
Texas. It "a plain and certain, then, to all
but the wilfulfy blind, that in emitting to
forbid such action the matter was lefl at
th1 option and discretion Of the present
convsntions, wfils Yarieus passages, which
We have heratofore quoted, expressly and
repeatedly isvor she afirmative theory
Nobody denies that lie civil govern
ments proposed q be sci up will BE-
odly pfpYlslenai in their character til
sha several states ere aathoriiatively d.
elaraa ehefied to adsniaslen ant repre-
sgntati0n, hat not one person IN ! thousand
/ lnaelnss fort nsmsat that congress win
reguae 10 cshfrln and Sustain such eovsrn-
neAGs, or thai lsWEll refuse its iiaal sanesion
haeauas the adopsson Of The required
I amenduens TO The national constitution
aball have been nRao BY legislature
elsete8 aadw ne new ssate constitution
sshaa y. ii conformity therewith) bgosv rs
satiAealisn, instead q saidsF ihe same
offer suah gatiaaatIons Now tbs cemmand-
/ ins ssnssal u shis disseiet must take one
ef skree eannsR: 10 can cooperate with
the cgHpenslon, ii which ease tbs auspices
szs alssatqE favorable ~, secondly, he
en- AesAisalg hinder BY Refusing IA assIat,
lqNhish case tAe 1oaspe baiose ua Il equally
j rlssn, ana TIE proposed election 1azasls
eettaips pa hlEaig be mag ehsteact ~ for
Aidaiag snoh aleeisoh il Vhlsh arens de
pgsant u Ehs nniAsa 6lates viii
exeaaa ihely u Aage ga II
m 70 sag ahdas i. ang ~ saaMaa Il
l1e asae Hlli hayo eeflasn heaty s. ia
ls His sh11e lls asasl iiTeiiaeaa q inaar.
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