The New Orleans crescent. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1866-1869, 1869-02-20


The so-called civil rights bill has passed
the House with some amendments, one of
which has been rejected by the Senate If
the House persist in its amendment CON-
mittee of conference will be appointed, and
the difficulty between these two anliable
bodies will, we presume be arranged. That
is to say if we may judge by the temper dis
played by the Legislature, the bill is sure to
pass in one form or another. The only hope
of averting the complications and erlbarrass-
ments and difficulties to which this ill-timed,
tyrannical and infamous measure would be
sure to give rise, is in the executive veto. Gov.
Warmoth has once refused his assent to bill
of similar character; it remains to be seen
whether the malgn influences which prevail
in the party which elected him have sufficed
to swerve him from the position which he
then took. The reasons which existed then
against signing the bill, are, logically, Just as
potent now. If their strength is impaired
with the governor, the change must be due
to some of those complications which, it is
understood, have estranged the governor from
a portion of his party-an estrangement
which he might be willing to remedy by
making this concession-or to belief that
the result of the presidential election has
weakened the disposition of the people to
make an effective protest against any ex-
tremity of Radical usurpation and tyranny.
1t would be dangerous for Governor War
moth to act on either of these theories. The
people Of Louisiana are not willing to be
made the victims of compromise between
two branches of usurping government, and
their resolution never to submit to the inva-
sion and destruction of their rights which this
''ciyil rights bill" contemplates, is quite as
strong now as when it manifested itself in SO
unequivocal a manner last autumn. The at
tempt proposed by this bill is, indeed, an at
-tsmpt to accomplish an impossibility, because
there is no device, either Legislative ;-ai-
cial, that can suppress and nullify deter
mined public opinion. But it is the effort to
accomplish this kind of impossibility, COM
bined with an invasion of the natural rights of
the citizen, that constitutes tyranny, and leads
to conflicts between the public and the ar-
thority which presumes to outrage the wishes
and to ignore the voice of the people. Gov.
Warmoth well knows that this bill, even if it
take its place upon the statute book as a sup
posititious law, can never be carried into effect
in Louisiana. He knows that such law
would be as imperative as a legislative CON-
mand that the sun should, hereafter, rise
in the west; but he may fancy, or
he may hope that it will be
regarded by the public with the contemptu-
GUS Indifference with which they would view
any other stupid and invalid piece of legisla-
ton. 1t is to be hoped he will not
allow himself to be deluded by such fancies
or deceived by such hopes. This bill,
unhappily, is so framed as to provoke not
only resentment, but resistance. 1t is not
only the declaration of an absurdity, but it is
the enunciation of an intention to compel the
people of the State to submit to vagary
which involves the surrender of the dearest
personal rights, AID the subsection of the |
white majority to the+yrannical caprices of
minority composed of -;ynorart negroes and
INSCRIPTIONS adventures. The people OF
Louisiana will not submit to such a degrade |
ton. They desire peace, and order, and
liberty, but they will not sacrifice their liberty |
for peace and order purchased by the surren-
der of their rights as men and as citizens.