The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1870-03-23
The Fifteenth Amendment.
4 FEW WORDS ABOUT THE GREAT FRAUD

aMack," the Washington cores
pendent of the Cincinnati Enquirer,
says of the Fifteenth amendment
Writing some time ago about the
Fifteenth amendment, and the publ
cation of its PRONUNCIATION by the
State Department at an early day, 1
said it would be declared q part of
the Constitution before the LIST of
March. | know from conversations
with leading Radicals that this was
the programme, and that they felt
able to carry it out. This was indie
pendent of Ohio, and without count
ing New York, the validity of whose
recent action might be considered
doubtful, or at least might make n
case for the courts. It is now beliey-
ed that the Secretary of State will is
sue his proclamation on Saturday
next, declaring the fifteenth amend
ment the law of the land, the UNDER
standing being that Nebraska will
ratify III the meantime, and thus
make the requisite number Of States
--twenty-eight. What next? It is
easier to talk of redress than to find
it! And there really is no redress
this side of notification an expert
ment which it is hardly desirable to
embark in at the present time, and
which would not be supported by the
people save in very few States.
The proposed appealto the Supreme
Court would be well enough if it pos
sessed q speedy result in accordance
with the wishes of those who made
it; but it does not. In the first
place, / am satisfied the court would
either evade the question Oh affirm
the. amendment and in the second
place, even an adverse decision would
come too late to be of any avail. 1t
would take months to make up the
case, and perhaps more than year
to decide it. And they know little
of human nature who believe that
four millions of people once endowed
with the right of suffrage could be
estopped in the exercise of that right,
and RENTED to lasting disfranchise-
ment by the mere opinion of major
ity of nine men The curtailment Of
suffrage has never been accomplished
except by revolution-and this, too
entirely independent of the means
by which the right was originally
conferred. a
These facts may as well be looked
squarelyin the face now. The amend
ment is upon us, by fraud and violence
yet it is just one of those unfortunate
cases in which there is no escape from
the dilemma. Suppose we gos into
court about it. While the matter is
under consideration the negroes are vo.
ting all over the land, and electine
men to Office who are pledged to pre-
vent a decision unfavorable to them by
changing the character of the court, OF
abolishing'it, if necessary. The PEG,
Pile of the North, too, will be rallied by
the false fear of 4 war and revolution
to sustain the Republican party, JUS
as they have been rallied into the sup.
; port aud Endorsement of all the hide
Gus features of reconstruction since
1865. | once had some faith in an in
herent love of fair play and fair deal
ing as n constituent element of Ameri
can citizenship; but the record of thu
last five years has shaken it, and, as
look back and see every act of legis
lative vengeance and brutality indoors
ed by the repeated success of their or
iginators, am prepared to believe
that party ties are stronger than popu
lar virtue or popular Justice. When
for the sake of political supremacy
men, who in private and social Tiff
would scorn an unworthy act, will g
to the polls and vote iniamy after in
fanny, and degradation after degrade
ton upon a people with whom the,
went to war for the sake of ''Union"-
q people always brave in war and hon
orable in peace; when men in tn
North will roll up immense maioritie
in favor of military tyranny and negr'
suffrage-the twin bastards of Con
gressional reconstruction-it is sllce
nonsense to hope that in this matter o
the Fifteenth amendment there will
ever be that +" sober second thought
which has in times past been correc
tive of great wrongs. Let us lay NJ
such f!attering JUNCTION to orr souls.
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