New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-04-22

| e"AO' Auc uONelnOr tOlC LncHn tAtJ mus
stop the bank presidents from brlbing tn
Legislature.
MIR. Speaker, were you or any other ma
upon this floor, who is not a Democrat il
the city of New Orleans yo
might be as pure as the Saviour G
mankind. and yet you would be de
nounced as thief anda yagabond if you be
lieved in the supremacy OF the Government
of the United States and in the equality O
all men before the law. That is the trouble
| | have been assailed myself. but to yer,
slight extent, and l do not, therefore. bras
much of my Republicanism, from the fac
| that have not been more assaileG.
The gentleman has read from Mr.. Rod
riguez. Now, Mr. Rodriguez and that Grove
do not happen to live in my district. d.
not know one of them by sight, aud do no
think that they know me. | would like tt
| refer to the testimony Of Mr.. Macon, chair
man OF the Democratic Central Committee
and OF MIR. Bacon, editor Of the Picayune, il
which they speak OF me in very compliment
tary terms, and as desire to be courteous
Will say that they are high-roned gentlemen
| but must get down to some of the facts o
the Case. because | do not wish that any
| body shall be deceived.
| And, first, the gentleman from Indiana
| says that the Knights OF the White Cancels
were net Il political organization. Well,
I now, upon thai take issue. The testimony
Is that they were, and l will 90 almost any
| thing the gentleman may ask OF me if he
| VIII SHOW me one among the members Of
| that order who was not II Democrat. The
| chairman of the Democratic Central Com
| mIttee sWears that he WAS member OF thai
| organization. General oteadman was q
member of it, although he says that he for
| got it as soon rs he could, as he did not like
it very well. but he was a member of the
organization, and if any gentlemen want to
| know the political character Of the organiZa
| ton commend TO them the perusal OF these
| two volumes of testimony.
| But the gentleman says there were not
| ten men killed in the City of New Orleans.
| mir. Speaker, | want to call attention to
some testimony on that point. One witness
| Charles j. Fox, swears that he saw ten or
| twelve dead persons, killed by the mob, be-
| tween Julia street and Delord street. An
| other witness, John L. Heating swears he
| saw nine killed in another place, aud Rev.
J. W. Healy. five dead men in the station
house. General Hatch swears to five in
| still another place. And you may go on and
silt this testimony and you will find that
the STATE ment of the gentleman from Ohio
| Mr.. Stevenson, is more than borne out as
to the atrocities perpetrated against human
| life. General Hatch says in his report that
| two hundred and eighty nine men were
| killed in Orleans and the adjoining parishes
in the months of September and October,
| and still greater number were wounded
| and maltreated.
But. Mr.. Speaker. must pass on, as l
want to present to the House this precise
| question. The gentleman says that seven
per cent of the registered voters stay away
from elections on all occasions. 1t so hap
pens that in the parishes of ST. James and
LafOurche and st. John and St. Charles
and Terrebonne, and that portion OF Jeffer-
son parish outside OF Jefferson City and the
village of Gretna, more than niuety-fve per
cent of the registered voters voted and i'll
the parish OF st. Charles more than ninety
eight per cent. Wherever we were permit
ted to vote we voted our full strength.
But the gentleman says that we were
"cowardly.' | know the gentleman meant
nothing personal so far as I am concerned.
But there we were in the presence of fifteen
thousand armed men, whose arms were
purchased with money forced from the
bankers and merchants, in many cases
against their will, and We were without arms
and the military authorities against US. l
deny that it was cowardiCe. The gentleman
from Indiana or anybody else would have
acted in the same way. It would have been
wrong for us to have asked the people to go
to the polls to be slaughtered. Now,
whether they would have been slaughtered
or not | can not say. We can can only Judge
vi tuC lie pdoL. Inc CITY vi ne"
OrleaDs had been III a condition of disorder
aud mob for eight days; every Republican
Club-room in the city had been entered and
piundered. The houses of many Republi.
cans had been sacked and the inmates killed
and wounded. At least hundred men in
that city had beer killed, and yet they say
we should have gone to the polls, right on
tho eve of all those disorders, and still fur.
Their gra.ifed this appetite for blood. Is
that the gentleman's proposition
The gentleman says that because the day
of election was peaceable therefore the cleo
ton is to be held as valid. Sir an epidemic
ceases for want of material to
operate upon, and it was precisely so in this
case.
Let me illustrate the gentleman's PROPOSE
ton. Suppose that he and | are aspirants
in the prize ring. We have an engagement
for tom Orrow, with a wager OF one thou
sand dollars on side, to determine the
question of championship. To-day l fall
afoui of him with bludgeon and knife, and
wound him and disable him. Then to-mor-
row morning go to him and say. "Well, let
US have this fight out on the day named in
our agreement and it shalUbe fair fight"
The gentleman, of course, would accept the
and if he did not come would
consider that | had right to take the
money, for that is precisely mis- proposition.
Now, l claim that not only have We
right to vote, unOpposed by violence and
but We have a right to vote peace
ably. undeterred by fear: and unless we can
have that right in this country, then I say
that our liberties are gone, that the right of
the ballot is gone.
1t may be that the infusion of the Know |
Nothing element into the Democratic party |
of New Orleans carried with it the same |
principles which governed the Know |
Nothing party before the war. 1t is said |
that, to use their own expression, "they |
would knock the devil out of the Dutch and |
Irish few days before the election, to |
prevent them from voting That at least, |
was the principle of the Know Nothing |
Democrats, and the fact ia that great por- |
ton of the Democratic electors We're before |
the war members of the Know-Nothing |
organization as it then existed.
Row, whether we ought to have voted or !
not, whether or not there was reasonable |
cause for fear. ought to be settled, it seems |
TO me, by reference to the opinions of Gen |
eral Rousseau, who was ltheir friend. Gen |
eral Lee has testified differently from what |
the gentleman from Indiana (Mr. Kerr read |
to the House. say that gentleman did not |
read ali the answer of General Lee in regard |
to the opinions Of General Rousseau. Now, |
1t is q rule of law and of morals that the |
suppression of the Truth is equivalent to the |
suggestion of falsehOQd. Aud | charge the |
gentleman from Indiana with the suppress |
mon OF truth in this case. l will read from |
the book the truth and the whole truth. |
Here Is the answer of General Lee:
81 don't think he General Rousseau) |
gave any advice; he did not to me. When |
said they would not vote, he took me by the |
hand and said: 1T is not thing for me to |
dvse, but think it is the wsest thing for |
you 10 do. You can not achieve anything |
by voting, any way"
There the gentleman from Indiana |
stopped, though that is but half of the an |
In roO+ cf Tho a.,