New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-10-19
A BAD ADVISER.

With the ability to lead, with the mean
to be Independent. it has constantly cor
scented to follow and to be dependent
With an opportunity such as seldom pre-
sents itself TO be an adviser and pro
phet, it has descended to be a pandere
and mountebank. Kentucky has bee
more grossly weakened and demoralize
by this one newspaper than by any othe
dozen instrumentalities in her midst. She
therefore, owes it a debt of unfriendli
ness which she can never repay. Whel
the war ended and the South was uncer
tain what her condition was to be, tn
Courier was revived in Louisville. Tht
editor well knew that the Confederacy hat
surrendered from absolute exhaustion
and was prepared to accept of any terms
She hoped for magnanimity, but she was
powerless to demand it. The capitulatiol
| of her armies was not matter OF
choice, but Of necessity. They laid down
their arms because they were brokenjHown.
| The editor of the Courier knew this. He
had been inside of the lines, and he had
| seen the Generalization and hopeless
ness of both, the soldiers and the people.
The spirit was gone. The men felt that
they had been badly managed and badly
treated. Only Lee and Johnson kept the
few in line who still stood about the flag
Of the Confederacy.
With such disaster there could be no
argument. 1t was n question what the
conqueror demanded, and not what the
conquered expected. The law against
treason was in force. The confscation
act was alive. All the men in the South
The emancipation proclamation was
thing not to be questioned. To sum up
the situation, the South was PROSTATE.
1t was easily to be foreseen that the
North would insist on the acceptance of
the complete reimbursement of the
colored people Negroes had fought in
the Union armies, had rallied about the
Federal camps, and had won the sympa-
thy Of the United States authorities.
This was enough to satisfy any sensible
mind that the North intended to protect
these people, as she was in duty bound to
do. There were two ways in which this
could be done, either by stationing troops
all over the South to protect them by
force, or by giving them the weapons
with which to proect themselves. The
last proposition branches into two other
divisions. Men protect themselves by
arms or by law In order to do the first,
they must have muskets; in order to do
the other, they must assist in making the
law. As ours is not a government of force,
reason should have suggested to the South
that the North would give to the negro
the ballot, which is the American remedy
against wrong and oppression.
1t is plain from this that ordinary
human judgment in 1866 ought to have |
settled down to two propositions: First,
hat the South was at the mercy of the |
victor, and was ready to accept of any
erms. Second, that the North would de- |
nand and the South would have to accede |
20 negro suffrage. The first alternative
Vas already apparent; the second was in
eYitable. The Southern mind was in a
of expectancy. Its prostration
'nly allowed it to accept what was offered.
f then the Courier, with its immense in
iuence, had at once said to the South that
he political equality of the colored
people and their absolute safety and pro-
ection were necessary and just, the dis
strous agitation through which We
lave passed would have been warded
IF, ana the South would not
low stand arrayed in classes, the
me against the other. In the next
,lace, if the Courier had employed its wit
nd talent, its power and judgment, to
ppease the sentiment Of opposition to
federal officers and soldiers who elected
o remain in the South, the North would
AVE seen in this another evidence of our
admission to the results of the war.
Unfortunately however, Andrew johnson
made the mistake of allowing the old
eaders of the Democracy to suppose that
hey could be left to use the South for
heir own continued benefit. He~opened
he door for selfishness to hope that it
lad not lost the labor of four millions of
'eople any more than it had lost political
influence. The spirit Of slavery was not
cad, neither was the lust of Democracy.
he one framed apprentice laws, and the
ther organized partisan politics. The
ne eschewed liberty as the other frowned
pom liberality. Men were to be trapped
ato contracts for labor, and citizens were
D be muzzled who spoke about repubE-
anism. 1t was a resurrection. The re-
elton which had been beaten in the
ED was to win in the Cabinet Cum
ing was to accomplish what force had
.iled to achieve. 1t was to be done IN
er the old doctrine of State sovereignty.
This was mirage. 1t was a hideous
to men to take up arms for
acond fight. To be driven from such a
osition was to be as CALLING as the first
Ill. And yet the Courier advised Ken
ucky and the South into this second
ebellion. In the interest Of vulgar and
prejudice, the South was in