New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-10-09
THE CLAY SQUARE MEETING
GRAND REPUBLICAN DEMONSTRATION
SPEECH OF MAYOR FLANDERS

Clay Square.
The preparations had been made on a
large scale, and the masses of the people
gathered together. The attention that was
given to the various speakers, and the en-
thusiasm displayed by the numbers on the
ground showed that the committee of ar
rangements had not miscalculated on the
earnestness Of the Fourth District section
of the great Republican party. The plat
form was of unusually large dimensions,
and the display of flags, banners and trans
parencies were unusually prOfuse, and in
good taste. The pains that had been taken
showed that it was labor of love with the
determined Republicans of the Garden Dis
trict One transparency attracted especial
notice. 1t represented q train of railroad
ears. carried forward by the powerful en-
CINE of equal rights. while on each car was
painted successfully the names of Graham,
Dubuclet, Flanders, Lewis, Emley, Bon
zano; the legend was Through Ticket,
November Z, 1870" This transparency be-
longed to the Tenth Ward Club.
At half-past seven o'clock the meeting was
called to order BY Colonel William Roy,
who nominated the following officers:
President-Jona C. White. Esq. Vice
Presidents-Hon James +. Casey, Hon. Will
liam H. Bell. Hon. William Webber, Gen
eral j. r. West, General George Baldy,
Captain William Wright, Captain j. K.
Irwin, E. P. Ducloslange. +. IC. Remick, 7.
Musbach, Robert West, +. B. Earhart, J. 4.
johnson, George Schantz, P. Perrin, George
P. Fernald, G. West, John c. Weaver,
Charles Bibb, l.. Hoffman. George Grindley,
Battle Payne. Isaac Fuller, d. d. Smith
Charles H. Hughes, Charles Meyers, S. c.
Scriyen, K. McLemOre, James Dorsey, Cap
tain A. W. Norcross. Secretaries-J. d.
O'COnnell. Esq.,, Ii. G. Pearson, Louis May
| emo.
The president introduced Hon. B. f.
| Flanders who addressed the assembly in
his usual style of plain. common sense.
| Mr.. Flanders said that the coming election
| was not mere party issue; it was not
| whether certain men should be elected, or
| certain men allowed to remain in the quiet
| shades Of private life. 1t was an issue in
which it would be the duty of every man to
| take a part. 1t was not matter that in
| terested alone the property holder or the di-
! rect tax payer; it was an issue that inter
| ested every man who gained bread for him
| self and family by honest labor. For il was
| q question whether men should be elected
whose record showed that they had the in
| tention and the ability to administer right
| eo,lsly the public affairs, or whether men
should be elected on merely party nonin-
| alton.
In presenting this as the coming issue,
he could proudly appeal to what had been
| done for the city of New Orleans by the
present administration of municipal affairs.
| Their opponents, the party who sought to
| he again elevated to power, had their
record, and that record was the accumula-
ton of an immense civic debt that
| had brought the credit of the city
to its lowest ebb. The Republican
| administration of the city had the
record of having. by judieious and
| economical management, so retrieved the
| city affairs that the municipal credit was
| almost at par. 1t must be considered that
! heavy taxation fell. as a rule, more heavily
| on the poor than On the rich man: for.
although the poor man might pay no direct
tax. yet his burden was the sorest. for he
| bore the brunt of taxation on everything he
! ate or drank. on all he had, and all he
| needed.
! A voice from the GROVE, here called out.
What interest have YOU in Louisiana, don t
YOU live in Brooklyn. New York =
Mr.. Flanders rejoined-my interest in
| the State OF Louisiana. is the same as that
| of every man who has lived in. and under
! gone taxation in the State OF Louisiana for
| full thirty years, who has raised a family in
Louisiana. and whose honest labor in Louis
| lana has contributed small share. at any
rate, to the public veal.
Mr.. Flanders continued that he did not
own any property in Brooklyn. and what
| he owned IN Louisiana. was acquired by
| honest labor in various avocatiOns during
many years: that it was not large. because
as public official he had never filled his
purse by NAL administration. loud cheers
| from the audience.
Mr.. Flanders exhorted his hearers to look
| well to what they were about to do: to look
| well to the present character and antecc-
| dents of the men who were presented tC
| them for election. If this were done. it
would be seen that the Ropuclican party
was. most emphatically. the poor mans
party; for, while it had not for moment
neglected the interests OF the property
| holder and the man of large means. it had
done more for the poorer classes than any
other party existing since the beginning OF
civil government in the State. True. taxes
We're now heavy. but that was
because heavy debt had beer
left as n legacy by the party
who had so long ruled. Under the Repub
lican administration the public debt would
become lighter and lighter, and taxation be
proportionally less and less. Mr.. Flanders
made several othec points, which want OF
| space cOmpels us to leave unnoticed, and
concluded by exhorting his audience to pom
der deeply upon what was before them as
the future of the city of New Orleans would
| depend for many years to come upon the re
suit Of the November election. If the Re
publican party continued. by the free suf
trages of the people, to rule the city affairs
prosperity. increased business. and de
creased taxation would be the certain con
| sequence.
1'he next Speaker introduced WAS Captain
| James II. Ingraham.
Ceptan lngraham dwelt at length upon
the Democratic slander that because colored
men were elevated TO citizenship and the
right Of suffrage. they were desirons OF
ascendcncy. He refuted this cmphatically
! Under Republican rule there could be nc
ascendency. Every man was to have his
fair start and his fair chance, and then in
teliigence and utility would place every
man on his proper level. 1t was not the
white mans rights that the colOred man
wanted-hc only wanted his own. This
was the Republican doctrine, and if this
doctrine remained in the ascendant the
equality Of all men was fixed. There could
| not be any ascendency except that of intel
ligence. OF industry, of personal and political
| integrity.
Captain Ingraham was followed by the
well known colorcd orator. Joseph VIII
liams. Mr.. Williams confined himself to
the subject of what was now and what
would be for many years to come, the IN
party had placed him where he is; the Dem
ocratic party had opposed his rights step
by step, and now. beaten back from point
to point, it finds itself at the jumping OF
place, it magnanimously turns around, and
offers to give the colored man what he has
had for more than two years through the
triumph of Republicanism. The Demo
crat offers to secure to the cOlored man
what the Congress of the United States
and the several constitutional amendments
have already secured to him by tenure
| haf Democrats re-
speaker exhorted his colored hearers to ad-