The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1870-07-30
Extract frem the Address of
the Executive Committee of
the Union Reform Party to
the Voters Of South Caro-
lima.


lima.
Is no effort to be made to rescue
from utter ruin the vast materials
of wealth and prosperity yet re-
naming, which require only good
government to make you a great
and happy people +? Will you con-
tinue to be the slaves, the hewers
of wood and drawers of water, of
this abominable faction of plum
derers who are sustained by your
divisions If not, how then will
YOU achieve your emancipation?
tits evident that one of the two
things must be done-either, first,
universal suffrage must be abol-
ished, or second, the absolute and
sharp antagonism of the race
must be so far removed as to ena-
BILE the good people of both to
combine for the purposes of good
government. Let us examine these
alternatives in their order: First.
Shall we undertake to abolish uni
versal suffrage 7 Where is the
hope of success p? The principle
of universal suffrage constitutes
the basis of Democratic Republi
canism throughout the world. It
is the corner stone of all existing
governments in the Southern
States. The American Democra
cy, in 1868, warred not against
the principle, but contended only
for the right of States to control
it. The strongest Democratic
States of the Union have incorpo
rated it into their practice and
their laws. The American people
in the last Presidential election,
by large majorities, pledged them
selves to maintain it in the South.
The Fifteenth Amendment, pro-
hibitiug it's abridgment by the
United States or any of the
States, has assumed the form of
law, and is sustained and enforced
by the General Government with
all its power, and by the enact
ment of the strongest legal sane
tiOns. The executive, the judici-
airy and the people of the country,
are well known to the in harmony
with the measure. No party has
raised the standard of revolution
or repeal" Where, then, shall
the crusade against a principle,
thus fortified, begin {? Let him
who will undertake the task, we
push the arguments to his own
conclusions and meet him there.
Assume that the technical excep-
tons to the Fifteenth Amendment
should be sustained, that the SUI
preme Court of the United States
should declare the Reconstruction
Acts unconstitutional aud void;
that the next President and the
Congress to be elected with him,
representing any majority possible
OF the American people, should
undertake to reorganize these
States, and to wrest the suffrage
from the colored race; does any
one doubt that the whole country
would then blaze with the fires of
a civil war, fierce, bloody, and
protracted? What, in that case,
would be our condition? Imagi-
nation shrinks from the cOncep-
ton, reason recoils from it's con-
temptation, and Mortified humani-
ty revOlts from the spectacle; a
deluge of blood, succeeded by an
unbroken reign of ruin and DESC
latiOn.
We cannot tell what may be the
purposes of the Ruler of the Uni
verse concerning the question, but
as far as the light of human rea
son may guide us, it seems evi-
dent that the world is to pass
under the rule Of the people in
some form of Democratic govern
ment. That idea has been GERM
mating to its development for at
least three centuries, and its
march is still onward. Should a
reaction ever set in towards other
forms of progress, it will be when
this generation and it's vexations,
temporary and accidental local
issues shall have passed away.
Let no man deceive himself
The thought of revolutionizing
public sentiment on this subject
by moral force, is the bliDdsst and
most impOtent faulty. That Of
Graduating it from our system by
force of arms, would be more than
madness and folly-it would be
wickedness. Either movement
W0uld haoin wsthout ho,oa ond