New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-12-03
LET TRUTH AND JUSTICE PREVAIL


A decoy duck is the snare of the Aocl
and an opportunity to fall is the enem
: Of the prevaricator. The Times has dis
cussed the Donaldsonville trouble as
its main object was to destroy the truth
while the REPUBLICAN has investigate
the matter for the higher and better pun
pose Of arriving at the exact facts, il
order to fix the responsibility ON til
proper shoulders. Two stories were re
ported from Donaldsonville-o O
which levied the blame OH the Re
publican party, and the other on tn,
Democrats. The Probabilities of tn,
statement which reached the REPUBIIcA,
Office, inclined US to believe that certain
evil disposed white people were the first
aggressors, and We had no hesitation in
stating our conviction that an examina.
would develop this to be the true relation
of the case. It is always best to fl the
blame Of every transaction just where i.
belongs, without fear or favor. This is
the only way to suppress evil practices.
If the real aggressors, through any mis-
| guided sense of affection for them as q
class, are excused, they are misled to be-
| lieye their wrong to be the right, and
they are tempted to further departure
from what is proper and lawful To
foster and encourage lawlessness in any
class IS dangerous to the peace of
society; ana to teach a few men in Don
| aldsonyille that their interference with
the rights Of others is commendable, not
only spreads bad spirit, but it proyokes
peril to an entire community. :
To prevent any such evil from being in
culcated, even by the-attempt to justify
men at the expense of truth, We have not
only printed the evidence as it was taken,
but We have challenged the Times to a
specific conclusion of facts. The Repub-
licans in the parish of Ascension were in
large majority beyond any doubt. Any
attempt to override this majority by force,
must have been foolhardy enterprise,
fraught with peril to the minority Not
outstanding this admitted majority and
the apparent peril of interfering with it,
a disturbance was originated, and the end,
as might have been expected, was disas-
trous. Now what we desire to arrive at,
as the basis of a judgment on the whole
matter, is. who began the trouble: And
to fix this main central fact, we applied
to the Times to set aside its vindictive ac-
cusations and declare in as few words
as possible who fired the first shot?
and who first offered violent opposi-
ton to the legally constituted authorizes?
In discussing the conhagaration at the
Varieties Theatre, we can well enough de-
clare that the adjoining stable was con-
sumed by the fame from the theatre, but
that does not satisfy us where the fire
originated in the first place. Evidently
the main responsibility for that disaster
rests on the carelessness that left candle
or dropped match in the property room.
So, in canvassing the terrible trouble at
Donaldsonville, while it is easy enough to
pirate about the extent of the riot and the
results that came of it, our first endeayor
has been to fix the responsibility for the
commencement of violence, and to this
investigation We calmly invited the Tines.
Our invitation was not accepted, and
We are left to conduct the matter to our
own satisfaction. And from the evidence
before us, taken in judicial proceeding
with both parties giving testimony Oh the
subject, there can be but one conclusion.
The parties that attempted to interfere
with the Registrar, after a peaceful cleo
ton had been conducted to successful
ending, were the authors of the trouble.
The men who fired ON the boat load of
citizens peacefully crossing the river were
the authors of the trouble. The indi-
viduais who captured the four men WHO |
landed peacefully from a canoe in front of
the town of Donaldsonville, and after |
ward shot cruelty one of these four men,
who had been guilty of no offense, but
had quietly landed in town, were the
authors of the trouble. The parties who
armed themselves like swell mob. and
,wore that the ballot-boxes should be held |
1t their good pleasure, are guilty of all
the peril that beset Donaldsonville. In
act, the men who set themselves above
he law officer, and with arms in
heir hands, declared themselves to be
he law, they must bear the burden of
What followed their own high-handed acts.
The white people of Donaldsonv;lle are
lot responsible, except in so far as they
this violence in a very few
men. We have no doubt but that the
and conservative population
# Ascension parish not only reprehended
he conduct of Felix Reynaud, who seemed
0 have an unfailing argument in his rifle,
nth its sixteen shots. Possibly the gun
yas to blame in some degree, for such an
Implement often gives man courage to
o things which be would not do if he was
After Reynaud had armed himself and
is friends, after the boat had been fired
ito, after the four negroes had been cap
lred and one had been shot; after it had
cen boastingly proclaimed that the bal /
't-boxes should not be removed; after !
commander Reynaud had declared that :
one OF the newly elected officers should I