The Opelousas courier. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1852-1910, 1870-08-20

Ol TCtTlUutlFc JuStiCC tOWIil tlOSc " Ao
have made merchandise of their loyalty,
and betrayed their trusts. Dishonesty
and incompetency have controlled and
perverted national affairs until those
words have become but convertible terms
for the very name ofthe Republican par
ty. Oregon has responded to Connccti-
cut, and New York has spoken through.
victory of more than $4,000 majority,
not that radicalism must be, but is over .
thrown.
Whilst it is not our purpose to dwell
upon national politics, it may he we'll to .
note the unmistakablc evidences of dis
satisfaction manifested in every section
against the present Federal Administra :
ton. To the people ofthe Cnited-States .
centralization is Synonymous with des- !
potsm, and the rapid strides in that di-
rection made by Congress have justly a.
larmed the entire country. With no de- !
cent respect for the lights of the governed, !;
States have been subjugated, represen
tation to Congress denied, the Voice of
overwhelming majorities disregarded
and, as if to crown all these acts of in
fanny and usurpation, Congress has laid
it's polluted hands on the Supreme Court
itself. Under the domination of the ra-
dical party, bribery and corruption have
grown respectable, and Systematic plum
dering of the national treasury al hon
orable profession; taxation tearfully ILL
creased in the interest of an odious sys-
TEN of espionage adopted in its collect
ion; grinding monopolies created that
Cypress labor: and under the tlimsy dis
guise of gifts" the offices OF the nation
al government are sold to the highest
bidder, or bestowed in obedience to an
unblusliny system of nepotlsm.
If such and similar evils of a corrupt
party have awakened the people of other
States to Il SENSE Of the dangers that bid
fair to engulf them, shall it he said that
the people of Louisiana are less keenly
! alive to the abuses that have grown up
in their Ssate government under the three
long wears of radical misrule, and which,
! if continued. must inevitably drive labor
and capital from the State and bring ruin
to every household!
1t will not he disputed that our last
legislature was rcrroach to civilization
and civil liberty. 1t trampled upon every
| virtue that should atOrn the character OF
honorable men, and elevated every crime
! it should have sought to repress. lSnor-
ance, brazen impudence and vice were
i qualifications necessary to u seat on the
Radical side of that body and when the
treasury was robbed, the people plllagcd
aud legislative acts sold to the highest
/ bidder for greenbacks, these members
did but reflect credit on the trinity that
brought them into official existence.
The length designed for this address
will not permit your Committee to enter
into a detail of all the infamous acts
passed by that Radical Legislature with
Executive approval. The public debt
under Radical hands has grown from IL
millions to eighteen millions of dollars;
taxes have increased to ST per centum,
touching the limits of contiscatlon; indy
iduals and corporations have been grant
ed extraordinary and exclusive privl-
leees at war with free labor and free ca
pital; enormous sums have been granted
to individuals from q suffering treasury.
for trivial and unnecessary services, and
} useless and oppressive offices have been
created to make places for wandering
mendicants of the party who obtain thel1
, living by extorting money from every
species of honest indus stry.
In the hope of perpetuating themselves
} in power, the Legislature passed the re-
| S'%S'
receiving Executive sanction, and which
perhaps, are the most odlous, unjust anc
oppressive measures that ever disgraced
tile statute books ofany State. In thel'
r folly and malignity they passed laws t<
' enforce the social equality, not only o
: different races Of men, but OF the bat
: with the honest, and Ut the licentIou
: and abandoned with the pure and up
right. In like folly they passed laws t
. reorganize our once magnificent system
r of public school instruction, with III
: higher motive than to degrade, as the!
. thought, the white people of the Stat
r and create breach between them ant
Q our colored population: all these meas
8 ures, adopted under the prctence Of re
}. gulating commerce, trade, the publ
= schools and the amusements of the peo
s ple, being really intended to pave tn
way to miscegenation. In short, the le
gislation of 1868, 1869 and 1870 can b
if condensed and SUNNI ed up in four words
q IGNORANCE, vENALITr, MONOPOLY. an
y OPPRESSION
That it may not be said these conclu
r sions are but the Judgment OF the enc
a mics of Radicalism, we propose to con
- vict that party of all these grave offense
in we'll chosen words uttered by its OW
champions and defenders. There is Il
brighter light in thearanks of that part
iu this State than Thomas J. Durant, an
in so far as he may be more candid tha
his political friends is his testimony I'll
: more conclusive of the truth Of what v
/, have said. IN his letter dated June 2
4 1870, and addressed to Mr.. j. S. Sond
j. speaking of the Radical leaders IN til
State, he says: S.....- ..... .
..There must be an absolute separate
~ ftom the dishonest andincompetent mt
> who have ruled since 1867 /" r..
= This is. strong language, yetlt IS s''
@ passed in severity by q Republican a.
&c dress Just issued with the endorsement
IN the Republican State Central Commltte
:" " That address says:
~ "Citizens and Rep publicaBs AFTER
m experience of two years, under the ieade
- ship of lie s,sost dishpRest and cosvwpt
q ofpoIiticians that hare erer dssgraced
! = political history Of any Of the States Of IL
~ ~ alorioass onion, you are now called up
n TO reseue the State from the hands OF
4 political adventures sglto haze brought
H. on the verge of fbaskraptcy ! " II.
n Thus it is seen That cur verdict is