New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-10-08
THE ARGUMENT REsTATED.

AS might have been expected, the Bee
has entered into the polemics debated in
the REPUBLICAN, last Sunday, as to how
far public officer is justified in engag-
ing in outside business during his
occupancy Of representative trust, and
the drift Of its argument already warps
into species of sophistry because it has
selected as the basis of its conclusions a
point entirely distinct from that made
in these columns. 1t imagines case
which We did not, of an officer taking
advantage of his official knowledge to
enrich himself, as of judge purchasing
litigated title upon the validity of
which his own judgment was to be
decisive. This was not in our case. The
illustration given in the REPUBLICAN was
eminently proper while that given in the
Bee is eminently improper. The pur-
chase Of the scrip issued by the constitu-
tional convention was a transaction in
which the public could engage with the
same freedom, and having before it the
same lights as the most favored officer
1t was merely matter of confidence.
Thousands of people refused to touch
the paper because they had no faith in
the success of reconstruction. They
thought the State would revolutionize
and overthrow what they called the
''bayonet government. Others, with a
loftier idea of the peaceful settlement
of her difficulties, saw in this sort of
paper privileged claim upon the State
treasury, and they bought it with full
reliance that it would be redeemed ac-
cording to the ordinance of the conven-
ton. It was secured by a lien upon all
the property of the people, and the
amounts were so small that there was but
little prospect Of any litigation in defeat
ing or deferring its prompt redemption.
And yet this paper sold at five cents on
the dollar, so great was the prejudice of
the most intelligent classes against its
acceptance. There were men who had
full faith in the permanence of the gov
eminent, and they bought this scrip.
They had no better means of knowing
what the end would be than anv of their
fellow-citizens. Official position did
not give the holder thereof any guarantee
that the mad waves of disorder and an.
archy might not not arise in a single
night, like vast tidal wave, and sween
him and his scrip into the water of de-
struction and bankruptcy. To most men
the signs were pregnant with trouble and
reputation, else had the warrants issued
by the State sold at higher price Faith
IN the good sense Of the people, hope for
the best, and courage in making in
vestments, enabled some men to make
large profits, aye, handsome fortunes.
out of this peculiar scrip. There was
nothing in the transaction to give it the
color of dishonesty or improperly any
more than there would have been if Cen
,ral Washington had bought immense
Quantities of continental money and the
anne had been redeemed at par in few
months after the close of the revolution.
t was accounted virtue, if We mistake
lot, in any confederate officer, who testi-
led his confidence in the Confederacy by
INVESTING in her treasury notes or bonds.
On the other hand, the instance of a
adge buying his own judgment is one of
hose transactions about which the public