The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1871-05-20
The New York Herald Pays its Respects
to the Administration.

10 tNc Administration.
Whatever certain i'm i,rac cticable DEM
ocrats may have said against the con-
stitutional amendments enfranchising
the negroes and placing them on an
equality with all other citizens, the re-
presentatives of the party in Congress
declare plainly their purpose .'to pro-
tect the rights of every citizen, to pre-
serve kindly relations among all men
and to discOuntenancc and discourage
any violation of the rights of any por-
| ton of the people secured under the
constitution or any of it's amendments"
Not merely under the constitution as it
| was, let it be remembered, but the
rights secured by that instrument cor
any of its amendments If this does
not cover the ground we do not know
what can. Then, again, they say, in
another part of the address, "NO indig-
nation can be too stern and no Scorn too
severe for the assertions by unscrupu-
lous Radical leaders that the great DEM
ocratic and Conservative party of the
Union has or can have sympathy with
disorders or violence in any part of the
| country or in the deprivation Of any
man of his rights under the constitu-
ton. 1t is to protect and Ierpetunte
the rights which every freeman cher
| ishes, to revive in I'LL hearts the feeling
Of friendship, affection and harmony
which ARE the best guarantees Of law
and order, and to throw around the
humb(cst citizen, whoever he may be,
the protecting ,cgis of those safeguards
of personal liberty which the ftlnCi,.-
| mental laws of the land assure, that we
invoke the aid of all good men in the
work of peace and rcconciliation." So
far, then, the Democratic leaders in
Congress-, representing all sections of
the country, are committed to carry out
the amendments to the constitution
and to enforce the laws made to that
end.
But the address is mainly denuncia-
tory of Radical legislation and policy
and of the corruption and extravaganza
Of the Radical party since it has been
in power. Here the Democrats have
ample ground to stand upon, and if
they know how to make use of the facts
that lie broadcast before them they can
break down the dominant party,
whether General Grant can succeed or
not in the Presidential race of 1872
Apart from the necessary expenditures
to prosecute the war for the preservation
of the Union, the Radicals have sqllan-
dcred during the ten years they have
, been in power an incredible sum OF
money. Nothing like the reckless cx-
travagance was ever known in the his.
t tory of nations before, and now, six
years after peace has been restored, the
current expenditure of the government
independent of the interest on the debt
is nearly three times grentcr than in
1850, when the Radicals first came into
, power. "1n five years of peace follow
ing the war; rs the Congressional Dem
| nrrDtif. Address s,av StfhsI I<nIi<.nI nl-
ministratiOns have expended twelve
hundred millions for ordinary purposes
alone, being within two hundred mil
lions of the aggregate amount spent for
the same purposes, in war and peace,
during the sevcnty-One years preceding
June 80, 1861, not including in either
case the sum paid upon principal or in
tcrest of the public debt" But that is
not all. Hundreds of millions of acres
of the public lands-the most precious
inheritance of the pcople--hnve been
lavisllcd upon railroad and other grasp
ing corporations without anything like
an equivalent, and to enrich the parti-
sans of the government. The most bur-
dcnsomc system of taxation is kept up
and an army of Otiiceholders employed
in order that the administration and
party may have II gOrgcd treasury, the
greatest amount of patronage and album
dnnt means for jobs of all kinds. This,
in brief, is the appalling financial his
tory of ten years of Radical rule.
| A more serious charge, ifpossible, on
which the address of the Democrats ar
raigns the Radicals, is the proscriptive,
cocrcive and centralizing policy which
threatens to Subvcrt the liberties of the
people and to turn this free and happy
country over to the government of the
sword. We have become so accus-
TONED to military rule since the war
commenced that the people appear t.
have lost that vigilance with which
they formerly guarded their liberties
Federal bayonets at the polls in loya
States and in times of peace would have
created the greatest alarm with oul
fOrefnthcrs. On no pretence would thi:
have been tolerated in former times
yet VIC see that now. Tho federal gov
D., ernment, under the Radicals, is Els
: marching to u centralized tlcspOtism
:, The cocrcivc bill just passed by Con
! grcss and signed by the President, under
. the prctcxt Of Ku-klux disorders in the
, South, is the SevcrcSt blow to liberty
), ever struck in this country. 1t place
= the whole population of Il vast section
: innocent as well as guilty, at the mercy
of one man and his nyrmidons. 1t is
:, the government Of the sword. There
:, is no necessity for that. The industry,
" prosperity and general good conduct OF
-, the South show the impOlicy and injus-
:, tice of such a dangerous measure. Dis.
), orders there are, no doubt, as there frc-
uucntly are in other sections of the
= ! 1,,,f hnlt, ~,