New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-09-10
BY MY epAsDrArrrr, Az EYE WITNESS.

that YOU NAV be the better able to pass the
cold winter nights in quiet pleasure AROUND
the hearthstone of your ancestors, ana
. where once sat and talked the true repre-
sentative tyne of American citizens But
alas that proud name is no more, and 1t
makes nv old ewes fill with tears and my
heart ache with pain, when look back and
think of the days gone by and their conSe-
ouences what | was and what am, and
what Won, my dear children, might have
been, were it not for the wlckedness of am
bitious aud ignorant demagogues aspirin z
to be what they could not, and which their
abilities would not, no, dare not, warrant
: them to be. But alas for wicked amOi-
ton. a subtle evil. a hidden enemy, the
foster mother of all iliquity, the womb
from which is born the destroyer OF nations
and people, an enemy that, to accomplish
its base purpose, seeks to undermine the
State, and in a fit OF madness and despair,
explode the mine Of iniquity, only to in
volve the people, the nation and themselves
in irretrievable ruin. But | am wandering
from the point. You want to hear story.
Well, l viii not tell you story, but III tell
you of facts that have passed into history,
and of which I'm a living witness. Well,
to commence: 1t is now almost three-quarters
of century since the first great American
civil war I was a soldier in that war, and
gave nv mite as an American, to preserve
the Union and the constitution; the first great
principle for which the North rushed to
arms. But, toward the end of the first
year of the war another cause came promi-
nently forward-the emancipation of the
slaves. This, though strictly in accordance
with the teachings of Divine writ, the Amer
lean constitution and the fundamental prin-
ciples of the government, was sternly OPP
posed by the rebels in the South, and con-
siderable number Of what was then called
t%copperheads in the North. Politics was
discussed by soldiers in the field and the
people at their homes and fresides, and, for
a time, the cause Of the country was neg
lected for the cause Of the negro. Soldiers
abandoned the front to talk politics in the
rear, while the defenders Of slavery and
traitors to their country was planning the
destruction of the Union and the republic,
to build upon its ruins slave oligarchy.
While soldiers on one side neglected their
duty to their country, for personal affairs
and politics, traitors ON the other side made
rapid preparations to sustain their cause
that of the Southland weaken that of the
North. All of a sudden, like an avalanche,
they swept down upon our capital, driving
the horde of soldier-pOlticians before them,
and threatened it with immediate destruc
ton. But Providence stepped in between
us and the enemy, and said, so far shall
you come and no farther. And SO, for a
time the storm was lulled and our soldiers
had time, after disastrous defeat, to realize
their folly, and the calamity that had been
averted by the hand of God. They now
laid by personal dissensions and politics,
and took up their arms as true patriots and
soldiers of liberty, and hurled back the
would be destroyer from the capital of
their country.
After this, emancipation became a fixed
principle Of the war, the negroes were per-
mitted to put on the blue of the soldiers
and defend the cause Of the Union and win
for themselves the right to liberty. After
four years determined and bloody, and for
a while uncertain, war, the rebellion ended
by the total defeat and surrender of the
rebel army, and slavery ceased to exist in
the United States of America. The war
established the freedom of the cOlOred man.
but it left him without any civil or political
rights. 1t made him man, but left him with
sout the means to maintain and defend his
manhood. The rebels and Democratic party
said it was enough for him to be free, but
the soldiers of the Union and the Repub-
Iican party said no. we must give him the
right to protect his freedom, else what does
it profit him to be free Accordingly, after
much opposition from the Democratic
party, and determined perseverance by
the Republican party TO make this country
what it was originally intended to be-a
land of freedom for the oppressed of all ma
lions, all creeds and all colors-the stain of
slavery was wiped out of the constitution
and the divine right of human freedom en-
grated therein. 1t required almost five
years to accomplish this good work on the
part of the Republican party. The Demo
Gratis, of course, opposed it to the last, and
when it became an accomplished fact
and part of our being, and they could
no longer make out of it political capital
for their base designs, they hurled at it
the silly phrase, unconstitutional" and
this almost Immediately after they had been
proclaimed traitors, and defeated as such in
arms against their lawful government. Yes,
while their breath still smelled of treason,
and their clothes of the powder discharged |
at the Life OF their country, the cry of ''un-
constitutions" went up, at time when |
they were laboring under Acknowledgement |
Occasioned by their own acts as traitors and |
rebels. This howl of dissatisfaction was. of |
course, looked for, and it only occasoned a |
supreme contempt for the folly of the pre-
tended defenders of the American consti- |
tuition.
Equality of all men before the law of the
land was now an established practical fact, !
and the harpers of unconstitutional" hav- |
ing no longer an instrument to play on,
betoOk themselves to study the law of |
equality" and the worth OF the negro as a |
reserve in political emergencies. Finding |
that the negro would not, as Democrat |
admit them into their ranks On terms of |
but only to betray it-of Republicans, for the |
purpose of leading to ruin the ignorant |
masses of the cOlored people, and, by their |
aid, accomplish, under false colors and false |
names, that which they signally failed to do |
when their names and their aims were opep |
to the scrutiny Of the American people. The |
colored man, elated, as it were, with recent |
victory, found himself assiduously sought |
after by the political tricksters of both par |
and fnptInU himself a n
and crammed with ignorance and supersti- |
ton, could not withstand the chicanery ofthe |
demon demagogue, who promised him rank, |
social and political eXaltation-like Satan |
showed and promised Linn that which be !
had no power or control over-whose only |
sin was to shove the poor ignorant colOred |
man to the top pinnacle OF his ambition, |
to himself, the higher IL !
climbs the greater will be his fall. Yes, se /.
says, the negro must fall to rise no more, |
and then-and-then-I VIII have ven |
geance; for with the f.Bi Of the negro, |
down comes radicAlisnl, and then / will die
tate my own conditions 10 The internal |
Yankee, who in his maenanimity restored |
me to my family, my property, my citizen
snip, my country, and in fact gave me that
winch, according to the law of the land,
n n 1or1elted-my lite-that l might have
time TO repent of my Holdings. and make
my peace with my country and my God.
but no, didn't accept his pardon to re-
pent; accepted it for the purpose and with
the hope O having revenge. should | live to
see the day and bring about the hour of
resurrection for cause that was only nut
GOWN 10 rise more powerful, and deal out
the weakness of the law and the nnsil.
-animity OF the people who allowed nv
crime of treason to 90 unpublished. WeII
my dear grandchildren, the day came, and