The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1871-05-24
Oliver p. Morton.

-..;o, and his repeated bewilderlns
descriptions of those midnight dread
s,I enemies of the Republic. For "the
ot war Governor knows how it is
,s';,ae,f He is born conspirator. He
,..ors how to "put up jobs" and
Low 70 have them found out by the
risht parties, so that all the reward
q, occrue to himself, and all tho sus-
WIN Vim he averted from him. Hence
here he any truth in the old adage
j an,t;nr q thief to catch a thief, Nor
Vi 9Th; the man, of all others, to find out
~, T' Klnx. and to cacIile obstroperously
h Nv III ,he discovery. He is the man
"ve, ;nvented the Knights of the Col
WI" r;rclp. and made himself Governor
oe, senator thereby. He is the man
anu married Indiana with detectives
WIZ VIZ snics. until the State was like
Paris under the Commune. 1t was
nnde, his regime that the excellent
srstem was inaugurated OF hanging
n,sn first and trying them afterwards;
IF ,t' removing political opponents by
os,racism aud punishment; OF making
testimony against enemies when none
eyiste,l. and of supplying by the sim
ME process of forgery and PERJURY,
those few and general facts which
oven military commissions required
nrcyious to condemning. 1t was dur
inc his regime that Mr.. Voorhees, locks
we're picked under cover OF the night
his furniture invaded. his drawers
stated with forged matter to impll-
cate him in seditious conspiraeies, and
then, when daylight came, the police
we're invited in, and the whole world
summoned to reprobate the damnlng
treason. Hence, if there be a ku-
Klux. Morton will know how to tird it:
If there he small Kn-Klux, Morton
Will know how to magnify 1t; and III
time. when the conspiracy is full blown
Morton will know how to find his own
profit in it, even if everybody else
should suffer by if. For the Indiana
Senator. with all the unscrupulousness
of the Titus Oates and Darlntield, ana
all the black malignity OF Marat, does
not resemble these notorious consplra-
tors in point of disinterestedness.-
They gave their lives, their comfort,
their ears for cause; Morton gives
nothing but exacts everything, for
himself. Without Pouches skill, he
has all the Pouches traitorous spirit,
that would not let him rest easy save
when he was false to some one. With
out Talleyrond's wit, or urbanlty, or
spirit, he has q great deal OF that hap
py instinct which drove Talleyrand to
be always seeking the winning side.
Were it not that he lacks the gener'
ous qualities which are necessary tC
the party leader, and did not the peo,
pie recoil instinctively from his dark
and selfish nature, full of greed, full OF
falseness, full of bile, Morton would at
this moment be the most dangerous
man in America to our remaining lib
critics. And this is not because of any
commanding talents, for he has none
nor of any towering ambition, for his
is one always grovelliug, always base
Tie Senator from Indiana, indeed car
not lay claim to decent degree o
understanding; he is crude unlearned
faulty ofjudgment; abortive to con
ception, and VIGOROUSLY deficient a
once in tact and in originality. HI
lnvents nothing but falsehood, an,
stamps his third-rate powers of apprc
hension even upon the ideas which III
steals. He resembles one of thes'
crabs which frequent the Florida reefs
and which, armed in front with forbid
ding tentacles. and strong, predaceou
claws, but terminating behind in
weak, pulpy, ineffective fnless bod
drop tlimselves into the vacated shells
of other fish, and do desperate battle
for these, as if they were of the mano
born. His speeches, apart from thel
rancor and their thefts, are mer
apocryplal assertion, rigma role, "tsire
blue beans in blue bladder" TIL
sordid gloatings of his bad heart owe
the catalogue of the distresses he ha
caused can not conceal or disguise III
weak head, and the commonplae
subterfuges in which his knavery II
joices. He is one of those trifit
which, as a great writer tells us, ''flo;
and are preserved in the shipwrecll I
the State, "while everything solid an
valuable sinks to the bottom and
lost forever"
He rose, in time of revolution, h
revolutionary means, by incendiaI
practices, by depraved associations al
Infamous resorts he seeks to buo
himself up now in time of peace by tt
same means that gave him prosperi'
when everything else was Keeling wit
the drunkenness of war passions. +
seeks to make continental the shame
full success which the history OF Ind
ana shall blush for, and has no amb
ton beyond continuing his polite
career as he began it, upon the inf
nous principle that 'lies are swifter
foot than the truth" He is a hig
Senatorial instance of the truth whit
he neglects to believe-that a ma
does not necessarily acquire liber
knowledge of the world by freqnel
ting the stews, nor the best practice
of wise craftsmanship by cnltivatir
the society of rogues, perjurers, al
suborners. He would initiate Dante
but as the toad copies the bull; lie hi
Robespierres jaundice, but not h
leadership nor his incorruptibilit,
and while he possesses, at least, {
the vices of Iago, he decidedly lac
that worthy's talent and wits
But he is dangerous, nevertheless
because he is a tireless incendiary,
ruthless malignant, vile conspiratC
and the most INSCRIPTIONS demagoS'
of these unhappy times. He suppl
ments his bad head with deprav'
and vindictive heart, and vipero
purpose to coil himself about the ne
kindling cordialities of the people, al