New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-02-20
POL1T1Co- CHEM1co ANALYSIS.

Mr.. Kennard, who was put forward as
tie mouthpiece of the mass meeting on
Saturday night, made calm and dispas-
sionate speech, as all must confess who
either heard the Grafton, or who have since
read it in print. The manner Of the man
was calm, and the matter of his speech was
peaceful. The meeting was evidently in
accord with it's oracle, and it affords us
pleasure to testify that the excitement and
bitterness which were apprehended from
the assembly of go many discordant ele-
ments did not manifest itself outwardly,
although there was o subdued feeling of
turbulence present that only great pru-
dence and good management kept in check.
Il would" evidently waited upon 81 dare
not"
We propose to deal with Mr.. Kennard
then as with the meeting. He gave speech
to the sentiment Of the gathering, and,
being applauded, the people to whom he
spoke thus made themselves responsible for
his statements. five can convict the meet
ing of inconsistency and incoherence in
its arguments and assertions; if We can
prove, by what the oracle declared, that it
was neither fair in its assaults upon the gov
eminent of Louisiana, nor just to its own
friends in misleading them with erroneous
conclusions, the public will surely admit
that the mass meeting was failure in its
quality as a reformatory institution
Mr.. Kendard deliberately affirmed that
from the day of Lees surrender to the
present time, the people (meaning thereby
those in whose name he spoke) had sur
rendered their prejudices and ceased all
resistance to the government. In answer
to this we assert, and the record will bear
US out, that the people represented by Mr..
kennard have never abandoned their pre-
JUDGES, and that to the present day they
resist the government by denouncing its
equal and humane laws as unjust, oppres-
sive, and despotic, merely because they
confer the same rights upon negroes that
they do upon white men. This is the first
error.
Mr.. Kennard deliberately affirmed that
the national government had refused to
trust the rebels with power, or to give them
a right to share in the management of their
own political affairs. This is the second
error, as the registration of the State will
show; for since it is assumed by the party
that Mr.. Kennard represents that all the
white people in Louisiana were rebels, the
fact that sixty thousand whites voted under
the constitution Of 1865, makes it plain
that the national government has not done
what Mr.. Kennard charges it with. Be-
sides he says in another part Of his speech
that the perversity and wilfullness of the
white people were the producing causes of
the disasters against which he complains.
Mr.. kennard deliberately affirms that
the negroes were unable to comprehend
that their late masters were their best
friends. This is the third error, for up to
the present time the late masters have only
sought to use the labor of the colored peo-
pie without ever desisting from opposing
their admittance to the ballot-box or the
Mr.. Kennard deliberately afirras that
the negroes have tried their new friends
and found them wanting. This is the
fourth error, for the colored people owe all
the political favors they at present enjoy
to their new friends, who have steadily in
sisted ON giving them the ballot, the school
house, and an absolute freedom from any
law that exacted more from them than it
did from their late masters
This is sufficient for the present. Mr..
cannot complain that We have ap-
pealed to passion or prevarication in our
reference to his assertions, or that we have
used any language that the politest debat-
ng society of the slate masters could OBJ |
ect to as unparliamen airy. We are will |
ng to reason with reasonable men Just as
We are willing to s'tear passion to tatters
With the unreasonable.
We say, then, in conclusion, that the
meeting acted unfairly when it assailed the
government for faults that it did not con-
nit; that it acted inconsistency when it
charged the Republican party with evils
lat it subsequently assessed against the
whole people; and that it acted injudicious-
y and with great impoEcy in making argyll
nents that are incoherent and only calcu-
ated to deceive and mislead the public. If |
,Ir. Kennard furnishes his own partisans
With weapons that are defective because of
heir incorrectness, he must expect to be
,eaten, just as an army might calculate in
,eing defeated that would enter into fight |
With it's guns spiked and its ammunition I
vet.
A SLANDERER.