The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1872-08-24
Tools and
From the New Orleans Republican,

tEtOHl tIe New Ofltdue ESePupLCin.I
Whenevefa Bourbon is cornered he
draws down his facial muscles and pro-
ceeds to acquit himself of his folly by
declaring that all the men who think
differently from what he thinks are the
tools of somebody. This is the raw
head and bloody bones that is trotted
out to brighten the white people when
ever they manifest a disposition to
depart from the service of the men who
have been riding them to destruction
for years. Mr.. Penn is a tool and a
catspaw : General Heron, Mr.. Fuqua,
Judge Beattie, Mr.. Egan, Mr.. Elan,
Colonel Walton, in fact, whoever pre-
tends to be an independent gentleman,
in opposition to McClosky, the soda
pop merchant Lesere, the Tehaunte-
pee failure !; Randolph, the stranger, is
d catspaW and q tool. Who are thcmen
that thus set themselves to discuss the
salvation of the State by indulging cpl
thets toward all who differ with them
in opinion ? What efficiency is there in
mud that it is being used to cOerce our
judgments in favor OF a specific set of
| candidates who have no records upon
which to place themselves ? Is not
the man who uses such arguments liable
to the suspicion of knowing more about
| what he talks of than anything else ?
Grant talks horse because he understands
that subject better than any other.
Casey backs Grant because he does not
! know anything else. And SO on. Is it
not inferential that the politician who
sees a tool in every opponent is some
thing of a tool himself 1t is against
| the nature of things that such men as
Heron, Beattie, Elan Fuqua, Hebert
can be willing instruments of any pol
~itician, simply because their interests
and instincts will forever prevent them
from descending to such a level ; but it
is possible that the men who accuse
may be tools, for they show a famil-
iarity with the subject that sincere
and contentious gentleman can not
comprehend. To classify all the dis
tinguislled men who have embarked in
the Liberal cause as catspaws," is to
impeach the best citizens Of the State of
dishonesty and wickedness 4; even more,
it is to charge the entire community
with Ignorance and corruption, for it is
as much as to say that sensible men and
capable statesmen have lost all conf
dellce in the sagacity and integrity of
the people. If Messrs. Heron, FuQua,
Hebert, Egan, Ryan and their assoc
ciates are tools, they must know it, and
it they know they are tools, they must
know that they are 20 for a selfish pur-
pose, which can but be won by cheat
ing the community. And if they sup
pose the surest road to success is by
trickery and by becoming catspaws,
then they must have lost confidence in
the honesty and intelligence of their
fellow-citizens. Are the Bourbons pre-
pared to assume the logical conclusion
OF their rampant nonsense ?. If they
are, do they not show a wonderful lack
of confidence in the people when they
use such efforts to defeat a body of
tools whose very ~Wickedness ought to
overflow them in a wise and honest
society /? 1t seems to us that they are
either %inslncere i'll their charges against
the Liberals, OF they are very weak in
their faith in the popular capacity to
reject wickedness.
The truth of the matter is the Bour-
bOns havemadet tools out Ofthe people for
a long time, and now they are Jealous
that somebody else intends to supplant
them. They have ridden the country
with a CAD, and they feel that the strick-
en- State is disposed to throw them off.
And in order to preserve their seats in
the saddle, they are trOtting out a hob
goblin to brighten their supporters into
a further liberation of their supremacy.
They are calling all men tools" and
" catspaws " that declare against their
competence to manage public affairs.
But the nursery does not scare well.
Ithas accustomed itself to this ghost,
and is not frightened at the mild-man-
nered and sensible body that proposes
to help it to better times. The tools y
and "catspaws" are likely to prove
their strength and honesty and their in
~1uence with the people, to the conster-
nation of the B~ourbons, next Noyen-
Der.