New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-08-01
ADDRESS TO THE PEOPLE OF LOUIS
lana.
HEADoUARrERs LlBERAL PARrr OF LOUISIANA


standard-bearers Horace Greeley for Presi-
dent and b. Gratz Brown for Vice Presi-
dent, and presented for the consideration
OF the people a declaration of principles.
The Baltimore convention, cOncurring in the
| causes and reasons which gave birth to
that great popular movement, Endorsed
their nominations and accepted the plat
form on which their candidates stood. 1t
has thus set an example to the country
which every consideration Of political
ssafety and expediency requires should be
initiated within the States.
If the Democratic party has maintained
its national organization, it is only that the
alliance with Liberalism may be rendered
| stronger or more effective. The delegates
| who met at Baltimore for the purpose of
| cementing that alliance could not have an
ticipated that fractions of their party, in
| the several States, would set themselves in
| opposition to the Liberal Reform move
ment, by using their organizations for the
| purpose of perpetuating divisions through
! the nomination and support of separate
| electoral and State tickets. They knew
| that without union on these points the ac-
! Ceptance of Greeley and Brown would be
| only mOckery, delUsiOn and a snare.
In other States, as IN Illinois and Indiana,
the plain course dictated by common sense
and common honesty has been followed,
and close union with the Liberals has
been effected. In one JOINT State ticket
has been nominated, and in the other the
formation of the electoral ticket has been
RENTED to the whole body of Liberals. In
every State, except Louisiana, friendly rela-
tons have been established between the
Liberals and the Democracy, and efforts
have been made in good faith to unite the
Liberal and the Democratic vote for State
as well as for national purposes. In LOuisi
ana alone different course has been pur-
sued. In Louisiana alone the Liberal
apfy hot 14tr NH oh Ep,t Tnl 70
the support of the Cincinnati movement,
which anticipated the decision of the
national Democracy, and which gave a
re Jstless impulse to the Greeley and Brown
ticket-has been treated by the Democratic
organization with cOntumely and scOrn,
and made the object of bitter invective and
denunciatiOn. And yet, in Louisiana, per-
.haps more than in any other State, thor
Ough union OF the Liberal and Democratic
vote is necessary to success. So evident is
this fact that on the adjournment of the
Opera House Democratic Convention, thou
sands of Democrats in New Orleans and
throughout the State abandoned the Demo
cratic organization and joined the Liberal
party. These accesslOns are counted by
tens of thousands. They are so numerous
that we can assert as an indisputable fact
that, in at least half of the parishes, the
Democratic organization is without fol-
lower, and in the greater portion of the rest
the Liberal party commands a large ma
jOrity of what was once the Democratic
vote.
In the whole State there are but six Jour
nails supporting the Democratic or united
State ticket, and of the ffty-six parishes
not half dozen are represented in the
Democratic State Committee. In spite of
these conspicuous facts, the Democratic or
ganizatiOR, thus reduced to a minimum of
voting power, persists in keeping up a show
Of separate and Independent organization,
and the Democratic committee, thus emas-
culated of representative character, has
nominated and presented a State and cleo
tOral ticket. No rational man believes that
they expect to elect either one or the other,
and hence the public can come to no other
conclusion than that they are running their
State ticket in the interest of the Baton
Rouge candidates, and their electoral ticket
for the purpose of defeating Greeley and |
Brown, the nominees of their own National |
Convention. We distinctly charge this upon
them, because we have no right to assume
that they are so blind as not to see the facts !
of the situations or so silly as not to fOresGe |
the necessary effects of their own acts
1t is proper for the whole country, as
well as for the people of this State, to know !
that the Democratic rump organization, |
while pretending to accept the decision of |
the Baltimore convention, is in reality hos |
tile to the national Liberal candidates. and |
the name of Greeley and Brown, it is try
ing to give the vote of the State to Grant.
Whether this course is the fultIlment of |
the contract entered into last winter be
tween the CustOmhOuse party and the |
Democratic committees whether it is the |
result of more recent and more secret bar |
gains, having for their object the control of |
local offices and patronage, or whether it is
dictated by an unreasOning Obstinacy which !
prefers a total ruin to success obtained by |
concession and Cancellation, the public will |
decide according to the probabilities of the |
case.
Whatever may be the decision, the Lib |
eral party feels that, if unfortunately the |
State should be lost, they will at least not |
be held responsible at the bar of public |
opinion. But they are convinced that the |
good sense of the people will avert the ca
lamitOus consequences which might other |
wise result from the bad faith or the |
irrational prejudices of the Democratic |
leaders. They do not believe that the peO-
pie will permit the State to be sacrificed at
the dictatiOn of men who have shown them
selves utterly incompetent to understand !
the necessities of the times, and incapable |
of achieving anything but defeat.
The Liberal party appeals to all citizens
who are opposed to Grants administration;
to all who are sincerely in favor of Greeley
and Brown; to all who wish to defeat the
Vaccinations of the corrupt and wicked
faction represented by the Baton Rouge
ticket. Their convention, to be held on the
fifth of August, will represent a vast ma
iOTity of the Liberal and Democratic voters
Of the State, and their ticket will be sup
ported by an array of numerical force,
backed by an amount of moral influence,
which will reduce the Democratic bolt to
insignificant and, perhaps, inappreciable
proportions. The people understand that
in this election the State must 20 either
for the Liberal or for the CustOmhOuse
party. The success of the one insures our
vote for Greeley and Brown, and will give
us that practical reform in State affairs
which we so much need. The success of
the other, with Mr.. Kellogg as Governor,
and reversiOn of the executive Office to
the notorious G. c. Antoine, will entail on
us peTpetuatiOn of corrupt and venal leg
islatiOn and all the horrors of a government
RENTED to the hands of the ignorant, the
vicious and the degraded. For any useful
purpose the present Democratic Organza-
ton is pOwerless. 1t repels rather than at
tracts popular sympathy. 1t appeals only
to a name which has become an empty
word to memories which recall the divisions
and resentments of bitter past to preiu-
dices and passions which are the legacy of
an era of strife and blood; to issues which
have been settled, and to controversies
which are closed.
The Liberal party turns from the past to
the future; it seeks to heal the wounds
which years of sectional hate and angry
conflict have inflicted on the country; it
strives to release the people from the gall
ing letters of party tyranny, and to com
bpe in one great movement all the OppO-
sitiOn to the corrupt and despOtic govern
ment at Washington, and to the equally
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