New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-07-13
BtIAgcrsg TIE PoLIRICkL ACCOUNT.

!
and dependence which that evil produces.
To-day we have freedom and equality
with the independence which that bless
ing bestows. Is any man prepared to
exchange the present for the past Adj
hitting for the ponce that the debt has
been swelled to the amount that the
most violent Beformer puts the increase,
are the people willing to wipe out the
progress that the State has made in order
to be free Of the debt that it has cost?
This is q business question.
In the beginning then, we will strike
out forty millions Of debt, and as an of
set we win blot out freedom, tear up the
Chattanooga railroad, replant the stumps
and snags in half dozen bayous, cut off
sixty miles Of the North Louisiana rail
road, fill up the Mexican Gulf canal, muz-
zle the press and the voice against any
discussion Of the question Of slavery
subject the people again to the control Of
the Slidell Democracy, set up a cause of
quarrel between ourselves and the North
and West upon the matter Of free SOIL
suppress the fifteen hundred free schools
in the State, put free labor in competition
with slave labor, and create in our midst
an element ready at any moment to strike
US down in favor of any other community
that would engage to free it from bondage.
Are the people Of Louisiana willing to re-
habilitate these evils and destroy all the
progress that we have achieved in order to
free themselves from forty millions of
debt? If they are not, then they have no
right to denounce the debt, for it repre-
sents the cost of the advance they have
made We should like to hear from
Messrs. Lasere and Randolph on this sub
ject. They dare not dispute the account,
and they dare not declare in favor of re-
forming the State back to its old condi-
ton. If they dare not do this, they
should not dare to dispute the bill of
costs. We challenge them to the issue.
There is another side to this settlement,
however, which we desire to consider.
Messrs. Lasere and Randolph viii not
have the courage to declare il favor of re-
turning to the old condition of affairs, be-
cause that would be to damn them in the
of the majority, but they will
respond that the ameliorations which we
have enumerated cost too much. They
will enter a special plea, that abomination
of judicial proceedings, to the effect that
while they are willing to accept the pro-
gress and improvements which the Re
pubhcans have effected, they are not pre-
pared to allow the charges This item is
put down at too high figure; that step is
charged for at an extravagant rate, and SO
on They have accepted the work; they
stood by while it was being done, and now
that they are left to the enjoyment Of the
they are carping at the |
builders and laborers. They were told in
advance what the cost would be, they ac-
cepted the engagement, and this accept /
ance, in law, should rule out their plea in |
bar, lawyers will tell them, and we advise
Mr.. Randolph to consult one He makes
some pretension that way himself, but his
pleadings in his present case convict him
Of being incompetent to understand the
merits Of the controversy.
We offer in rebuttal Of this special plea
about the cost Of the work, full files of the
REPUBLICAN newspaper, from the day it
was founded until the present time. We
also offer in evidence the Congressional
Globe from 1862 to 1872, and the messages
Of Governor Warmoth, together with the
had thereon in the different
held in this State since 1868.
And this is all the testimony we need.
From the beginning Of the first line in the |
Globe to the end Of the same, and from the
cf the messages TO the conelu-
sion of the debates thereon, and on every
page Of the REpuB11oAN for the last four
years, there will be found. q succession of |
notices served upon every citizen of the
State that the reconstruction and reorgan-
eaton of the political condition of Louis
ana would cost thousands of dollars for
,very act Of opposition that was made
hereto. These notices were received, as
AN be fully proved, but they were con-
emned and spit upon. as obstinate and
urious ltigants abuse legal notices that
re served upon them. Can Mr.. Lasere
II Mr.. Randolph dispute this2 Can they |
answer that we did not tell them in advance
hat their resistance to the movement
which has at last eliminated in the nomi-
lation of Horace Greeley by themselves
would have to be paid for at an extrava-
rant rate? We should like to see them
leny it. We have the wrathful answers
bottled up in them. And we still further
the warning by another
lotice that although we intended to charge
hem for our services in reforming them
nto their present condition according to
he amount Of opposition we had to over
,ome, yet if they would desist, they might
ave expenses and pocket the com missions
hat we intended to charge them. Let
hem deny this generosity Of behavior on
'ur part if they dare.
Now we appeal to the people, whom we
re willing to constitute arbitrators in this
Ease, if we have not made out our case
against Lasere and Randolph? W@haye
zee hare proved the character