New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-09-10
MENTAL RESERVATION POLICY.

the State. After four years of continuous
effort on our part, the white peo. lie OF
Louisiana have at last embraced the politi-
cal principles which we announced and
which they denounced in 1858. The
Democratic party, which represents the
above class, is now arrayed in favor OF the
identical platform which the REPUBLICAN
submitted to them in the canvass between
Grant and Seymour, but which they then
refused to accept or admit as possible OF
acceptance. All the reasons that could be
urged by mortal wisdom were presented,
not to sustain hypothetical or doubtful
policy, but to enforce q plain and
inevitable fatality; and yet they
failed to convince the men whose
interest it was to be convinced. And now
that they have been forced against their
will, and against their unreasoning obsti-
macy, to embrace the conclusions which
we told them they would inevitably have
to embrace, they insist upon diluting their
obedience to the dictates Of law and justice
in such way as to deprive themselves Of
the strength which their concession should
give them. The solidity Of the colored
vote does not originate in any especial de-
votion to General Grant, but arises from
the distrust that the negroes feel toward
the Democratic party, that its success in
some way imperils their rights. And un-
til the white people overcome this feeling
of insecurity, this indefinite sense of ap-
prehension, they can. neither expect nor
obtain that support from the colored
people which they would not yield under
similar circumstances. AS foreigners re-
fuse to support man Of avowed Know
Nothing principles, SO the colored people,
acting upon the human impulses that gov
ern black and white alike will refuse to
uphold those who threaten them with
what they consider to be public wrong.
What profit did the reason that we en-
ployed in 1868 bring to the State at the
time it was put forth? None whatever.
The white people stubbornly refused to
follow the only advice that could have
saved them then, and to-day they admit
their folly by adopting. the suggestions
which they should have adopted four
years ago. But unfortunately the remedy
that was sufficient years ago is not sufi-
Gent now. The situation is changed, and
our advice must conform to the present
rather than to the past. It is not Suffi-
cient that justice shall be done, but it is
that atonement should be made
for the injustice that has been perpe-
trated. The confidence which has been
lost must be recovered, which is a harder
task than it is to do justice, The dispo-
sition to acknowledge the equal political
rights Of the colored people would have
been sufficient in 1868; now the negro
must be accepted as power This
must be done in obedience to the
actual political strength of the colored
clement Where the negro is in the ma
jority he will enforce his rights, as he did
at the Baton Rouge convention in forcing
Antoine upon the ticket as candidate for
Lieutenant Governor, not by virtue of his
ability or services, but by virtue Of his
color. We point this out as the result of
he great mistake that was committed by
,he white people in 1868, They forced
he negro into a separate organization by
heir refusal to admit him as a legalized
citizen. And now they are insisting that
he shall continue apart by setting up as
heir representative men candidates who
lecry and denounce the negro.
This is why we say the mi8fortunes Of
he State can be easily accounted for by
reasonable men. The minority blindly
that it can win by abusing the
majority. That is, it adopts platform
,ccepting of the political equality of all
men, and then it proceeds to make itself
popular by attempting to shove the big
;est half Of the crowd away from its sup
,ort. This is 50 unreasonable that its
mere mention negatives the necessity Of
ur showing wherein it is illogical and
mpolitic,
Having accepted the Republican plat
orm, as the whites did when they &C
opted the Cincinnati candidate and the
'incinnati declaration of principles, the
7hite people of Louisiana were bound in
ouesty, and instigated BY policy, to show
heir sincerity and good sense by accept
ng the colored people and their friends as
lilly and fairly as they hoped to be ac-
epted. They were in the minority, their
interests stood in the greatest peril, they
lad the most to lose by being illiberal and |
he most to gain by being liberal, they
we're the ones that stood the most in need |
f help, and it was their part to be the
lost forbearing and the most discreet. |
We're they So? Did they reason as we
eason for them? Do they defend their
wn case as we are defending it for them?
~ no means. they merely refuse to t
eason. They arrogate, just as they did
1 1868, and they court defeat and disas-
9r just as they did then, notwith-
landing we are showing them the ruin
us policy Of arrogance and the
ickedness OF counting disaster. And |
ley will abuse US as the cause of their
just because we tell them Of
leir errors. Mobs sometimes seize upon
len and force them to participate in
ctions that they condemn and abomi-