New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-02-13
THREATS.

with great det'5erdtion that the people Of Ne,c
Orleans aoiN haze these reforms" and that
''the Citizens Committee of Fifty-one, it
IS understood, are prepared to communicate
to the Legislature the aeM Of thspeople upon
these subjects and it then goes on to
enumerate laws which it demands shall be
enacted or repealed.
This pretentious paper intimates, in nc
doubtful language, that unless the Legis-
lature and the Governor drop all other
business, and obey the high behests Of the
editors of the Picaylne, and the Commit
tee of Fifty-one, that they will be mobbed
and properly (?) dealt with.
Now, do these self-constituted auto
Gratis suppose that free Legislature and
Governor Of sovereign State can be
coerced into measures at the meance and
dictation Of q puny picayune paper? Dc
they not know that "those who were born
in the woods are not to be scared by an
owl?" Have they not sense enough to
know that such threats only serve to rouse
obstinacy and resistance, and thus retard
reform?
Will the Committee of Fifty-one dare to
demand that the Legislature Of Louisiana
shall do and undo whatever they may die
tate? If so, then they have assumed the
powers of revolutionary committee. Are
they and their hackers prepared for the
consequences? Whence do they derive
their power and authority?
A mass meeting of citizens was called
to consider and advise measures of reform;
it was attended by a rather meagre crowd,
which proved to be almost wholly COM
posed Of political opponents of the Re
publican party. According to the cut-and-
dried programme, lot Of rich capitalists
large property-holders, aristocratic mer-
chants and ambitious lawyers, with small
sprinkle Of the salt of the earth, were APP
pointed committee, of ffty-one men,
bers, to carry out the design of the meet
ing. Such is the origin Of this celebrated
committee
Now can they pretend that they repre-
sent even one-twentieth part of the citi-
zens and voters of New Orleans? The la
borer on the levee, the drayman, the seller
in the market-place, the mechanic at his
work and the small shop keeper are as
much in crested in having good laws and
good government as the largest property
holder, and they are as much interested in
the repeal of bad laws as the richest cap
itaist or banker.
These are the people, indeed. and they
do what the rich property-holder and mer-
chant do not do; they register and vote;
and they are the only proper persons who
would have any right to instruct the city
for they elected them.
Not one out of a hundred of actual citi-
zens and voters participated in the mass
meeting or lent their consent to its pro-
The "Citizens' Committee, like
any other citizens, have the right to peti-
ton the Legislature for the repeal Of any
obnoxious laws or the enactment Of any
needed reforms, and doubtless from the
characters Of the individual
members Of the committee, their petition
would have great influence. If, however,
they assume the right to demand reform or
undertake through a mob or any other
means of violence to interfere with or
force the free action Of the Legislature
and the Governor, they will find to their
sorrow that the power which was ample to
crush the great rebellion and preserve the
Union, as well as the power of the State,
now more potent than ever, viii be used
to their fullest extent, to effectually put
down any revolutionary or Moderate
measures.
The city of New Orleans is not the State
Of Louisiana. There are some parishes
outside Of the parish of Orleans, and they
send as their representatives very large
majority of the members Of the Legisla-
.ure. Even in New Orleans the great
mass Of the real citizens and voters had
1othing whatever to do with the appoint
ment Of the Committee Of Fifty-one, and
hat committee does not represent them;
md, consequently, does not reflect the ,cM
# the people of this city
The Picoyeuae is not the organ Of even
he people Of New Orleans 1t may be the
organ of its non-voting proprietors. Even
should the real people Of New Orleans rise
n mass, they would have no right to die
ate to the Legislature, chiefly composed
If members from country parishes, as to
what they should enact or repeal, The
people, as we'll as their representatives,
would not and will not tolerate such dicta-
ion from the citizens Of New Orleans,
hough they were unanimous i'll their de-
nands. Much less will they permit the
course Of the Legislature to be con-
rolled by small coterie Of proni-
lent citizens OF New Orleans, whatever
title they may choose to assume.
That reform is needed all admit, and it
will be had upon the deliberate and not
nasty judgment of the General Assembly,
out it must be reform for the whole people
md not for the few.
Threats are worse than vain; they are &.
crime. Nobody fears them, ard they can
only DO harm. Let the Picay,>ne and its
oroprietors beware lest they do more in
tlry to New Orleans and to the State than
hey do good It was much less inter-
.a,.o,,no VII, the eceiSla+1,ra fiat re-nan.cd