Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1872-09-14
COnklinson Grant.
EXTRACTS.

SSssAcyn State Gorernments-Amnesty.
The South has been for years fer
tile 6eld for electiOneerlng sensation.
The State governments in some OF the
Soutberu States have been weak aud
had. aud the 81 Liberals want TO try
us for that. What have We to do with
III Why, they say We i posed poll
teal disabilities on the rebels. " no
imposed political disabilities OF, rei'eis'
We are told the people pay the deM'
Init We never hear that the people I'M
nosed the disabilities yet they did.
INA fourteenth amendment OF the Con-
stitution. ratified by the Legislatures
~ three.auarters of the states, is the
d;s.h;utv under which rebels have
heen. That amendment does not touch
the RIGHT to vote, but leaves every
,ehel 2 voter. 1t touches ODly the
r;rht to hold Office. 1t provides that
the men who took an oath to support
the Constitution and then fought
AGAINST It, thus adding perjury to trea
con, shall not hold office; and il furtb
or provides that Congress, by a two
thirds vote, may relieve them. Ii is
foolish to pretend all being aliowed to
vote, that the niaj0li ty could not rule !;
il is absurd tn pretend that the few
rebels, who were peIjured AZ well as
traitors, were the only tit men 10 elecI
State officer and Legislators. Ii fol
lows that the fourteenth amendment is
- <t,> ,o,,oo NJ b.,I ,,,a,, I,.,i,., .,Iu.tnl
to Office in the Southern States. The
truth is, az was abundantly proceed be-
fore the Kuklux Committee, that cap
able, educated men, eligible TO office
refused to accept it and refused TO vote,
and persuaded the rebels generally
not to vote, all for the pur ese OF
frustrating reconstruction III the South,
and making it odious.
Amnesty or want of amnesty had
nothing to do with jobs in Southern
Legislatures any more than in our
own. No man has ever asked TO he
relieved who was not relieved prompt
ly. Indeed, history has no instance of
such forbearance and mercy as has
been granted to the ngleaders OF the
rebellion
Not one was ever visited with the
least penalty, except being barred from
ONCE, for committing perjury as well
- treason, and bills for relief began at
once, and all who asked soon received
forgiveness. Whether a general act,
naming no one, but covering rebels in
> body, was compliance with the
fourteenth amendment, may well be
doubted. Be this as it may, the Presi.
dent recommended, and Congress OH
the East ct last May adopted, such al
set Itxopld have passed weeks ear
lier, but that 81 Liberals who pretend
ed to be for "civil rights bill !" 10y
itself, voted ayowedly. to make it as
obnoxious as possible, and then. when
it became part OF the amnesty bill,
some OF them voted against 1t and
others lodged and this when two
votes would have carried it. Aud
Eow, when not more than one or two
huadred men in the whole South are
left ineligible to Office, and these men
WHO still defy and spurn The .CoCstitu.
tioa, We are gravely told that amnesty
ia a great Issue before the American
people.
Amnesty, as an Issue, is as dead az
the politicians who prate about it 1t
is about as vital as Summers publish
Cd reason for supporting Mr.. Greeley,
namely, that Greeley was born the
same year that he was himself.
aPeacc, good will toward men," have
been for three years national watch
words. Even she old Inuian scares
have failed to bring OF Indiap wars,
which Zero always contractors wars.
For the first time in our history an In
dian peace policy has trinmphed, mas
sacres have been prevented, the hites
and the Indians alike have been
spared, and millions saved to the ma
tiou. afr.4
WAat Change a1Who Asks IT.
Such is the Administration, and
such the stable prosperity and the
wholesome condition of things. at home
esd abroad, which We are asked to
trade OF for we know not what. To
suppose it will be done would he to
brand free government as failure,
and to insult the sense of the Ameri-
can people,
What is the change offered us 7
Does anybody knOwi When did the
necessity for any change arisei
Certainly not when in September,
1870 Mr.. Greeiey called the Reform
movement "a conspiracy to destroy
the Republican party :" not in Septem
Der, 1871, when Mr.. Greeley drew resO-
lutions fully ;ldoisingt present AL
ninistration; not on the 9Th OF Janua-
~. 1871, ~hen in a speech Mr.. Gree
said: I" venture to suggest that
General Grant will be tar better quail.
ned Tor that IRomentous trust in 1872
than he was in 1852 not when in
February, 1871, Mr.. Greeley said that
aeieat Of the Republican party in
h ao nation would be "ilisgrace and
souUlll3ttOQ.r mot n,,l,-s.,