The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-05-17
The Folly of Tuesday Night.
Roundabout in n. o. Times, 9TH inst

III ~ W A4l1cS, tln inst.
New Orleans, this morning, awakens
to the Illuminating conclusion, that
popular Outbursts of Indignation, i'm
prOmptu meetings at CLAY Statue, sud
den ra1lyings Of our coolest and best.0
grave committees of learned Dundets,
and in fact all of the green fire, red
paint and black patches, with which en-
thuSlasm ismanufactured out of hand.
are as ephemeral as the baseless fabric
of a vision. The world of liberty is
hollow and patriotic dolls are stuffed
with saw-dust. The astute JACQUES to
the contrary, one can't make "great
men Off-hand by q tailor" and years of
hamilton, yapid discussion and sense
less dissipation do not constitute the
regimen by which virtue in it's Spartan
deception Of the term is achieved. Our
great men in the humble opinion of
Roundabout, had better retire grace
fully, and even at the fearful risk of
depriving us for the next six months.
Of the senseless turmoil, and feeble
outbreaks of frOthy rhetoric which
periodically fill with dismay the breasts
of our women, yield the leadership of
indignant hosts to competent
heads. They had better refrain from
the further publication of inf1ammatory
posters, thread-bare appeals to imagin-
airy patriotism, the cheapS spratts which
for weeks and months and years have
been flung to catch that clumsy whale,
notnriety. They should remember that
eyes quite as far seeing as theirs have
watched throughout the entire dreary
ordeal this inane struggle for ccldt, that
sober, thinking men, who were present
where the havoc was thickest, and who,
shoulder to shoulder, stood, musket in
hand, on, the only occasion when cour-
age was honorable, know them
thoroughly, and that those who have
won distinction, even in a fallen cause,
know too we'll the sacrifice it asked, to
be hoodwinked by any cheap or easily
acquired herOism. Their occasional
OratOrical illusions have been spoken
with a regularity too dismally c]ontinu-
Gus, their sage observations concerning
men and measures, to say the least, are
a trife threadbare, and the people, the
hard-handed, bone and sinew of the
commonwealth, who labor for what
they eat, and whose meagre earnings
are hourly growing scantier, are veal
Of them. The date of the last reckless,
and Roundabout had almost said brutal,
struggle for office is not so remote but
that a few can remember it. The
| lllIUClIlGNS SJltDlUILN vi LlIt CibUlDbI2l
the continued and successful blunder-
ing from bad to worse, the doctrine of
men not measures, expedience not prin-
ciple, is still fresh in the minds of
scores. The hundred petty schemes, and
%sagaciOus tricks to catch that "great
fy,7 the public, are not entirely I'M
known, and although in the crushing by
the strong, unjust and relentless hand
of the Federal, Government of all their
plans, the people Gas thousands of limo
cent persons have been before them)
were chief sufferers, in their moments
| of reflection they are not apt to forget
the originatOrs of their downfall.
Taking advantage of an unprece-
Ia1ented act, and the general demOraliza-
ton, rOguish men indicted themselves
into office, but We're not the professional
~agitatOrs as guilty in their blind ego
tism, as were the present rulers in
relentless and unbridled cupidity. Who
is the greater enemy to LOnisiana-the
blunderer who lost her cause-Or the
open enemy who won the victory ?
We have had too many meetings; OuT
citizens are called upon too often to ex-
press their burning Indignation. Solemn
protests delivered in the style now uni
versally adopted, are far from ef1ica-
ciOus. We + entering upon a long,
hot summer. Tt is very doubtful, during
the ordeal, whether the multitude OF
mouths that now cry to be fed will find
food enough for all. Every outbreak OF
this character narrOws our already fal
too Strengthened income. Each popular
demonstration is the opportunity fO1
thieves, and gentlemen who encourage
gatherings such as assembled last even
ing, are the. unwilling aiders and abet.
tors of spoliation and robbery. Rounda.
bout hopes that the experience of Tues.
day night will be a warning to all Of
them. .