The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-07-19
The UniGcatiOm Question.
ADDRESS OF GEN. G. T. BEAUREGARD TO
THE PEOPLE OF LOUISIANA.

cause of my support of resolutions re-
commencing a closer union of all the
members of the permanent population
of the State, to promote faithful admi-
nistratiOn and wise and prOvident
legislation. The ends proposed are not
only unObjectiOnable, but patriotic and
p~raisewOrthy.
The complaint is of the means. Those
means consist in a candid and frank ac-
acknowledgement of constitutional and le-
gal facts which none a deny and the
conforming of u conduct to those pro-
visions of the existing Constitution of
the State of Louisiana, which are as
follows:
"ART. 10. All persons shall enjoy equal
rights and privileges upon any conveyance of
a public character; and all places of business or
of public resort, or for which a license is re-
quired by either State, parish, or municipal au-
thOrity, shall be deemed places of Il public char
acter, and shall be opened to the accommoda-
ton and patronage Of all persons, without dis
tinctiOn or discrimination on account of color"
ART. 1876. All children of this State, be-
tween the ages of six and twenty-One, shall be
admitted to the public schools or other institu-
lions OF learning, sustained or established by
the State, i'll common, without distinction of
race, color, or previous condition"
These articles have been enforced by
legislation, which gives to any party
whose rights Hereunder have been de-
lieu, d IISuG VI dCtIOu W recover DIV
damages, exemplary as we'll as actual,
which he may sustain, before n court
of competent Jurisdiction"
It cannot then be denied that all the
citizens of the State have been placed
upon terms of equality in their civil
and political relations. No preference
is given on account of complexion, Ca
Dacity, employment, pursuits or the
holding of property to any individual
or class. TIE superiority that the pos
session of these may attain depends
upon the voluntary recognition by per-
sons ditterin" in complexion and capa-
city, and of different emplOyments and
degrees of education. The suffrage of
every man of lawful age is to be coun-
ted at every election as OF the same
value. My proposition is, if possible,
to unite these various conditions of men
into a common effort to improve the
condition Of the State to remove, it it
| can be done, all questions that are spe-
Cial to any of these conditions from the
contest, and to fixthe hearts OF all upon
higher and more important aims. The
| strife, hostility, distrust and estrange-
ment that have followed from such
| questions have placed our State under
the control of the depraVed, dishonest,
| o~ver-reaching and cOrruDt. The repu-
| tation of the State has suffered, its credit
blasted, it's finances disOrdered, its honor
stained and public and private pros
perity retarded under the influence Of
the strife and the use made of it by the
artful and selfish adventures, who have
employed power to accomplish these
disastrous results. In our distracted
condition, after the general elections OF
last November, we appealed in vain to
Congress for relief; the Administration
has, moreover, thrown its powerful in
| huence on the side of u corrupt, usurp-
ing State government, and we can V
IDENTIFY hope for no assistance from our
sister States. We must therefore look
only to ourselves for salvation, which
can only be secured by making a firm
alliance with all classes OF our pOpula-
ton to rid us of those vampires who are
sucking the very lifebloOdO OF ~OurpeOple,
whites and blacks.
1t is manifest that nothing but the
f]orbearance of the cOlOred people pre-
vents them from subjecting common
carriers, and all keepers of places OF
public resort, to such losses and annoy
ances as would speedily compel the
practical acknowledgment OF their
rights or the abandonment of business:
A multiplicity Of suits, the result OF
which $50 far as our State courts are
~concerned) could not be doubtful, would
soon exhaust the endurance of the most
violent prejudice. Meanwhile during a
series of years, the obstinate denial OF
these claims of our colored fellOw-citi-
zens by the whites has been the means
of arraying whites and blacks, almost
solidly, in bitter political hostility
against each other.
It has driven the blacks into an un-
natural coalition with q horde of un-
scrupulous Adventures, who have thus
+ secured the political power of the com
mOnwealth. How have they used it
To what q sad condition have they not
, reduced the State! 1t is an oft told tale
] which I, o son Of Louisiana, holding hel
honor dearer than "the ruddy drops
!, which visit this sad heart" have no dis
l position to repeat.
, NAV be mistaken in %supposing thai
I a frank and cordial concession Of abso'
lutte and practical civil, as we'll as pOlltl'
cal equality between all citizens, with,
, out discrimination on account OF race OF
0 color, as proposed in this movement
would remove the last barrier which
, D the political cooperation o.
5 good men, Of whatever color, for tht
regeneration of the State but I an
e earnest in my conviction that l am no
mistaken.
Experience seems, at all events, tx
$ have demonstrated two propositions
quite conclusively, viz list, that with
t out such cooperation the redemption o
the State is impracticable I'd, that sucl
cooperation cannot be secured on an,
other terms.
Besides, I am profoundly convinced
i" that no sound and lasting system o
political philosophy can be constructed
under existing facts in Louisiana, a
t least which does not recognize sucl
T equality. Every such system mus
S SQUARE itself so as to consist in all it
expressions and implications with tn
fundamental fact Of impartial suffrage
When we are asked qURy we refuse t.
g admit colored people to the enjOymen
o of public privileges on q footing O
0 equality with other citizens, it is no
sufficient to say that in so doing w
merely exercise a right for which W
are compelled to give a reason. Their
must be some reason or motive at tn
o foundation of all human conduct. AM
if at the basis of this course of cOnduc
participated in by the mass of the whit
= people of the State, there does lie o rea
It son SO powerful as to defy the prOVis
i ions of the constitutions and laws an
the DEGREES of courts, it certainly con
Germs the cOlOred man to inquire wheth
u er, carried to its logical consequences
II it does not threaten other rights, Q
l. which he already has the full enjoy
ment, Yet I would ask any one to stat
it why q colored man should not partici
g, pate in these public privileges, Whie
10 would not be s. better reason why h
shOule not serve on q jury, why h
is should not hold responsible Offices, MAJ
Is WHY he should not possess the right q