The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1873-08-09
THE SITUATION IN LOUISIANA-.DUTY
OF THE HOUR.
TRINITY, La, July %, 1873.

@. W. McG'onie, Esq:
DEAR SIR: Your ready response to
my letter requesting you to lend your
influence in an effort to arouse the fail
ing spirits of our people, by publishing
q call for a convention to take into
consideration the condition of the
State and other matters connected
Herewith, prompts me to place before
you certain views which were submit
ted to the consideration of the mem
bers of the Democratic State Convention
last June, which were not then under
stood or appreciated, but which, with
the light of subsequent events, may be
better received.
1t is of vital importance to us, be-
fore taking any farther stops amidst
the complications with which we arc
surrounded, to understand clearly tho
nature of our own position, especially
tho relations, in n political sense, of
tho people of this State to the govern
ment of the United States. 1t is very
evident, since tho coup d'ctot OF Judge
Durell last winter, that tho impression
which we have heretofore cherished
that tho result of the war had been to
restore the State of Louisiana to her
place as n sovereign State of tho Union,
and hcr people to all tho rights and
privileges of citizens, is false and no
longer Il safo premise from which to
reason.
AS that particular act was simply tho
elimination of y settled policy, and in
keeping with the treatment which We
OF the government, it Is, perhaps,
safest TO inquire into the origin and ma
ture of that policy.
At the close of the war, actuatcd by
n sincere repentance, or In haste to ap-
pease tho wrath Of the conquerors, our
people repealed, in convention, the act
Of secession. That this act, however
undignified, was prompted by the
purest motives no ono Gun deny, but 1t
docs not seom to have occurred to us
that the promises and assurances of
our enemies were not made in good
faith, and that the preservation OF the
Union, as the object OF the war, meant
TO do this it was necessary
to exclude tho seeded States practi-
cally from National Legislation, and
ut the same time, rs Il concession to
the conservative sentiment OF the coun-
try, to make it appear that the fault
lay with those States. For this pur-
pose that ubiquitous system of laws
known as the reconstruction acts was
instituted; for this purpose suffrage
was conferred on the negroes, and y
race Of newly cmancipated slaves, re-
at all times and In all cOun-
tries for Its Ignorance and vices, as the
most convenient tools for illegal and
measures and finally for this
purpose, the Senate of the United
States stopped SO low as to empower n
candidate for reelection, to
suspend tho writ of habcas corpus, and
to declare martial law in II sovereign
State Mt the period of n general cleo
ton, amended by giving to q partisan
Judge tho power to appoint his crea-
lures to every Office of profit or Of
trust in that State, on n spccious pre-
text to avert the ill consequences of II
law made by Republican politicians in
tho interest OF tho Iscbublican party.
We are bound to admit that this pol
ICY Atst5 50 1SI DeSH S6ttlticu WITH re-
success, and we know not
which to admire most, the knavery of
the ono party, or the folly of tho
other.
1t only remains to consider how
much we ourselves arc responsible, i'll
common parlancc, to what extent we
haVc played into the hands Of our adj
1t is certain that we are
always ready to aid the deception.
Whom callod on to rcpudiatc the act Of
we hastened to do so; when
the negroes were mado voters by rs
illegal and arbitrary al act rs over
from u legislative body, no
word OF protest went up, but we has
toned to recognize them, and to appeal
to their suffrage; with q full knowl-
edge OF tho blow which had been pre-
pared to crush us, We entered into an
with all the enthusiasm and
fervor ola FREQ people, and presented to
the world tho pitiabIc spectacle Of u
strife; and now, before tho
which attended that cleo
ton has subsidized, ono half Of us are
ready to rcpudiatc our legally elected
Governor, and another set pursuing
the mad policy of cXrcdicncy, TIN
mindful of tho traditions of thcir race,