New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-11-09

assembled in a room together and he with
| his commanding presence, and bearing,
carving with it lOftiness of character,
which OF itself refutes their calumnies, should
| enter, you would see them, self convicted
| and shame faced, fee away, as SwedenbOrg
| in his spiritual vision, saw the wicked, with
writhing, escape, even by a voluntary
plunge INTO torment, when the love of God
was put into their bosOms. He is a most
| highly cultivated, polished gentleman,
| Astounding in the amenities and charities OF
| life passing his time when off the bench
| within eparsely furnished ROOM with the
simplest habits, even with great self-denial,
| that be may in his modest and scanty in
| come support and educate a poor cOl0red
| boy, whom as waif, he found IN want
| upon the streets. Reading, and the most
| chOicelv selected and of most exhaustive
! character, is at once his occupation and his
| delight Thus has he lived during the ten
| years he has been upon the bench. FOR that
| period has he administered the laws OF
| the United States, in a state and COM
munity where the civilization of slavery
| had most fully eliminated, where 1T
| had blossomed out in all it's sen
sualism and luxury and where its
passions and bitterness had taken deepest
| root. With firm hand has he admins
tered these laws, many OF which were
| specially obnoxious to this community. he
| was the first Judge in the United States who
| seated side by side in the jury box the for
| mer slave and his master. He enforced the
test oath statute and the contiscatiOn acts;
he gave the broadcast construction to the
''civii rights" act; no cOiOred person ever
sought the protection of his court over
whom he has not readily thrown it, when
he could lawfully do so. and he has now
applied without abatement the enforcement
act.
He has few peers in the extent of his
learning or in his acumen in its application.
Great in his power Of analysis, simplifying
the most complex case; great is his mem
DRY, which is well nigh unerring, and which
reaches through all learning for precedent
or illustration; great in most sincere love
for mankind, he has also been great in the
we'll considered purpose to enforce to the
last degree within proper limits the power OF
the government which appointed him. 1t has
been for this that all the gall and venom of
bad civilization has been poured upon
him. But he is man of such great parts,
he has been 80 true to freedom IN it's great
struggle, even when it shook the Land like
an earthquake he has been so spotless in
his great work, that not more truly did the
armed sentinels who prudence required
should surround him for months by day
and night, shield his person from attack
than will the viewless guardians of the
good, quickened by the prayers OF an entire
race, for the protection of whom lie has
been assailed, cause this attempted villifica-
ton to recoil upon it's authors and to blazoR
his fame.
Mr.. Billings says that at first be support
ed Governor Kellogg from conviction of
duty to the principles which he represented,
but now supports him because having seen
him under all circumstances, he finds in
him an unfaltering purpose to administer
the laws in the interest Of the whole people
of the State, the freedmen and the prop
erty holders.
The origin, design and overw helming ne
cessity of the fifteenth amendment are
fully expounded, as we'll as of the statutes
which have been passed to enforce it.
He characterizes fully the freedmen and
with great candor. 1t would SCENT that
they are good citizens, but, owing to the
effects of slavery, they can not protect
themselves against their former masters
(who almost equal them in NUMBER tor a
generation. Mr.. Billings urges, with great
force and earnestIess, that Congress, from
motives of justice as well as expediency,
shall at once protect their lives, take upon
itself the conduct of the whole business of
their education, guarantee to them their
civil rights and, above all and as the basis
Of all, protect them by the surest and most
visible means in the exercise OF the right OF
suffrage.
he suOWb uO real Gauss vi Iut utDTtCld-
ton of property IN Louisiana to be sense
Of insecurity, and at the same time shows
what prosperity would attend the proper
protection of Congress. property holders
who have in their midst, well nigh annually,
massacres, and where murders are freq uent
and punshments few, need not wonder at
stagnatiOn in trade, nor that rents are small,
nor that taxation seems enormous. 1t is
idle to attribute all this to any accidental
Tho 10
sense Of insecurity, dread of violence"
PRESIDENT GRANT.
The part which, in our Louisiana matters
has devolved upon the President has also
been grossly nisrepresented by this same
virulent partisan press. Not until after
State government, which he well knew had
been elected, had been established, and not
until after it had made application. to him
in the precise manner pointed out by the
constitution, did he recognize it and give it
the support of the military forces Of the
United States Only when called upon by
the United States marshal for troops to
enable him to execute the orders of cir
cult court IN strict conformity with the
statute, did he furnish them. He did no
more than did President Tyler in the case
of Rhode Island. In this, as in all things
else, he has acted with scrupulous obedience
to the constitution and the law. Whenever
anything has been asked which was not
warranted by the statutes he has refused
it. Whenever anything has been asked
which the statutes authorized, and the
the public good required, he has
unhesitatingly complied. In connection
with our Louisiana affairs, have had some
opportunity of personally observing this
man. The workings of his mind have as
tOnished me. He is as great as our Presi
dent as he was as our General. Men,
methods, generalities, details, are all under
stood by him. Not only is he obedient in
word and deed to the law of the land, but
he grasps the broad principles of natural
justice upon which our government is, in
theory, at last placed. To his firmness
sagaclty and fidelity to principle, the freed
men and Union men dwelling in the South
owe much. He has striking individualltles,
and, like all great men, has strong preju-
di ces. But take him all in ALL I regard him
as one Of the safest men tor a whole people
who has ever held great executive power
When the Mississippi flows up stream then
shall | look to sec him take one step toward
the overthrow of popular government.
THE CoLoRED PEOPLE.
| have said that more than one-half of
our population is colored. Let me briefly
characterize them, as a close observation of
them enables me to do. They are kind, de-
light to exhibit kindness. and are exceed
ingly sensitive TO it from others. They are
naturally religious and have almost uni
versally belief that God will ultimately
confirm them in all their rights They have
the most profound veneration for the gov
eminent of the United States, and a warm
and even touching gratitude toward all
who have in sincerity labOred for their
ameioration; and they discriminate readily
between honesty and pretense in professions
Of interest in their welfare. They shrink