New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-09-30
SPIRIT OF THE PENN REVOLUTION.


| 1.-THE CRY OF A NEW REBELLIoN-REsPEcr FOR
| THE U. g. GovERNMEST-THE ARMY AS A PoLil-
IoAL ToOL-THE WHITE AND BLACK LEAGUES AND
THEIR PURPOSES
| frRoa THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRIBUNEI
| NEw-ORIEANs Sept. 2l.-There is no greater folly
than TO suppose that the recent uprising OF the peo
pie of Louisiana against the Kellogg usurpaton was
| in any sense o demonstration against either tio
United States Government or the negro race III mas
been called rebellion and there seems 10 nave
been persistent effort to create upon the mnu Vi
the loyal North the impression that it was another
outcropping of the spirit of the late Rebelllon-a
manifestation of dsloyalty to the United States
Government. Such an effort may serve PARTISAN
purpose but it cruel as unjust to people Who
however their methods of obtaining redress may DC
criticised have certainly in the very acts called re-
belous shown respect and obedience for Federal
authority that have extorted the admiration OF e'
cry non-partisan Northern man and every army
officer in Louisiana Few States that have
not passed through the ordeal of civil war and
reconstruction would have submitted so quietly aud
so long TO usurpatiU 50 ndefensible and tyrannl-
cal, and yet so weak in itself as that of Kellogg;
aud fewer still wou1 hayo patiently accepted
Federal interference in it, behlf The truth is that
however it may be used for political purposes the
United States army has for several years past peeh
looked upon by white people n many OF tho South-
ern States as power standing between them anu
the violence of enemie A their own streets, and on
their own plantations aud have yet to visit any
part of the South in which the appearance of Federal
troops is not welcomed when they are under the con-
troll of their own officers The latter ningle freely
with Their old antagonists of the Confederate army
and the men naturally sympathize with tho white
people among whom their lot is cast As has before
been stated. the soldiers in the Custom-house
cheered the citizens lit lie army after the battle with
Kellogg's Metropolitans on the nth OF September
ami it is moreover true that before the battle began
some of them gave cartridges to citizens VINO nau
arms, but no ammunition.
THE SOLDIERS IN SYMPATHY WITH THE PEOPLE
Every army officer with whom | have talked Is
ashamed of being at the beck and call of partisan
Attorney General and his if possible more partisan
Marshas and District-Attorneys in the South, and
has hardly more relish for the task Of tying usurp-
ing Government upon the backs of the hlghsplrlted
people of Louisiana. While She officers are properly
reserved in criticisms upon the acts Of the President
and ayow their freedom from partisan bias, they are
not backward in expressing their disgust at this
business of making the army part OF the poltlcaI
machinery to secure Republican ascendency III the
South and manufacture capital for the Republican
party in the North. day OF two ago asked vet
in the South with comparative comfort in camp and
quarters to the hardshps of service on the frontier
"No. Sir.r said he, "there is not one of us who
would not prefer Indian fighting year IN and year
out to this contemplate business" men
ton these things to show that there ia little
sympathy between the carpet-bag governments and
the soldiers and that there is between the citizens
| generally and the soldiers amity and good will.
This would not be the case if there was i'll the ex-
Confederate element any lingering spark of disloy-
alty So far as can form opinion there Is not In
apy of the Southern States Today corporals guard
of voters who would carry that State out Of the
Union ii they could. The people have not forgotten
and cannot be expected TO forget the memories OF
the past they convinced that they did wrong
in going to war; but Slavery and Secession dead,
and the idea of their revival exists only in the
minds of ignorant negroes. where it has been i'm
PLANTED by men who know better, but who find it
useful in keeping their followers in the party traces.
| THE CHARACTER OF THE WHITE LEAGUE.
| The charge that the New-Orleans reyOlutiOnists
were influenced to some extent by race animosi-
ties is not so baseless as that which the cry of
a new rebellion. 1t is unquestiOnaby true that in
some parts Of Louisiana the prejudice of race Is more
apparent than almost anywhere else in the South
and the organization and present existence of an ex-
tensve secret society known as the White League,
with branches all over the State, seems to give adj
dtonal color to the charge Several sections of the
Crescent City White League took part in the street
fight on the 14th of September and this fact is also
significant. / have therefore inquired particularly
as TO the strength and purposes of the White League
and to what extent it participated in the revolution
ary movements. The result of these inquiries Is
the conclusion that at present by far the most for
midable thing about the organization Is its name
/ =
the secret societies of armed negroes which have
been in existence in every parish in Louisiana nearly
ever since the war, and which were seen to COM
mand a wonderful political influence over that race
keeping voters together in solid pha!anx party,
resisting all efforts to entice individual members
into the opposition, and promising continued as
tendency TO the Republicans unless their power
coild be broken. These negroes might have called
their society "a Black League with much truth
the whites called theirs White League, for they
drew the color line Just as rigdy IN prescribing the
| qualifications for membership But they showed
better sense; and II is pity that the whites, in
adopting the political machinery of the other race,
did not initiate also their prudence in this respect.
| THE NEGROES WELL TREATED BY TIE WHITES.
MANY of them see this now and regret their con-
nection with an organization whose name causes its
purposes to be, mscOnstrued. Their original idea
was simply to, secure the enrolment OF the WHITE
voters and their organization SO that the Conserva-
tive party might know its strength and use it to the
best advantage in political contests against the
negroes who we're already thus organized. Thou
sands Joined it because 1t was the only organization
| of Conservative voters, and prominent members,
| whose word no man will doubt assure me that the
League has no designs against the negro; that it is
pledged to give him his rights under the law, and
that the only contingency in which 1t can. as an or
ganizaton resort to violence that of an uprising
of the negroes in the rural districts The members
were used in the Penn movement last week, not IA
Whita Leagners. but as the only organized bodies