New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-06-13
THEIR BEST FRIENDS.


the land. He COOS sweetly in the col
umns Of the Picayu,,e Of love for his fel
!. low black citizens, and protests that ht
has loved them ever, and would have long
since taken them into his confidence
folded them to his heart of hearts, bat the
selfish carpet-bagger stood in the way ano
would not permit the colored people te
come over and Join their best friends
Now, as the car pet-baggers proper constl
tute the weakest political element III the
State, few in numbers, limited in theii
acquaintance, and VIGOROUSLY destitute o.
material resources-for no man OF wealth
is ever called carpet-bagger-it appears
to us utterly impossible that they should
exert the influence which they are cred
tied with.
| And it is quite as untrue to say that the
REPUBLICAN has ever defended the negro
population for banding together in solid
mass against the great body OF the
white people. The REPUBLICAN has never
departed from what it considered o
patriotic, consistent and straightforward
course. We have counseled the colored
people to vote for their friends; to give
their suffrage to those whom they believed
would give them fair show in the race
of life. They are not arrayed against the
white people and never have been. They
are not aggressive in their practices or de-
sires. 1t is true, circumstances have con-
spired to compel them to stand together
| side by side for self-protection, since
they have no votes to spare to secure
the control of the political power
| in the hands of those whom they can
trust. Thus, the two opposing forces
stand confronted, and must ever stand
unless some agreement can be made by
which the fears of the one side for per-
sonal safety can be dispelled. We can
find no such assurance in the history Of
the so-called Louisiana Democracy. There
is nothing inviting in their speeches or
usages. If we look back few years we
see prolong ed struggle to drive the
colored people from places Of public en-
ployment and return them to the drudgery
of the cotton and cane fields. Their
'rights conceded by the constitution"
have been barely tolerated. it is true,
where resistance was difficult and ex-
pensive. But where would those rights
be to-day were the police in the hands Of
their declared enemies, as was the case in
1866, when the frightful and cowardly |
massacre took place at Mechanics In
stitute. In that everlastingly disgraceful |
affair, the police themselves made the |
attack, and they were quickly joined by
rowdies, gingerly called citizens, who
piled their revolvers and knives so long
as live negro remained in sight. If the
position OF the REPUBLICAN, as expressed
by us the other day, be 'scontradicted and
refuted by the whole tenor of the conduct
and sentiment of the conservative whites,
we are forced to look into history little
to see the contradiction. Possibly ''the
best friends would ask US to overlook
some of their acts, but as we have never
heard one word Of depreciation from any
source, we may reasonably
presume that everything would be repeat
I'd under similar condition Of circum-
stances. Here are few Of the symptoms
If friendship which have been disclosed
~ the conservative whites during the
oast eight years, every one Of which we
suppose the Picayune is ready to justify
~ the sh allowest of reasons.
1866. A brutal and indiscriminate mas
acre of an unarmed assembly in Mechan-
cs' Institute, FIR which none of the par
icipators were ever even so much as ar
esteG.
1868. A general arming Of the whites
nd the marrying of the negroes in their
lubs, numbering the members and de-
troying property, resulting in such
eign OF terror that Grant received only
81 votes for President in the city. Prob
bly, not one colored man voted on that
ay, and it is altogether likely an attempt
0 do SO would have cost him his life.
About this time, too, the conservative
mites of st. Mary cruelty murdered ,
herif Pope and Judge Chase, for no i;
Their reason under heaven than their well
nown fidelity to the colored race.
st. Landry, Franklin, VIM, Catahoula {
nd Rapides parishes have been in I
hronic conditi on of negro hunting ever I
ince reconstruction, while there are +
hose at the pr esent day who continue to
rame excuses for the dreadful scenes in
rant parish in one breath, and won der the 6
egroes do not love them in the next. :
len who consort with enemies are always
egarded as such, and none but fool, or +
tho deems negroes to be fools, can ex- r
ect that these deeds, done in open day '
ght in the presence of hundreds Of wit
esses, can be taken as evidences that the i
osition of the REPUBLICAN is false. It I
, not false, and it does not require our E
forts to teach the negro who is his r
-iend and who is not He feels the APP i,
roach of an enemy, whether a single
erson or an organization, by intuition. a
When the conservative whites shall
rove themselves worthy the confidence of i
be negro, they will receive it freely in c
pite of all the carpet-baggers that ever c
anne from Canada, Europe or America. I