The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1874-11-25
be there.

Nv Vho A1oii Vi CCpIciuUcT' was more
than day, and thedeed of that day was
more than deed. It.was the nantes
tation of a principle that lies deep in the
heart. and conscience of every man,
Thatfs, that wherever there is tyranny,
| i'll my conscience have right to say to
every government: YOU are wrong and
l am right; shoot me down, If you
please, fetter me If you please, put me
in dungeon, if you please, bring me to
the scaffold, if you choose, but, as right,
so principle Is an eternal word, that new
er can be erased. - u a.
While it may be in part erased from
one or two pages Of human history, It
never can be erased from the tablet of
human hearts, so long as the human
heart has the nobility to worship at the
footstool Of principles rather than cringe
and crawl at the pedestal of 'expediency
and policy, and offer there, upon the al
tar, hearts, minds and conscience, tenn
poral as well as social interests, at the
idol of policy. Policy is the idol, prfn-
cipleis the God. ~ ts.ll ..s5I - ''''
! know, very we'll that if that wonder
full man who smokes the everlasting ci-
gar were here, and If he could by any
high flight Of imagination presume for
one instant that he could answer your
thoughts or my argument, he 'would
say that we were wrong and that Ire
was right. Smoke. your cigar. The
smoke Of 1t symboIizes the shadows that
gather around your Presidential brain.
And he would wish to make you believe
and make me believe, that we are but. a
province and not State at all, perhaps
not understanding the political economy
OF what is, the difference between con
quered province ahelsa free State
Now, my friends, a government may be
legal, IN thechnical sense of the, word, aud
yet not legitimate That is-if. you will
let me say it in palmer words-a govern
ment. may not represent the people, who
are, the State, and at the same time, by a
Judge perhaps by "a President, or BY
General have you any Generals N. New
Orleans II .den't mean Generals who are
in the right, like General Ogden, but Gen
erals who are in the wrong, like General
what's his name Ireally do not
knowt>7he considered, in a technical sense,
the legal gOysrnuentof the State, Well,
1t has often been the case, as stated by one
of the greatest Catholic theologians, THAT
a Goveralne1lt' may sometimes be tetlfni-
cally legal ant}. at the same time, in reali
ty 'filegiti1ftfte.s Il ~reckons that, was ttlle
case of your Government on the ;14th. of
September "St%t ~ 4 y ~ d.
Sometimes it. ia no use to argue-with
them. Once there was an Irishman-I
reckon there was an LSishman more than
onee-1---but once theFe " ass "a parti0ular'lr
ishtnan, who HAD come hera.frofn ireland
and Dot his acknowledgements g~a
He didhot knbw! tnqah Al,ont the poll
itics of this country, but he Knew great
deal about the politics Of his own country,
He was about. to cast his vote. One man
belonging to our party took him by the
arm, aud another belonging to the other
party took him by the arm; one said :
''Vote for me-" and the other said "Vote
for me-" The poor man was bewildered,
and said to one of,them, .1,WhO are you T.
and this one gave him the name OF his
party. The Irishmail asked the, other,
who are YOU p y. and the other gave him
the name OF his partly VA u I, - ,s.,.-,1l
At last they asked him what are you
then and the lriShman answered.: \ am
against the government, [Applause. 1. e&i
tits hard to destroy prejudice and hard
to destroy the mental, habits and position
of people h0. insist upon treating us as "a
conquered province, =. 1t'a.Tas "a. "a
But we belong, to the United States.
But what do they carei They prefer, il,
perhaps-I need not say perhaps-the
prefer that it.shsuM be 30 that We should
be, deprived of our rights. = p,-,r.y,,-,,-r
They prefer to pit ignorance against in
tehect, immortality against morality, and
they, wish to place over tho white race
these who have neither the right nor pow
er nor .potentiaity Of leading any race to
freedom, to law, to righteousness, to glory.
This has: BEEF o,lr ,cilses Itepee'it ;is,E my
frigaas,y thatSvh en We ,Gplt an organism of
power used against us, ana tlf,it Organism
is trying to perpetuate Itself we must
heseNit thy auether Organization, -and our
Organization must also pdrpetuate itself.
Ths Z y ihsthst 4 wslla nstbs ,safs5o
disbaaal the WHITE League ITO morrow.
Mherssiis / man ie steadily and fear1essly
says What, does a mans life nmoiut,to
wheA rights and principles are involved
tbs blood Of the heart that speaks for tie
right, is grand and rich and precious;, bat
when that blood is poured out in wounds
for the couu try and for the rights of. all,
then5it is still sgrauder and more precious.
Hence it lis that those met that fell at
your. side on the 14tlr of september,,r their
memory shoild be ''revered, tlieir NAMES
should be cherished, and if the poor fel-
lows left widows or orphans, you, the
people SfAhe State, should TIA ke them by
tie hand and say to them, you lost an for
me; you are the ward of the State, and we
are your guardians. IApplause.
/ was in the North when this occurred.
Gherais Ogden was abont to make IA
march on Longstreet-it appeared to Re :
very long street; but Longstreet suddenly
became short cut to the Custom House,
plsuse and laughter. j H4T.TS - :
Firm and steady youmust be, like the
old Confederate in North Carolina The
Yankees had caught him. They call them