The Ouachita telegraph., 1874-06-26
Welcome to Governor McEnery-H1s
ReSDOuSG.


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welcome to Governor McEnerS-h's
Response.
n, saturday night last the Trenton and
Monroe bands, accompanied by large
number of citizens, proceeded to the resi- |
aenee of Gov. McEnery, and welcomed him
home by stirring music and genuine feel
ings Of affection.
At the conclusion of the music, Gov.
McEnery, in response, spoke substantially
as follows:
In all the applause which had greeted
him, and attention he had received, none
had so gone to his heart as this welcome by
his fellow-citizens of Monroe, the place of
his boyhood, his youth and manhood. He
owed much to them, and would cherish
through life their kindness every act of
which was as indissolubly linked with the
acts of his life as his earliest recollections
of childest gambols along the banks OF the
beautiful Ouachita.
There was no necessity, said the 6over-
nor, of reciting the history of Louisiana
since November 1872; the events in her SAD
and sorrowfnl career were familiar to All.
He had st stEenuously maintained their rights
had endeavored to place them prominently
before the Nation and at the bar OF Com
xress. Her struggle had not been fruttiess.
rights of sovereign States-their citizens
we're secure in their persons and property.
Their battles had been fought and won in
Louisiana. He was not despondent. AL
though we had not received the fruits of
we'll fought battle. yet III the future I.Ouisi-
ana would receive her reward. She had
taken the lead, and had maintained the
rights of the States. Although she had
suffered in the contest, yet she had forever
put q veto upon the interference by the
general government in the affairs of the
States.
No other State in this Union need now
foar that her liberties will be taken away
by the midnight order of drunken Judge
supported and sustained by Federal
tyranny. But, if we are to succeed, we
must be united. The great black cloud of
despotism which now hangs over Louisiana
will be rolled away, and serene sky will
yet smile upon 1t will not, however,
go with a coward's yield. It will have to
be fought vigorously, manfully-by united
action, and a most determined effort.
We cannot afford, continued Governor
McEnery, to cut loose from the Democratic
party; we must be in active sympathy and
cooperation with it. 1t is the great party
of the present, and is destined to control
the affairs Of the Nation. In the North and
to pieces from the mass of corruption which
it has to bear. 1t is a foregone conclusion
that, in 1876, the Democratic party will
elect the President. Then Louisiana's
chains will be broken and she will take her
place once more rs a sovereign State in the
Federal Union.
While we adhere to the Democratic party,
necessity compels us to be united as white
men. self-preservation, the protection of
the honor of our wives and Children de-
mand this. You have seen, in this parish,
the blacks arrayed against the whites--the
political word OF the Brewsters:and the Mo-
reys mastering them in direct antagonism
to the interest Of the white people, and to
the common interest Of both. These mis-
guided people have been deaf to onr remon-
stances, they have despised our teachings,
and they have put wrong construction
upon our forbearance.
We mean no hostility to tho black race;
we do not intend to deprive them of a sim
gle privilege secured to them by law; but,
on the contrary, we intend to protect them
in their enjoyment. But, in order to
restore good government to this state, to
make every man, white and black, secure
in his person and property, it becomes Il
necessity for to unite together, and do
that by ourselves which the coIored people
refuse to join us in doing. In time to come
they win bless us for our action, in the i'm.
proved condition Of their race, the ednca-
tion of their children, and, in general, theit
material and moral prosperity. Neithe,
they nor we can live and prosper under the
present misrule--n n change must take place
and that speedily. We must flee from the
evil of the present nsnpation; or we must
remain and regenerate the State. Az patri
OTIS, as the devoted and affectionate SONS o
onr beloved State, it. is our duty to remain
here Snd secure her from Impending rain
We must do this, ,at all hazartls-regartile le =
ofconscqnences; and rather than see her de
scending lower in the scale of civiiizat ion
our wives and daughters consigned to II fat.
the very mention of which is revolving, WI
will strike her from the roll of nations ant
seeke oblivion in q common grave! 1t wonlt
be better to die battling for FREEDOM than t,
live as slaves.
He urged the people to be up and doing
to organize for victory, to send men, true
and tried, to the legislature the coming
Fall election. And that he might not be