New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-03-20
REAPING THE WHIRLWIND.


Rich men, ambitious Of renown, bough
5 themselves armor proof against the arm
j. Of the period. They rode on barbe'
: horses, and trampled down the 'shag
o headed kernes" with personal impunity
There is no true courage in trampling OF
, the weak. There is still less in trucking
to the strong and imploring their forbear
ance. True manhood consists in The
! Roman maxim of daring the strong te
combat and throwing over the weak the
shield of forbearance.
. The Picayune explodes whole packet
of its harmless frecrackers against the
National Republican, because that journal
has adopted ideas derogatory to the social
justice of Louisiana. 1t chooses to at
tribute the origin of this charge to false
testimony furnished by the enemies Of the
State. 1t attributes this evil reputation
to the adventures who are alleged to have
come into the State and employed the
negro voters to enrich them. This is in
credible. That comparatively few men
should have entered State and turned
more than half the voters against those
native or long resident therein, is an I'M
reasonable supposition. The residents of
the State held the property and the wages
of those voters. The value of their
property and the services of their
families depended on the labor of those
voters. The harmony between these in
terests was complete. There were politi-
clans who objected to the exercise of suf-
| frage by these voters unless their votes
should be given to those politicians.
Hence we had harmony in the field and
household, and antagonism between the
races at the polls. Our explanation is,
that the Fusion politicians of Louisiana
put the negroes in such bodily fear that
they resorted to any protection that
presented itself. They bestowed their
confidence in those who were in such re-
lations with the United States as that
they could call to their aid a military
force more powerful than that by which |
they were threatened.
The Picayune tells the National Repub- |
licau that if acts Of violence were perpe- |
trated upon the negroes, it was because a
high-spirited race was provoked to set up
some claim revolving to the sense of free
dom, dignity and right Of the white
descendants of the founders of ''the gov
eminent" We should like to know, then,
why this slaughter is not an every days
proceeding. Why does it only occur Pc
riodically at the elections? This revolving
demand must be for an Office or right to
vote. 1t springs from no antagonism of
race, interest or demeanor. The negro
may make as much cotton as he will and
perform such mental services in health
and sickn ess as may be demanded. The
employer is not then provoked by in
suits, threats and dangers to put him to
death. The last feather that breaks this
much enduring back is the improper +;
choice Of candidate for Office This
made the truly "blue blood boil, and it
will not subside till it has shed the baser I
blood Of some unequal in combat to
themselves
Many men who really fought in the
Confederate cause remember the hour Of +
They realize the humiliation Z
f defeat. They have not forgotten the
ears Of women lest corqueror whose t
rmies overpowered the land and extin-
uished all resistance should have deci- r
lated disarmed prisoners, executed po- a
teal often ders and turned the property
nd chastity of the land over to a race b
no had been raised to freedom by the n
esults of war. Have men no memories? p
lave they forgotten the appeals for mercy Il
nd the application for pardon? Is there I
ne of those who profted by the elem G.
acy Of the victor too base to ac- "
nowledge the grateful surprise that tt
one of these terrible consequences fol- ii
wed? Beyond this, has the fidelity of 3
lie negro been forgotten? Is there to be ell
D acknowledgment for the thousand Il
illions of dollars his labor has produced g
nee the ,car?~ This oblivion may bepar- Of
oned, but what excuse is there when a v
,ople claiming to be brave, magnanimous e.
I'd sensitive to insult, yield to those more Of
,werful than themselves, and wreak a b.
'ngeance on weaker race-weaker te
morally and physically"
h ich III av yyara afraid To eyhihit auoinct nj
power much greater than themselves. O,
1t is this impression diffused through th
it the country which has generated the N
favorable opinion Of Louisiana. This hs
lpression exists towards neither Tennes- tn
e nor Georgia nor Virginia. But if the al
spleasure of the world is vented upon in
II State exclusively, there must be some be
use peculiar to the State. Shall we tn
me it? 1t is because in no other of the pc
uthern States named has there been at
Oh acts of wholesale violence as have pr
CURED in Louisiana. The attempt to tn
strict the negro in the exercise of his ca
snchise alarmed him. He has protected
mself the best way he knew how. In fol
e conflict for offices the negroes have tel
en- the principal sufferers, and the out ca
lie world has not sympathized with those pc
10, claiming to be intellectually, morally pu
d physically his superiors, put him to no
ath in his weakness. This is the whirl- de
nd of disgust that has fallen on our ex]
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