New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-06-26
THE WH1TE LEAGUE EXPERIMENT.

The Washington Chronicle, Conserva-
tive Republican paper, very correctly
styles the conduct Of the men in the South
who clamor for q white mans party at
this time, short sighted and ruinous, and
asserts that ''all this cry of white mans
party is mere political claptrap" arti-
fee, it might have added, that has been so
thoroughly exposed in the past as to rem
der its power for injury in the old free
States of the Union but trifing indeed.
There the negro question is looked upon
as finally settled by the abolition OF
slavery and the investment Of the freed
men with the rights of American citizen
ship. The constitution has been SO re-
modelled as to make these facts part and
parcel of the fundamental law of the land,
and this change was dictated and finally
consummated by the will of very large
majority of the white freemen, who have
and always will control the destinies of the
Republican States that compose the
American Union. The cry of white
mans party is not sufficient to convince
the men of the old free States that they
do not now rule in this country with the
same frmness and justice that has char
acterized its government ever since the
Repu blican party has been in power.
Their efore the effort to prolong the negro
question by the cry of white mans
party will excite no sympathy anywhere
but among few men in the South, who
will not recognize the lawful relation of
the negro to the political future of the
country" In this way, it is true,
the South may long be made ga bone
of contention" By white men who do
not yield a ready obedience to either
State or federal laws, established in
conformity with public opinion
that embraces a very large majority
of the voters Of the entire country, and
for the very important reason that this
contention is not right and will only end,
if permitted to go on, in the further de-
structio on OF the industrial and material
interests of the most Of the Southern
States, it would be we'll for the Southern
white people to pause and reflect before
allowing themselves to be influenced by
the political clap-trap Of men who, in
order to achieve political power, advise,
contrary to law, the establishment of a
white mans party. We say contrary to
law, because we believe that those who
advocate the formation of white mans
party in this State do so for the purpose
of eventually gaining possession Of the
government of the State in the name of
the white people, rather than by the will
of the majority, ascertained through the
forms of law enacted by the State and ma
ton. If the Southern States could be
made unit upon a question of this kind,
and their governments handed over to
the Bourbon Democracy, it is not impos-
BILE but that the turbulent spirit of that
party might lead to another civil war
looking to the secession Of the Southern
States from the American Union, and the
formation of another Southern Confeder-
acy. Of course no sensible man could
be brought to believe in the success OF
such an experiment, but this does not
take from the attempt its power to harm
the Southern people by engulfng them
onca mora in civil war