New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-09-01
TEE POLITICS OF FORCE.

GOtteu tuat tuey i've uuOeI u AoiAa Va o.
ernnent in which q majority OF voters
govern, and act as il the offices OF soclet,
were to be conferred according to ths
military prowess of the competing par
ties. The campaign in this State is open
Ing on this basis of comparative force
and will, without federal guarantee, TURF
upon the comparative stands Of arms and
supplies Of fixed ammunition, with the
military skill and discipline of the com
batarts and their leaders. 1t affords u:
no consolation that this mischievou:
epidemic is extending to other communl'
ties.
The Courter-Joundl Of Louisville, while
professionally occupied in denouncing the
abuses of government in Louisiana, was
suddenly recalled to observe that the laws
had been set at defiance at home. A feud
in Owen and Garrard counties had ar.
rayed the fighting men against each other,
and a regular vendetta had arisen, in
which several men had been killed. The
public officials have been compelled to
"vacillate and neglect their duty" the
federal and State troops have been called
out, and the C0,rier-Journol invokes gus
tice to the front
To show the extent of the evil to which
we advert and the identical abuses in
kentucky and Louisiana, we give extracts
from the just and fearless diatribe CT the
Journal:
A DEMORALIZED POPULAR SENTIMENT.
Certain it is that, had the early obtrl
sions of rowdyism received prompt official
check, had the law against the carrying OF
concealed weapons been rigidly enforced,
had partisan prejudices and neighborhood
uuarrels encountered the presence Of firm
and equal Justice, the bullying and black.
guardism which have ripened into bold
ontlawry never could have organized them
selves into the dimensions Of widely
spread intimidation, causing public officials
to vacillate and neglect their duty, and
making towards of brave citizens, who pre-
fer to let things 60 at loose ends rather than
take their lives in their hands in doubtful
venture for law and order.
FEARLESS AND IMPARTIAL REFORM.
We have no more sympathy with Demo
cratic villainy than with Radical viilainy-
it is all Of a piece to us. We know no
party where the laws are deied or neg
iected, and we shall not hesitate to act with
anv power, federal or State, which shall
seem best suioed to particular emergencies.
THERE MUST BE EXAMPLES.
There must be examples, not merely OF
the rutiians who produce disorders, but OF
the gentlemanly law-breakers, charged
with individual violence, who think to face
out their ofienses by the force of money and
friends, personal and family influence.
FEDERAL INTERVENTION INEVITABLE.
We can not complain of federal usurpa-
tons if we fail to execute our own laws.
and that impartially; and, whether we
complain or not, our complaints will be Of
email avail, for, if at any time the fed
eral power should assert itself, We need
not look abroad for sympathy. No party
outside of Kentucky symythizes with US.
The North regards us with horror as gang
of outlaws, who are cutting each others
throats as fast as we can. The South re-
CARDS us with envy as a people who control
their own affairs, and have been exempt
from the evils and expenses. OF ireconstruc-
ton. Let us see ourselves as Others see us,
and put our shoulder to the wheel Of re-
form, feeling that we have no one to look
to but ourselves, and feeling also that the
case is a case Of life and death. Outrages
like those in Harrison and Todd counties,
outbreaks like those in Garrard and Owen,
need to be made the subjects of extraor-
binary remedies.
REMEDY, SHARP AND DECISIVE.
In the meantime they should be supple
mented by a revival of judicial activity
the State, by unyielding and in
cessant prosecutions, leading to the cOrrec
of every would be murderer, until hullies
and ruffians are made to understand that
there is hemp enough yet in Kentucky
to answer the call of wise humanity and
an memorable law; that there are prison
bars for malefactors, high and low; that
there is State as we'll as God, dealing as
equally and fairly by the weak and the
strong, the lowly and the rich, the black
and the white, by all who claim Christian
allegiance and fellowship, and come under
the pgis of the commonwealth.
Let the people everywhere, as they value
the fame of Kentucky. as they value their
and dread the entrance of an authority not
their own, come up to the front and vim
dicate the courts, which they themselves
have made timOrOus and neglectful.
ARMED CowARDICE" AND MORAL COURAGE.
If there be moral courage left in Ken.
'..cay let 1t show itself, and array itself
around our judicial establishment as around
IN altar, a terror to the armed cowardice
which has been allowed the whip hand so
ong.
We speak not only in the name of great
md lionored commonwealth, with its null
,iplied interests, but at the bidding OF an
outraged humanity, which has covered for
years under the outlaws heel and before
he bully's pistol, and we speak as eOberly
Ind as unexcitedly as ever we did in the
world, appealing earnestly, and after long
to the good sense and good
impulses of our fellOw-citizens to make
,hese present events the occasion of a noble
ind terrible popular demonstration for law
md order.
1t will be seen from these extracts tina:
he principle of lawless violence, under
which armed cowardice, "gentlemanly
aw breakers" 'murderers and would-be
undertake to govern the
courts and the State is not confined to
,ne locality, but that it is overspreading
,ther communities, which have also to
all on the federal military to subdue ''the
oullies and ruflians," to protect the slowly
md the rich, the black and white" and
N Outraged humanity which has covered
or years under the outlaws heel and be-
ore the DULLES pistol.
1t is to be remembered that this is no
ace fight, nor can this lawless condition
If afsairs,be attributed to alleged malad-
of public finances. 1t grows
,ut of the disregard of all law and the
practice Of deciding questions bY armed