The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-10-31
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National Amity.
Address Of the Chattanooga Convention
to the People Of the United States.

no precedent in the political history
Of the conntfy. 7' ri'12@
The supporters Of grand human
| ity which taxed to the utmost the
blood and treasure of the nation to
establish are compelled to come to-
gether to vindicate themselves to
their fellow -iabnrers in that cause
against the persistent misrepresen-
tation ,,f thbse who to the death op-
posed the principles involved in that
sublime contest. ..y...
| We meet here to 1epel the. asser-
ton that we are any less patriots then
| when many Of Us We're to be found
keeping step"to the music Of the
! Union, or less conscientious than
when others ofass upheld tbea cause
OF the Confederacy. Mt
/ We shall deal truthfully with the
Southern political situation, though
our presentation Of it will he marred
by the necessity to condense the
most prolific political theme of the
day to the concise limits required to
commando attention. The record Of
the cliMes that have stained Southern
soil since reconstructio is testified to
in terms by the Committee on Facts
and Statistics, presenting to the pub
lie summary of outrages which
staggers belief.
We would e.,deasor to impress up
! on our political brethren of the North
the vast distinction existing between
the features Of Il political contest in
their region and Of the same event in
the reconstructed States. In the one
case it is i. rivalry, in the other it is
Il strife; in the one it is confined to q
brief period. in the other it pervades
all times and all occasions, and the
political situation seemingly becomes
the material interest,". Ii one region
the struggle ,is bEief eand hlleaceably
conducted, in the other it is prolonged
and perpetual, marked by bitterness,
intolerance, spersecutiuD, murder and
assassination, In one section Of the
Union Republicanism is badge OF
honorable patriotism, in the other a,
large proportion of the Democratic
and Conservative classes profess to
regard it as political leprosy, con
tact with hicli is to be Stunned, and
those protesting its principles are as
suned to be. the social, moral and
political enc mics of the South. And
tue experience OF the members of
this convefStfbrf ,1thsonstrates the
fact that within the land Of their na-
tivity and adaptioAs their lives and
those Of men of their party faith are
in constant peril through the main
tenance of u political idea, and they
find themselves without adequate
sprotection from either the State or
the National Government.
All the nlahgnancyssand bitterness
generated BY crushed pride Of politi-
cal and sectional opinion by defeat
upon the battle field and tho down
t.llaof the Lost Cause by the over
throw OF the dominancy Of the white
race; by immediate poverty, pressing
want, and the necessity to labor, are
by the presence of the
direct cause, in the opinion of the old
citizens OF the South, the .colored
man. The force of the very circnm- !
stances under which the colored man
was emancipated and enfranchised
made. him san ssdherent to the party
in power, and put him in political an
!. ith the disaffecteti white
classes. The circumstances OF re-
construction under which negro cit
izenship became a part of the organic
law of the nation and an element Of
Southern politics, divided parties in
many States OF the South as fact,
placing the whites in one body and
the coIored in another, almost as e1-
clusively and distinctly as if the lines
of party demarkation were intention
ally drawn upon the distinction of
race. And this Incidental, yet under
the circumstances unavoidable, po
litical distribution Of the races into
opposing party combinations serves
most potent,y to augment ennlity
and provoke strife. swE,a VI
When the nOn-repentants and un-
reconstructed old shareholders see
the long despised race standin.
clothed with the dignity and preroga-
tives of American citizens, the for
mer slave, now the political equal,
before the law, Of the master; no
longer a chattel, but voter, con-
trolled by his own preferences and
convictions, and determined in his
political action and affi!iation BY his
own will, not only the .yaunted pride
of race, but the arrogance engender-
ed by a vicious and oppressive in
ptitutior contribute to enlbitter many
of the white. men of the South, and
they, not unaaturally, feel, though
onjustly, that the black mans priv
ileses have been acquired through
the downfall, and at the expense OF
the proud and hitherto dominant
Caucasian. In the presence OF these
hostile political and personal preju-
dices, the colored people feel that
their rights are in jeopardy, and
every contest, to them at least, in
wolves not only the success or defeat
of cherished political convictions,
but the loss or safety Of their politi-
cal and civil rights, and this fear for
the safety and perpetuity of interests