New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-09-25
THE PREss-ITS COURTEslES AND ITS
DUTIES,

| lar violence Dy ABUSIVE efatHe'o, says Ak
REPUBLICAN, "by its taunts, falsehood;
and nenaces against Our people, etc. i
also quotes our acknowledgment Of the
assurances "of ample protection to oul
Office" in case Of mob demonstrations,
made by gentlemen from whose personal
character We expected nothing less than
personal courtesies. This was the more
honorable to these gentlemen, because
though cordially accepted. It had not
been sought for by Us.
If the Picayune will examine our arti-
cles during the revolutionary occupation
of the State Offices it will find no abate-
ment Of principles. 1t will find the de-
mand for abdication called and proved an
..insurrectionary movement" The day
closed with the people in open insurrec-
ton against the State and municipal au-
thorities." On the sixteenth it was called
.the new revolution
Here then would be an end Of the State
| government but for the reliance we have
| every reason 10 place upon that great
power the United States government.
The consequences Of disobedience, then,
| it may be easily seen, will be mos. d!sas'
| trOus to those who are guilty.
We have now q provisional and armed
I authority in possession of the State Offices.
| 1t ,ciN u,ldopJtetily be .follo,red BY an armed
| occupation Of the State by tie federal Gutkor.
The insurrectionali spirit which has so
long pervaded q portion of the people Of
~ &c Nd ri, a<r cd 20 mi
upon peaceful basis has once more broken
ont in New Orleans with renewed bitterness.
On the seventeenth We lad no word Of
triumph for the inevitable. We ac-
knowledge the personal courtesies referred
to, and said tina: the best return to be
made would be 'to remind them of the
power of the Union, and the determine
ton Of its government to protect every
citizen, even the most humble, and re-
dress every wrong, even the most unim-
portant." No one can find here the slight
est abnegation OF abandonment of princi'
pie OF position. No one can find since
the slightest manifestation Of undue
triumph. On the fifteenth we warned
our merchants and planters Of what,
if not concealed, had never been
called publicly to their attention by
their legal advisers II was that if the
entire submission 70 the federal procla-
nation should be delayed beyond the
five days limit the instruction against a
powerless State force would become in
surrection against the federal government
Under this state of affairs the port of New
Orleans might be closed and its commerce
with any other port of the United States
placed in blockade and interdict. This
consequence the seven Lawyers had never
published to their mercantile clients.
Throughout this campaign and this
conflict the REPUBLICAN has performed
the duty Of firm and respectful oppo-
nent, OF a sagacious and considerate |
friend, and it challenges any citation OF |
language to show that it has departed !
from the courtesy or the courage which |
should ever distinguish an American jour
nal. We have had some examples of a
violent and abusive press suddenly stihed |
and compelled to eat its own words. We
lave had some examples of joul lals too
courageous to abate their doctrines, and |
subjected to ruin for their courage |
or contumacy, according as it may
be called. The Picayune and Bee
came under the first category, the
Bulletin and Crescent under the second.
LIE. these journals republish their edi-
torials before and after the order Of Gen.
eral Butler, and the public can judge !!
better how far the tone Of press under
an irresistible power should conform to its
Of opinion when surrounded
by dominant public sentiment.
The Picaypne might, in consistency,
follow up at present its editorial advice Of
The twenty-seventh ultimo. In that the
Kentuckians were commended that they
''do not hold the average United States
soldier in the breathless yeneratiop he has
exerted here
These troops were by the Kentuckians
fred into with promptness and cordially
quite instructive.
We have always suspected tina. the
proper way to estimate soldiery was by
The standard Of their strength. The pro.
priety Of allowing them to interfere in
ocal and domestic concerns which the en-.
,aging parties are perfectly competent to
regulate, is and always will be open to very
grave doubts in a country protesting repub- |
lean institutions. But we have always
considered that such interference ought to
% treated in strict accordance with its
power. The most AFFECT spectacle
re can imagine is that Of a regiment Of able.
,odied human. beings crouchiny before the
.Hgy Of the United States army. tCur
tales.
Now we do not suppose that if the
Picnyuns should placard this or similar
'dvice to resist the 'efigy Of the United
States army" it would have the slightest
fleet on friend OF foe. But every one
must note the change Of tone which that
ournal has undergone since the United
States has made precisely the same mani
estation here that it had done in Ian.
'aster. Kentucky.
The duty Of the press is 20 maintain its
principles honestly and firmly, and never
0 so far acknowledge the weakness of its
doctrines as to employ the personal
'bloquy Of its opponents as a weapon Of
ssault. The course of the REPUBLICAN
las secured the respect Of its opponents
n period when the opponents Of its
were in momentary ascenden-