The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-10-24
National Amity.
Address Of the Chattanooga Convention
to the People Of the United States.

A paIhllel W tHlS convention hHu
no precedent in the political histor,
of tue country. .-.,.- -
The supporters of a grand human
ity which taxed to the utmost til,
blood and treasure Of the nation t,
establish are compelled to come to-
gether to viplicate themselves tt
their fellow laborers in that cause
against the persistent misrepresen.
tation OF those who to the death op.
posed the principles involved in that
sublime contest. ,a4
We meet here to 1epel the .asser-
ton that we are any less patriots the,
when many of US were to be found
keeping step to. the music of the
Union, OF less conscientious than
when others of lis upheld the cause
of the Confederacy. - -, ., T.
We shall deal truthfully with the
Southern political situation, though
osr presentation of it will be matred
by the necessity to conlense the
most prolific political theme of the
day to the concise limits required to
command attention. The record of
the crimes that haFe stained Southern
soil since reconstruction is testified to
in terms by the Committee on Facts
and Statistics, presenting to the pub
lie a summary of outrages which
staggers belief. = Ett. r
We would endeavor to impress up
on our political brethren of the North
the vast distinction existing between
the features of a political contest in
their region and of tho same event in
the reconstructed States. In the one
case it is q rivalry, in the other it is
q strife in the one it is confined to a
brief period, in the other it pervades
all times and all occasions, and the
political situation seemingly becomes
the material interest. In one region
the struggle is brief and peaceably
conducted, in the other jtis prolonged
and perpetual, marked by bitterness,
intolerance, persecution, murder and
assassination. In one section of the
Union Republicanism is badge of
honorable patriotism, in tho other
large proportion Of the Democratic
and Conservative classss profess to
regard it us q political hprosy, con-
tact with which is to be Stunned, and
those protesting its principles are as
sumeA to be the social, moral and
political enemies of the South. And
the experience Of the members of
this convention demonstrates the
fact TINT switssin tlse elasssl Of their ma
tivity and adoption their lives and
those Of men Of their party faith are
III constant peril through the MAIN
tenance Of q political idea, and they
find themselves without adequate
from either the State or |
the National Government.
All the malignancy and bitterness
by crushed pride of politi-
cal and sectional opinion BY defeat |
upon the battlefield and the down
fall OF 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
aggravated 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 circum-
stances under which the colored man
VAS emancipated and enfranchised
nade him an adherent to the party
IL power, and put him in political an
agonism with the disatfected white
:lasses The circumstances OF re-
under which negro cit
zenship became a part of the organic
aw OF the nation and an element of
southern politics, divided parties in
many States of the South as a fact,
,lacing the whites in one body and
he colored in another, almost as ex-
and distinctly as if the lines
# party demarl1ation were intention
lily drawn upon the distinction of
ace. And this incidental. vet under
he circumstances unavoidable, po
itical distribution of the races into
'pposing party combinations serves
most potently to augment enmity
md provoke strife.
When the non-repentant and un-
old shareholders see
he long despised race standing
lothed with the dignity and preroga-
ives of American citizens, the for
ger slave, now the political equal,
efore the law, of the master; no
,nger a chattel, but voter, con- .
rolled by his own preferences and ;
onyictious, and determined in his ;
olitical action and atfiliation by his
wn will, not only the vaupted pride ;
+ race, but the arrogance engender
d by vicious and oppressive in
titution contribute to embitter many j
the white men of the South, and t
hey, not unnaturalIy, feel, though {
Djustly, that the black mans priv {
eges have been acquired through
he downfall, and at the expense of s
le proud and hitherto dominant &
aucasian. In the presence Of these t
ostile political and personal preju- |
ices, the colored people feel that |
leir rights are in jeopardy, and !
very contest, to them at least, in j
Olives not only the success or defeat /
{ cherished political convictions,
ut the loss or safety of their politi- +
Il and civil rights, and this fear for d