New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-02-18

40 OpoAdOIuk WlbuOuU
uon or hindrance. Should Congress detel
mine to undertake the work of reconstru,
ton. 1t must first Overturn an actually e,
!stlng government which is republican i
Should Congress declare that Louisian
uas 10 legal government, and provide b.
law for new election, it would establish
precedent for Over:urning State govern
Inents and setting up new ones, unde
Which the government Of every State wOul,
De at the mercy Of Congress as controlle.
oy tne passions or exi!gency of parties.
Deploring this condition of thin gs in Louis
iana, and earnestly hoping that the peopl
Will take warning, and with one accord in
syst upon honest elections and the faith
iul observance of the laws, it is M
deliberate judgment that it ia better fol
them to bear the ills they have, and seel
reformation and relief under their own law
and tribunals, than to invoke the nationa
government to the assertion of pOwe
under which State governments would exis
hereafter only by sufferance.
Those who seek a solution of the trou
bles in Louisiana must look further bach
than the election of 1872 The results OF
:hat election, and the events that have hap
pened since, are rather results flowing from
events which occurred before. Louisiana
has had a double decentralization: First
that growing out of the rebellion, in which
the foundations of civil society were to
some extent broken up and slavery aboi
lshed. Full one-half of the people of the
State, held before as slaves, were admitted
to the enjoyment of civil and political rights
to the destruction OF what was called slave
property, and consequent impOverishment
OF many who were before considered
rich as the owners of that property.
Civil war makes fearful ravages upon the
public and private virtue Of people. 1t
gives license to shed the blood of those who
but yesterday were brothers, to capture
and destroy private property; it operates
powerfully to scar the conscience, break
down regard for human life and respect for
private rights, to destroy habits of industry
and thrift, and suggest violence as the
remedy for wants and grievances.
From such q revolution as this it would
naturally take any people long time to
recover, and its traces and conseq uences
must linger, not only in the public memory
but in the actual condition Of the State, for
many years.
But the second Generalization to which
louisiana has been subjected, not less than
the first, and growing out of the first, has
come from the massacres and numerous
murders which have taken place
since that time. A state of actual war,
such as existed during the rebellion. is
far less destructive to the integrity, spirit
and enterprise of people than another
condition in which murder and violence
prevail, where terror takes the place of
law. where every man is afraid of his neigh
Dor; where murder, terror and violence in
every form are resorted to as the means of
securing elections and Selling upon the
government OF the State. Living IN terror
not only disarms the morals but the iudg-
ment of men, and they come to act either
as children, idiots or lunatics. During the
last seven years Louisiana has been
drenched with blood by the murderer's
hand.
These Wholesale murders that made he
civilized world turn pale sank deeply INTO
the minds Of the colored people Of Louis
lana. upon whose race they were chiefly in-
Hicted. They came to regard the leaders of
She Democratic party in that State az
their natural and mortal enemies; they
shrank from them in horror. They
believed they could receive from them
nothing but injustice and oppression;
and that under their rule there was no So
surity for their lives, liberty or property.
From 1866 to 1868 the evidence shows that
there were no less than 1000 colOred men
killed and wounded in that State from en-
nifty to their lace and to their politics, a
number nearly equal to one twenty fifth of
the whole adult male cOlored population of
tho State. Under such circumstances the
cOlOred people of Louisiana were asked to
perform impossbilities They were asked
to be calm, to look with confidence upon
Democratic leaders and politicians, to for
get all their wrongs, not only for genera
tons back, but the murder of their brothers,
fathers and sons. Crimes which
IN other countries would stir the blood of
and the memory of which
could not be ttfaced by centuries, the
negroes were asked to forget at once and
70 have confidence in and even affection for
heir perpetrators.
1t is these unpublished murderers. so
stepped in blood, who have lately disturbed |
he peace of Louisiana, and under the pre-
ext of supporting what is called the Me |
Emery government recently renewed their |
bloody deeds at Colfdx in that State, and, |
lnder circumstances of great treachery and |
cruelty, inhumanly murdered more than |
90 negroes. These unpublished murderers,
made bold by their escape from justice, |
having come to believe that they may COM
nit any number of crimes upon the cOlored
people with IMMUNITY, attempted to seize
ntO their hands the State government of /
louisiana. Shall I call them savages9
That would be- nplimentary. The Mo-
lOcs who SO treacher0usly murdered Gen
raj Candy and DR.. Thomas laid no claim
o civilization, were educated Only.in the
traditions VI their trioe, ana were smarting
lnder what they peileved 10 De the wrongs
Il their race, Almost extnct. compared
Win the muraerers OF louisiana the MO
locs were gentle ana amlaoie warriors.
The murder business must stop. say
the people OF LOUISIANA, unless they
you'd nave 1atai Dilght 10 lall upon thelr
tate, whitening It's every interest," plast'
1g its reputation and prospects, they
aust stop tins murder business. Ihe blood
the innocent cries to Heaven, and makes
arren the sou upon which IT Is shed. The
eopie that instlgate MURDER must perish;
iod has declared IL IN Ills HOLY w ora ana
M Jug - on 80. sno u Ia Ia nj
ma that mas been soWn IN blood Will spiIng