The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-07-26
POLITICAL EFFECT OF THE WHITE
LEAGUE"

fidence Of the White League, by which W
presume it means the white mans party, witt
the arrogance of the Alsapahoes and Winnie
bagoes The folly Of the White League il
supposing that the capital and intelligence 9
the State can cope with the ignorance AM
poverty Of a minority of semi -barbirlans,
paralleled only by the stupidity OF the untu
tored Indians who entertained the contiden
belief that the power Of the United States wa
contemplate, and that their rifle, tomahawk
war paint scalp-lock and war cry could territ,
this whole country. The analogy is not yer,
clea, to any but an obtuseness which cal
draw no distinction between civiliz .tion ana
barbarism, can see no difference between
white and black, but the attempted compari
son suggests a real antithesis which it would
be well for the negroes of this State carefully
10 consider,
As the Government reduced Black Hawk to
| submission by exhibiting the intellectual
superiority and material triumphs of the
white man, so the White League Of Louisiana
remind the negro that the massive buildings
of our city, in which the powerful agency OF
steam crushes and moulds the crude products
into implements of practical ty, or weaves
the rough fibre into the beautiful fabric; in
| which the merchant exposes the imports
from every cline, or sells for export the ma
terial that keeps in motion the mighty wheels
and pistons Of Liverpool and Manchester; the
elegant mansions, in which wealth and culture
reside, as well as the cottage and the howell,
in which poverty exists; the railroads, with
their powerful engines and magnificent
carriages !; the ships at our docks,
and the palatial steamers that dis
charge their cargoes at our wharves the
corporations which administer the united re-
sources of capitalists, and the banks which
handle and keep and loan the money of the
community; all the property and associations
and institutions which constitute the wealth
and power of commercial metropolis all the
resources from which government draws its
revenues are the products Of the white mans
skill and intellect, are the white mans pro-
perry. The plantations which the negro tills,
the quarters which he inhabits, the sugar
mills and the cotton gins, the implements of
husbandry, and the beasts OF burden and Of
draught, all these belong to the white men of
this State the colored hborer owns no
land"
Such is the relative position of the two |
races in this State. To the negro the white
man says: I'VE have borne long enough
the burdens you have imposed; We have
yielded to your extortions until our forbear-
ance is exhausted; We have submitted to your
tyranny until our manhood rebels, and hence
forth we propose to rule this State: we pro-
pose to control its finances and administer its
revenues. For five years we have waited for
high moral ideas, to rise to the level of ordi-
nary intelligence and political honesty, and
.fter all our waiting, we find that the practical
Of high moral ideas has resulted
'nly in low moral practices, in q political
dishonesty and corruption sanctioned and
anctifed by your very religious creeds, in
lorsed and enforced by the ministers Of your
gospel; we have argued. and coaxed and COM
for six years our arguments have
'een met by stolid, unanswering stupidity our
oaxing with insult, our compromises with
ontempt Have we not given you and the ire
ponsible adventures, whose puppets you have {
cen, fair trial? Between the two races there ,
as never been any difference of views as to |
he policy Of our State Government Both s
arties in the State proclaim themselves the G
dvocates of economical and wise Govern 1
lent both support the same measures OF in !
,rnal improvements The real difference
hich has always existed between the political n
arties Of this State, though never before an .
ounced, has been, and is, difference of II
GEES Negroes have supported for office |,
lose Of their own race, however ignorant. u
4 of our legislation has been for the benefit I,
the negro, while alf the revenues Of the :,
ate have been drawn almost exclusively !;
ON the white man. >,
One who examines the acts of the recent =
legislatures can but be struck with the num- !,
r of exemptions laws, enacted solely in the y,
sneral Assembly passes acts ito grant certain \,
rporate privileges and extend the limits " Of a,
me Of our country towns, having for their "
ject solely the embracing Of the he 70 \,
wells beyond corporate limits to control the !;
lnicipal government and reward the negros I,
lily by creating offices for his support Tie -,
ry Constitution of the State provides for the -,
e Of lands under DEGREES Of court" in such
say as to be most detrimental to the inter- -.
$ of debtor and creditor, and most beneti-
i to the negro who desires to purchase.
e State has been SO districted as to ensure
election of negroes or their carpet-bag
les to the Legislature and to Congress-. Il
lerever the Executive could exercise the APP
nting power he has placed upon tie bench
II whose decisions sustain every law favor
e to negroes and obnoxious to white men
COZ
. State. for six years. has been ruled
PEI
a black league, organized and man IN
lated by white intamy. 1t has made IA,