The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1875-01-02
LOUISIANA.

i,stcod of Gen Emery, who, it seems, began
:, manifest sympteens Of honesty, finally mus
tered ND courage enough, last Saturday, toI
make their report, figuring radical mJorl'
~ in the legi% ature, though large conscrva
tive majority had been elected by the people
The rule adopted by the board to accomplish
his result was, to throw out the returns OF all
the parishes IN which there ha been any init
midatioE to prevent negroes from voting
When the conservatives asscnted TO the adop'
ton of this rule on condition that the returns
shoull also be thrown out in all parishes
where conservative white or negro voters had
been intimidated and prevented from voting
by She negroes, either rs an organized hlt
tarv force or a mob, the board rejected inc
and adopted, instead Of an hon.
est rule. the bad rule that wouldn't work both
ways.
VIII the large conservative majority OF
Louisiana submit to being thus swindleu?
Gov McEncry seems to think they should
rot, only that they are overawed by the armed
force of the general government. The fol.
lowing is his proauacjamieato, dated Dec
2Gth:
The wrong Just perpetrated by the Return,
Board against the people of Louisiana, ana
which virtually threatens the safety and IN
tcrri,y of republican institutions in the l.
ia il a more browning infamy than the ac-
zion of the Lynch Returning Board, and sur
masses even the midnight order OF Durell,
and would not be submitted TO by any Tree
nponIc Resistance to the national authority
rcnrrsentcd here by q large portion OF the
army and naval fleet, sustaining uSurpatlon
and sitting the voice of the people, has new
er been mcditated,
lSirnedl john MCENERY.
Doubtless, in spite Of the oyerAwing pres
cnce of federal bayonets, there would be
blood.shed in Louisiana but for the nope oi
the people that some relief will yet be eX,
tended to them by congress before itadJourns
Their ills are such that.to many OF her people
death is preferable to the endurance OF HE
with such rulers.
But, although many alarmed republican
papers and politicians in the north, IN view
of the downfall that impends over the party,
are calling on congress to take hold OF TINS
southern question and extract its venom, they
will call IN vain. Their appeals come too
late. The dying bed IS too late to undo the
mischief of a lifetime. What we see in Lonsi-
ana to-day is what the republican party has
been laborlng for during the last ten years.
They were warned from siXty-tive onward
what their mode of reconstruction would lead
to, but the warning was not only UNDECIDED,
but secuted with contempt. The evil Is now
done. The republican party has its own lie
too closely interviewer with the carpetbag-
gers and scalawags ever to cast them off. The
wen is fastened too closely to the heart OF the
organization to admit of excislon. Its sever
ancc involves such vital parts that the ope-
ration will inevitably be accompanied with
DEATH and none of the great surgeons OF the
party will dare attemptit.
In this connection the following language
of the St. Louis Republican, is timely and ap-
propiate;
If the afflicted whites of the south could
resolve to bear with their expressions little
while longer-lI they could bow their necks,
in mute patience, and accept the aggraya-
tions of their condition which their enemies
are preparing to impose, the eloquent specta-
Gle of their fortitude would bring its reward
at last. We would wish that they might de
eide on this course; il would secure the peace
of the country and cxtort the admiration and
gratitude of their countrymcn. 1t IS certain
that this stubborn partisan administration
will do nothing for them until forced to it by
the terrible power of an angry public opln.
ion; but that opinion is now being formed
and compacted. 1t grows with every fraud
perpe,rated by the Louisiana returning
board, and with every exposure of the carpet,
bag felonies. Sooner or later it will confront
the president as the responsible author OF
crimes which he permits his partisan ap-
pontecs TO commit and express its demands
in way that he Will not dare to disregard
and when that time shall come, the plundcred
whites of the South will find in it their full de
liycrancc.