The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-02-16

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are in conflict with the direct prohibitions Of
.ne constitution. The Constitution commands
'uat republican form of government shall be
guaranteed to all the States; that no person
s.au De deprived of life, liberty, or property,
wi!nout due process of law. arrested without
Juoiclal warrant, or punished without a fai r
.rial before an impartial jury; that the priyi-
.ege OF habeas corpus shall not be denied in
lime OF peace; and that no bill of attainder
snau De pissed, even against single indi-
!. ie' .ne system OF measures established by
aneSe ac's OF Congress does totally subvert
anu destroy the form, as we'll as the substance
u .ePuDncan government in the ten States to
wnlcn they apply. 1t binds them hand and
ioo1 IN absolute slavery, and subjects them to
strange and hostile power, more unlimited
'nu more likely to be abused than any other
now known among civilized men. It tramples
GOWN all those rights in which the essence of
:loelly consists, and which a free government
y Always most careful to propect 1t denies
me habeas corpus and the trial by jury.
Ie,sonal freedom, property aud life, if
assalied by the passion, the prejudice, or the
fapaclty OF the ruler, have no security what
ever: It has the effect of a bill of atIainder,
| OF osll OF pains and penalties, not upon few
INDIVIDUALS, but upon whole masses, including
the millions who inhabit the subject States
and even their unborn children. These
wrongs, being expressly forbidden, cannot be
constltutlonally inflicted upon any portion Of
| our people, no matter how they may have
| come within our jurisdiction, and no matter
whether they live in States, Territories, or dis
| tricts
have no desire to save from the proper
and Just consequences Of their great crime
those who engaged in rebellion against the
government; but as a mode Of punishment,
the measures under consideration are the most
unreasonable that could be invented Many
OF those people are perfectly innocent many
kept their fidelity to the Union untainted to
the last; many were incapable Of any legal
onence large proportion even of the per-
sons able to bear arms were forced into rebel
hon against their will and of those who are
guilty with their own consent, the degrees Of
guilt are as various as the shades of their
character and temper.
But these acts of Congress confound them
all together in one doom. Indiscriminate
vengeance upon classes, sects, and parties, or
upon whole communities, for otfenses COM
mitted by portion Of them against the gov
ernments to which they owed obedience, was
common in the barbarous ages Of the world.
But Chrirtianity and civilization have made
such progress that recourse to punishment SO
cruel and unjust would NEE. with the con-
demnation OF all unprecedented and right
minded men.
The punitive justice of this age, and es-
pecially OF this country, does not consist in
stripping whole States of their liberties, and
reducing all their people, without distinction,
to the condition of slavery. 1t deals sepa-
rately with each individual, confines itself to
the forms of law, and vindicates its own
purity by an impartial examination of every
afo NJ inIi mic al twill al
this does not satisfy all our desires with re-
gard to Southern rebels, let us console our
selves by rejecting that free Constitution,
triumphant in war and unbroken in peace, is
worth far more to us and our children than
the qualification Of any present feeling.
| am aware it is assumed that this syste m of
government for the Southern States is not to
be perpetual. 1t is true this military govern
ment is to be only provisional, but it is
through this temporary evil that greater
evil is to be made perpetual If the guaran-
tees Of the Constitution can be broken pro-
visionally to serve a temporary purpose, and
in part only Of the country, we can destroy
them every where and for all time. Arbitrary
measures often schange, but they generally
change for the worse.
1t is the curse Of despotism that it has no
its power brings no sense of security to it's
subjects, for they can never know what more
they will be called on to endure when its red
right hand is armed to plague them again.
Nor is it possible to con lecture how or where
power, unrestrained by law, may seek its next
victims. The States that are still free may be
enslaved at any moment; for if the Constitu-
ton does not protect all, it protects none.
1t is manifestly and avowedly the object of
these laws to confer upon negroes the privi-
lege of voting, and to disfranchise such a
number of white citizens as will give the
former clear majority at all elections in the
Southern States. This, to the minds Of some
persons, is SO important, that violation of
bringing it about. The morality is always
false which excuses wrong because it pro-
poses to accomplish desirable end We are
not permitted to do evil that good may come.
But in this case the end itself is evil,
as we'll as the means. The subJugation of
the States to negro domination would be
worse than the military despo!ism under
which they are now suffering It was be-
lieved beforehand that the people would en-
dure any amount Of military oppression, for
any length of time, rather than degrade them
selves by subsection to the negro race. There
fore they have been left without choice.
gress, and the military officers were COM
manded to superintend the process of cloth
ing the negro with the political privileges
torn from white men.
The blacks in the South are entitled to be
well and humanely governed, and to have the
protection of just laws for all their rights of
person and property. If it were practicable
at this time to give them government exclu-
sively their own, under which they might
manage their own affairs in their own way, it
would become grave question whether we
ought to do so, or whether common humanity
would not require US to save them from them
selves But, under the circumstances, this is
only speculative point. 1t is not proposed
merely that they shall govern themselves, but
that they shall rule the white race, make and
administer State laws, elect Presidents and
members of Congress, and shape to greater
or less extent the future destiny of the whole
country Would such trust and power be
safe in such hands?
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