New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-01-08
Ogden,s Testimony.


The testimony of Ogden, commander of
the White League in New Orleans, will
hardly accomplish its object, if, as NAV be
supposed, he desired TO produce the impress
sion that the League was wholly non parti-
san and non-pOlitical in its nature and OBJ
lects. Something more convincing will be
needed to satisfy candid observers that his
assertions that with political offices we
have nothing to do" and that the League
was not 'for the purpose of helping the
Democratic party" Its very name indi.
Gates that its ruling object is to resist and
overthrow negro rule; but in Louisiana Re-
publican rule means negro rule and hos
tility to it means Democracy. Nor can that
state OF things be avoided as long as the
o3Iored people, being large majority Of
all the voters in the State, continue to vote
the Republican ticket. Their rule may be
dlstastefUl; it may even be oppressive, cor
rupG and injurious to the State But it is
the only rule that the constitution recog-
nizes or permits in the State of Louisiana.
1t is the only rule that, in obedience to the
constitution, can be permitted there as long
as State exists with republican form of
government.
Ogden himself confesses, indeed, that he
called out the League on the fourteenth of
| September, to sustain the demand of meet
| ing of ''the people," which had demanded
the abdicatiOn of the government" He
| contesses, moreover, that, after the armed
| overthrow of the government, it would not
nave been ''pradent for man to express
! sympathy with the Kellogg government" +"
on account of the excitement. He does
not seem to have the slightest suspicion
| that free speech and free government are
desirable things. No doubt with perfect
| sincerity, he thinks that "the people"-that
is to say, the White Democrats should be
| permitted to rule the State, although a
minority, to demand the abdicatiOn" OF
/ legally elected government, and be sus.
tained in chat demand by secret and
armed organization, and to make it "not
| prudent for anybody to express opinions
| adverse to their own. We concede his per
| feet sincerity in these notions, for they are
| exactly the notions that prevailed at the
/ South years ago. For many years it was
not prudent to speak things distasteful to
| the majority. The white Democrats of that
region have never believed that the negro
ought to have any share in the government,
| and have regarded all laws giving him such
| share as Revolutionary, unconstitutional
and void, in the language of the Demo
cratic national platform of 1868. Yet there
has been of late years much profession of
| willingness to abide by the constitution as
| amended, and we all remember how en-
phatieally the Baltimore convention of 1879
pledged the party to uphold the amend
| ments. In view of the acts of Southern
Democrats, and occasional refreshing ad-
missions such as have recently reached us
! from New Orleans and Vicksburg, it is i'm.
possible to escape the conclusion that these
| professions have been iDsincere; that the
| Democrats of the South are just as hostile
as they ever were to the constitutional
amendments and TO all government of the
majority in regions where the colored peo-
pie have strong vote, and that they do not
hesitate to resort TO arms to overthrow such
government These facts it is high time
that the people of the whole country should
thoroughly understand.
Except in this useful exposition of the
feeling which really animates the white
Democracy of Louisiana, the testimony of
Mr.. Ogden is of little value. No one need
care for the details. Either these white
Democrats intend to rule, regardless of the
constitution, or they do not. If they have
that purpose, we do not care whether they
reach it by coercion or intimidation of
voters, or by armed uprisings of White
Leagues, as at New Orleans or Vicksburg.
The Ofense against the constitution is the
same. The hostility to vital principles of
free government is the same. In either
case the time has come for the people of the
country to decide whether they will main
the constitution, and the majority govern
ments for which it provides, or abandon
them. IL will not do to indulge in any hope
that the question will ''settle itself" 1t
will inevitably be settled either BY the
White League, with their arms, or by the
government of the United States, with it's
constitution and its laws. One or the other
must be supreme.-St. Louis Democrat.