The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-01-30
THE GREAT RADICAL BLUNDER.

Oneida district, notes the line Of argume
pursued by its party contemporaries in defen
Z. of the policy Of Grant towards Louisiana al
Wv the South, their accusations of NEW +
N be!lion," the old spirit Of disloyalty" an
~ the revival of the "lost cause, their predi
tons of conspiracy of the old Confedera
nv leaders to put the South in hostility to Il
United States Government, and their justit
= cation of the course of the President in sur
RS porting Kellogg's dynasty, and rejoins in pa
as follows:
We feel warranted in pronouncing thi
, argument absurd, in both premises and cor
- clusion. Those who advance it do not seen
i to think that it logically implies the ute
failure Of the whole Republican policy of re
. construction. We are not ready to admi
such failure. On the contrary, with tn
: single exception Of Louisiana, every recon
q structed Southern State now bears wit
, ness to its cumulative success Ever
South Carolina is recuperating. He
new Governor shows an unexpected desire tt
be honest and patriotic. Both parties have
Joined together to recover from the errors OF
the near past, and economy and wise govern.
ment are promised. Georgia has been for
three years in the control of men who were
|
policy restored to citizenhood. There is not
more peaceful or more prosperous State in
all the South than this same Georgia. The
laws are enforced there. The people are con-
tented. The negro is unmolested in the
exercise of his political rights. The same is
true in Democratic Virginia The same
seems likely now TO be true in overwhelming
ly Democratic Arkansas. In every Southern
State, anhere the people rule, there is peace and
| f11 nf Of,
sign OF a new rebellion; there is no hostility
to the flag; there is no disloyalty to the
| Union.
This is a frank admission. but it is true, and
therefore wisely made. The same admission
must ere long be made by the masses of the
Republican party. The wise men who are in
the van of public sentiment in that party
have seen that it will no longer suffice to
trust to agitation upon the rights Of negroes,
or to real or imaginary threats of disturbance
in the South. The party must have other
issues to present, other principles to declare,
other doctrines to maintain, other measures to
advocate These astute leaders do not admit
that the sole mission of great party, lately
in the ascendant and still hoping to regain
ascendency, is to protect the negro ia the
exercise of rights nowhere denied to him.
Nineteen months hence they must meet an
other great politica. party in vital struggle |
which will test the valor, virtue and proves
Of the ablest men the Republican ranks can
produce.
The champions Of Republicanism know that
they can no longer depend upon the personal
popularity of successful soldier as their can
didate. They know that they have in their
ranks no man of such marked merit and
shining reputation as to challenge the admira-
ton and support of the people. They know
that during the fourteen years Of Republican
rule many and grievous blunders have been
made-many spolations and peculations COM
base monopolies fed and fos-
ered-many wicked men appointed to offices
If trust and emoument -many honors con-
erred on men unworthy to stand in an honest
mans presence many millions uselessIy ex-
'ended-many public interests neglected i
many, very many things left undone which c
ught to have been done. They know that S
II these things are to be brought up in judy a
nent against the party in 1876; therefore the |,
Use among them are beginning to unload as Il
apidly as possible The party has blum D
cred worst Of all in its Southern policy, and @
le burden of the blunder cannot be saddled n
xclusively upon Grant. 1t is a party blum
er, because the party sustains the Admins il
alton in its laundering action. Presidential b.
reference in the affairs of the States of the G
outh has caused infinite mischief Wherever o,
1t, it has been followed by blight, a moral az
ildew and pestilence. The green fields of SC
osperity have withered under the tramp of
rants armed emissaries. Where Grants lal
ldiers have sustained usurping Radicals in G,
'wer, credit has persisted, confidence has Of
EN- lost, industry has languished, public pc
BITS have become mountains, taxes have ad
en- quadrupled. values of real property
We shrunken three-fourths, capital has been 81
t to flight, all action has been paralyzed, OF
d all enterprise stifed. The iron hand of H(
ant was moved by the relentless will CT
the Radical party, and wheresoever its III
cursed weight has fallen it has left lasting HC
'ofs of its destructive power. Where it co
) not fallen, or was long since withdrawn, I'll
IN Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia and Texas. AR
people are hopeful, peaceable, satisfied IN
prosperous WI
We in Louisiana have felt most Intensely ON
blghtlng influence of the rule of Grant PR
exercised by the usurpers whom he counte- RI,
aces and upholds. Our suffering is aggra- VII
ed, and our sense of wrongs endured is FO
de all the more painful, by seeing the co
sperlty of those Southern States which 7
suffered to enjoy home government The tall
st mendacious will not deny that the peo- tho
white and black, are better off in Texas ful
Il in Louisiana. tba
'othing has been lost. but verv much ma,
aed to all the inhabitants Of that and que
er States by being let alone. What we Ger
1t Is simply to be let alone likewise What 8. al