The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1875-03-07

UNDAY MORNING. MARCH 7. 1875.
Splendid Address of Or. J. Dickson Bruins.

| Splendid Address of Dr.. J. Dickson Bruins.
From the Bnlletins report of the magnificent
address of DIR. J. d. Bruns, delivered at the
great meeting held in 81. Patrick's Hall, Fri
day, February Goth, to protest against the
! Wheeler Compromise, we make the following
extracts:
1t seems to me, in the first place, that te
arrive at q just appreciation of the grave re-
| spousibilities we are about to assume if We
| attach any respect to that consistency which
as individuals can alone give moral weight to
| slider well the moral history of our past.
| Some of the members of the Caucus were
also members of the Committee of One Hun.
proved the action of that committee, which
| after the midnight outrage of December, 1872
was sent to Washington to protest against the
| heinous wrong that had been done us. Some
| of the members were also in Washington
during the long debates and anxious inter
views which followed.
Every member of the Caucus approved OF
the action of that committee, and every mem.
Der of the Caucus, without a single exception
| awarded the palm of honor and gratitude to
those noble men who sacrificed every selfish
consideration to the interests of the State, and
laid down all that they were and had at the
feet of Louisiana.
A long, dreary summer of inaction inter-
vened, aud again, the following winter, your
NONeEuOT GIeCD presented himself AZ w aSOlnR-
ton, eaconraged and supported by the brave
voice aud wise counsels of that devoted pa
| triot Robert II. Mari, and through that second
winter have yet to learn of a single member
of the Caucus having raised his voice in dis
approval of the continued effort on the part of
your represen tatves to secure the rights to
which you were entitled, and of which you
had been defrauded.
ALI of you know what disappoin tment these
Efforts ended in, and ut last, after every species
of outrage which might insult q free-born
,lA has ,h6 l,.a- =
though it is right expressly and forever
guaranteed by the Constitution. 1t was the
obvious intent of the nsurper to drive us into
some act of resistance which would enable him
to call down upon our heads the wrath of the
Federal Government.
In brief hour the people hurled him from
his place; statesmen stood trembling at the
issue which was presented {; politicians saw
means of escape from the tolls which had been
slowly winding around Oar wisest coun-
sellers refused to say in advance what would
follow after this step was taken.
From the midst of your own ranks an un-
known hero, who had walked your streets in
the garb of private citizen, sprang forth and
severed the Gordian knot, and in . moment
made the Governor of your choice de fdcto as
we'll as de jUre
Need tell you what a wave of congratula-
ton spread to the remotest ends of the e. eat
State. To its farthest bounds every pulse
throbbed with the same magnetic beat that
pulsated in the heart of this prond metropolis.
Aud when the great stone was rolled from the
pit in which the body of Louisiana lay, with
her grave-clothes stll about her, she stood
forth in the light amid the overwhelming con-
graEulatons of all her sons.
Joy was in every heart; in every face you
could read the glad tidings of deliverance
from a long and mighty woe. Strangers met
with enthusiastic greeting as they passed in
the streets AID along our avenues. Such an
audience as was never before collected in our
streets, hailed with tumult the Conqueror and
the Governor they rode together To take the
oath of office in the Capitol of Louisiana.
And now, if there be tears in Heaven, from
yonder sphere to which the patriot souls of
those who fell on that memorable day have
fled, they must weep to think that their blood
has been split in vain.
No! Not in vain! No battle for freedom, ,COn |
lost, is in rain. The fight Of itself is rictory.
In the my sterious economy of Providence the |
sapling of freedom must draw it's nurture from |
the soil enriched by its own falling leaves. IL |
sends its roots deep down into the eternal prin-
ciples that underlie it, and though the wind
may gnarl and the lightnings scar is grain, it
raises Its trunk amid storm and tempest, lift
ing its branches into the pure sunshine and
free atmosphere of liberty, until at last it bur-
geons into blossom and fruit and beneath the
shade of its mighty limbs the children of chose
who died in tending it play securely.
But our short-lived rejoicngs were doomed
to a bitter ending. Scarcely were the officers
Of the peoples choice installed before the pro-
clamation of the President set all our hard
triumph at naught
Then, most marvellous picture in the tide of
time! an armed and triumphant people, vic
torlous at every point, upon simple mandate
Of the President of the United States, enforced
Oy not a weapon, but simply upon the order
IF an aidede camp, retired from the offices
hey had possessed themselves of, and to which
hey were lawfully entitled laid down their
arms, and went pesceably to their homes
The Speaker briefly recounted the gallant
struggle made and the decided victory won by
,he people at the elections in November, and
the expulsion of the Legislature from the
State House by the United States troops.
"Other States" said he, during this long
contest had been silent spectators; other
stnfas Of the bidding of the man nt tho White |