New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-04-17
The Next N6s9oaAl Coseeae-11w 9oathern
Military Ring-Seeaisual Polltics-The
Third Party lARoey.


Military Ring Seeaisual Roaltics-The
Third Party lAlsey.
What with Democratic successee, third
term spectres and third party projects. the
political future. is to the credulous mind
overcast with clouds of uncertainty. But
no man who stOps to weigh conseo uences,
or who takes into consideration the info.
ences now prevailing. will for q moment
doubt the success of the Republican party
in the next national campaign We do not
mean that mongrel combination calling
itself the Republican party will succeed.
On the contrary, we mean that the regular
organization which elected President Grant
the first and the second time, and which
will elect some one of his pith and marrow
in 1876, will continue in control Of the
general government. We mean the party
that grew with rapid strides into power at
the time the nation was in peril, and, o.
sertiug itself as the Incorporating enemy
of wicked State rights fallacies, conquered
the shareholders rebellion. We mean the
party that took up the gauntlet ct civil
strife when it was thrown down by the
enemies of liberty, and liberated miliiOns
of b0ndsmen. We mean the party that
assumed the responsibility of recOnstructing
the Southern reb+llious States upon a basis
of loyalty and submission to the superior
power OF the general governments. We
mean the glorious party Of progress under
whose influence the nation has made
gigantic progress in the direction of une-
qualed and perfect freedom. We mean
the party that will not retract one jOt or
title Of the pledges it has made IN the past
or promises it has made for the futare.
Against this party will be arrayed the de-
telmined hOrdes of defeated though not
converted believers in the right Of secession;
the theorists who, while they sustained the
authority of the general government during
the war, deny that it is independent OF or
superior to State power in time Of peace,
and of Others who will combine to over
throw the existing state of affairs simply
because they are discontented. and because
personal jealOusies and selfish interests
prompt them to join the opposition.
The prediction tor 1876 will be verified to
the letter. The skillful physician who
makes diagnosis of disease studies it
carefully, and makes prOgnosis which
enables him to prescribe medicines for tu-
ture use. SO the wise statesman will examine
the condition Of the body polite. Such an
examination just now shows that the seeds
of the diseas,. which brought on the war
have not been eradicated. The remedies
which immediately suggest themselves are
the same as those which should have been
applied at the inception Of the complaint,
and which would then have prevented its
almost fatal development. In short, the
battles of the war are to be fought over
again. this time it is to be hoped by peace
full contests at the ballOt-box. The same
issues are pending and the same elements
are ut work. siren gthened by experience,
that prevailed in 1S60-6l. During the cam
paign of the former year, which resulted in
the election Of MIR. Lincoln, the Repub-
lican party Mas in it's youth, and to some
extent lacked the organization Of perfect
manhood. Its principles had strong holds
upon the people; but they were not 80
thoroughly defined as to impress them.
selves upon the public mind with the full
force OF the general recognition they de.
served. A year later, when the shock of war
startled the nation, the party bounded with
q sudden leap into the full development of
matured vlgor. From that time forward
it has ever been the party of the
people. except, when, on minor occasions,
the people have been impelled by their,
honest instincts to punish some of it's re-
creant leaders. But those punishments
have in no case evidenced a departure Of
the people from their leve OF its principles.
and to-day. when, as we have said, the same
reasons prevail why its principles should
predominant as when the party was first
organized. and they we're first formulated
into a platform. the people stand ready to
support them with their ballots, their treas
ure and their blood, if need be. But there
is danger that. notwithstanding the expert
ence OF 1861. the insidiOus treason of that
year may again fiud lodgment and hiding
place in quarters from whence it may
issue to destroy the republic. This treason
turks in every advance made by the
Democracy toward a compromise with the
Republicans. Ii is cOvertly at work III the
inequalities which illustrate the intercourse
OF Southern ''respectables" and Northern
men who arc weak enough to believe the
professions of . return to loyalty and prof
fers Of Cancellation made by the former.
Behind these respectables the careful Oh
server will find the fire eaters, Kn-Klux and
the White Leaguers. In truth, there is
military ring iu the Southern wing of the
Democratic party which controls it. secur-
ing the election of ex Confederate officers
to positions of trust, honor and profit, and
in turn controlling the entire organiza-
ton. This ring, o. these select few, like
Lamar, Gordon, Ransom and Cockerell,
plausibly represent the condition of
Southern affairs to be complacently loyal;
but they we'll know the result which
would ensue to them if they dared to pro-
claim an adherence to loyal anti-secessiOn
principles. With one whit of the popular
Southern conservative breath these respect
ables would be blown into oblivion, and the
would soon find other men to represent
them in the councils of the nation. There
are numbers OF men in the Southern States,
the Intellectual equals If not the superiOrs
of those whose names We have mentioned,
who have never been 40 prominently OBJ
nOxions as earnest supporters of the Lost
Cause" as they have been, and who might
be selected for the places they now fill; but
the military ring has the ascendency and
- l<~.,c -
constituents retain their love for the Lost
Cause.
This analysis of the situation forces the
conviction that the next national contest
will be sectional. The third party idiots
will join in the cry that no alternative ia
left but sectional contest again, and will
falsely charge that the Republican party is
for this unfortunate turn OF
affairs. The truth is, however, the Southern
malcontents haYe pursued such a course as
to antagonlze every element OF loyalty
were reconstructed the Republican party,
being in power, established certain condi-
tons, a compliance with which was pre-rs-
quisite to their admission into the Union.
These conditions were wisely drawn. They
were intended to place every Safe IN the
Union. and every citizen of the Union, on
an equality before the law and under
the national constitution. The Southern
leaders accepted, and with their re-
newal of allegiance to the government.
pledged themselves that they would be
observed. No sooner, however,
had those leaders regained power in their
States than they began to ignore
those conditions, and now the spectacle is
presented Of party composed of pardoned
traitors attempting to replace, in the organic
acts of their States, clauses which reassert
the fallacies of the rebellion. 10 the face
of their surrender and their solemn prom.
ises to abandon the idea that the States
have an independence which may be used
to separate the Union, they have begun to
pave the way for another State rights revo-
luton. This fact alone settles the question