The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-02-20


Of republican government in the ten States to
which they apply. 1t binds them hand and
foot in absolute slavery, and subjects them to
a strange and hostile power more unlimited
and more likely to be abused than any other
now known among civilized men. 1t tramples
down all those rights in which the essence OF
liberty consists and which a free government
Is always most careful to PROJECT. 1t denies
tie habeas corpus and the trial by jury:
Personal freedom property aud life, #
assailed by the passion, the prejudice or the
rapacity Of the ruler, have no security what
ever. 1t has the effect Of bill Of attainder,
or bill of pains and penalties, not upon a few
lndIVldulls, but upon whole masses, including
the millions vino inhabit the subject States,
and even their unborn children. These
wrongs, being expressly forbidden, cannot be
constitutiolally inflicted upon any portion of
our people, no matter how they may have
come within our Jurisdiction, and no matter
whether they live i'll States, Territories, or dis
trcts.
| have no desire to save from the proper
ana Just consequences Of their great crime
those who engaged in rebeliiOn against the
government but 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 untalnted TO
the last; many were Incapable OF any legal
| offence large proportion even OF the per-
| sons able to bear arms were forced into rebel
| lion 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.
/ Bur these acts OF Congress cOntOund them
! all together in one doom. lndlscrminate
vengeance upon classes, sects, and parties, or
upon whole communities, for cffenses COM
mtted 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 meet with the con-
demnation OF al unprecedented and right
| minded men.
The punitive justice of this age and es-
pecaly 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. T. deals sapa-
rlteiy with each individual, confines itself 10
tile forms Of Law, and vindicaes its own
purity by an impartial examination Of every
case before competent judicial tribunal. If
this does not satisfy all orr desires with re-
gard TO Southern reb Is, 1T us console our
selves by rejecting that a free ColstltGtion,
Triumphant III WIZ and unOrotem IN peace. is
worth far more to Us and oUr children than
the Qualification Ut any present oeli-,5
! am aware 1t il assumed tLat this systt iii If
government for the Southern States is net to
De perpetual. [! IL true this military govern
lnrnt IS to be only provisional, but il is
through this eupprary evil That greater
evil y e be made perpetual. Il the gaaraL-
tees OF the Constitution can be broken pro
vsioGa'ly to serve a temporary purpose, AID
~ ~ n
them every where and for all time. Arbitrary
measures often change, but they generally
change FIR the worse.
Il is the curse Of de5po;isIn that it has 10
halting place The lntermitted eXerc.se Of
its power brings no sense Of security to its
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 il it possible to conjecture how or where
power, unrestrained by law may seek its next
victims. The States that are still free may De
enslaved at any moment; for if the Constitu-
ton does not protect all, it protects none.
It is manltestly and avowedly the object Of
these laws to confer upon negroes the privi- |
lege of voting, and to distranchise such Il |
number OF white citizens as will give the
former clear majority at all elections IL the |
Southern States This, to the minds Of some
persons is 50 important that violation of
the Constitution is justified as a means Of
bringing it about. The morality is always
false which excuses wrong because it pro-
poses TO accomplish a desirable end. We are |
not permitted to do evil that good may come
But in this case the end itself is evil |
well 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. 1t was be-
lieyed 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 a choice. |
Negro suffrage was established by act of Con-
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 |
vel 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 a government excu- |
sively their own, under which they might |
manage their own aft. irs in their own way, it
would become a grave question whether we
ought to do 50, 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 AMI
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?
repeat the expression of my willingness
to join in any plan within the scope OF our
authority which promises to
better the condition of the negroes in the
5 outh by encouraging them in industry, en-
tighten their minds, improving their morals,
and giving protection to all their just rights
as freedmen. But the transfer Of our political
inheritance to them would, in my opinion, be
an abandonment of duty which we owe
alike to the memory of our fathers and the
rights Of our children.
The plan Of putting the Southern States
wholly, and the General Government par
tally, into the hands of negroes, is proposed
at a time peculiarly unpropitious. The