New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-01-19
A supEwn nIsnnVERY.

l1eyils, and his extraordinary sagaclty In
detecting the evil that lies masked under
all sorts of DISCUSSES, that it has put itself
astride of an old hobby, and now asks for
military government pure and simple
1t is not a matter of much moment what
our rigidly independent" neighbor wants,
since it is hardly likely to be able to carry
out its programme without such assistance
as an independent journal or man can not
command. To be entirely iL,s,ep ndent is
to stand alone. To succeed requires the
aid of organized numbers, which no one
man can control, especially one who is
contin ually boasting of his independence;
and attempting to make merchandise OF
his oddities But the reasons given by a
journal as unimporta1t as the Times may
be worth criticising, especially when it SO
far surrend ers its independence as to
plagiarize an old chronic idea which has
afflicted the Southern Democracy for a
longer time than we can recoDect Here
it is:
! The chief, in fact the only source of our
| troubles since the war, has been the mis-
| chevous reconstruction policy forced on
our people by Congress, and based upon
| universal suffrage, instead OF the tried
| European plan OF military reconstruction,
| OF the real American plan OF impartial sui
frage.
The universal suffrage" complained of
is not very clearly defined, and we may
totally misapprehend the drift of our
neighbours remarks. Being an entirely
new and independent journal, the antece-
dents Of whose editors and proprietors
are unknown to this community, in which
they are quite strange, it is difficult to
understand whether the Times intended
to complain because the suffrage was con-
ferred upon the negroes, or because it had
been restored to so many Confederates
who once forfeited their citizenship by
becoming public enemies. Were it the
Picay,ne now or the Bulletin, we should
be in no doubt, as these journals are pro-
verbal for their consistency and persist
ency in the wrong. When we see in
other parts of the Times and in other
portions of the article from which the
above extract is taken decided leanings to
the so-called Conservative side, we ven
ture the assertion that our new neighbors
take the Democratic side of the suffrage
question, and think the American people
made mistake when they decreed that
the negro should have the right to vote.
There have been two opinions in the
Republican party on the subject of suf-
frage, while we believe the Democracy
have been unit. A portion OF the Re-
publican party, the majority, insisted upon
giving not only the emancipated slaves,
who had never enjoyed such privilege,
the right to vote, and restored their old
masters who had forfeited their citizen
ship, to their lost rights. The Democrats,
of course, contended all the way through
for white suffrage regardless of the
consequences of the rebellion. The
minority in the Republican party
wished to restrict the right to vote
to those who were attached to the Union
without regard to color. But amnesty
carried the day against them, and we sus-
pect that in most of the Southern States,
especially Texas, Georgia, North Carolina
and Tennessee, it has carried the day
against the plan of reconstruction itself
The evil does not arise SD much from the
right conferred upon the Confederates to
vote as from their practical monopoly of
the franchise. Whatever may be said to
the contrary, the fact remains that in all
the States named, as well as in
many portions of Louisiana, it has
been difficult and dangerous matter to
vote the Republican ticket. In whole
congressional districts in Georgia, accord
ing to the authority of Senator Gordon,
there were no Republican candidates in
the field This is q circumstance which
must be attri buted TO some other cause
than a disinclination of the Southern
people to hold Office. A prominent citi-
zen of our own State declared the othel
day that it required more courage to vote
the Republican ticket in his parish than
to fight duel, or engage as soldier in q
pitched ba tile. In the last named cases
the danger is soon over, while in the othei
no one ever could tell when it had passed
away Were every man in the South per
fectly free to vote exactly as he pleases
without the liability of any risks what
ever, either social, financial or personal
this portion of the Union would be NOR
radical than the North; for unon that side
would be ranged all the colored peopl'
and thousands of whites. Many of tn,
latter feel themselves unable to stand tn
great pressure resulting from loss Of bust
ness, the taunts of those of their owl
color who adopt such means Of coercion
to say nothing of the risks of persona
danger, all m erely to affirm a principl
which, perhaps, at best is not too strong
Many Republicans still adhere to tn
doctrine that had the suffrage been re
stricted to the friends of the national gov
eminent, leaving those who were rattle
hurriedly amnestied to wait at least unit
political affairs had been somewha
I settled, there would have been no troubl
in the South, no need to employ th
army and navy, no necessity for SO mue
supplemental reconstruction Legislation