New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-03-05
minority Report the Louisiana
Troubles.


The Uon,u,,'s Journal, a Boston news
paJer publlshe in the interest Of millions
of coming voters, contains the following
from the pen OF the gifted Mrs. Julia Ward
Howe:
The full and valuable report made by
Messrs. Hoar, Wheeler and Frye, of the
state Of things which led to the interference
of the United States government in the
Legislature OF Louisiana, is to be welcomed
"a atfordng positive and stable basis for
public opiuIon and private judgment.
Whatever may he the hypothetical views
OF the South INDUCED in, however people
NAV gloss and theorize about it, here is its
condition m ade plain and patent. Murder
of the negro and his friends is not a recog
nized crime. Law and custom combine to
deprive the negro of every personal right
secured to him by the bloody war which
freedom and slavery were forced to wage
over his living body.
II did seem to us probable that the Presi.
dent of the United States would have taken
some pains to ascertain, in so painful an
emergency, the powers and duties OF the
cantra! government. 1t did not seem within
the logic of any ones policy that he should
take upon himself the Qdlous task OF de-
feating civic liberty by military violence.
The evidence adduced by the committee OF
Sh-rlian's action does not, therefore. sur
prise us. But it does relieve us from a
most painful suspense. Convinced as Nc
are that the truth of the situation lay where
IL il now seen to lie, we were yet doubtful
whether a congressional committee would
be able to reach and make manifest this
truth All hail to the earnest and honest
men who have not feared to probe this
malignant ulcer to the quick, and to show
that its gangreIe will poison the whole
BODY polite of our country. unless the
plague De healed.
What can men or women do to this end
Men and women must labor, ana set their
shoulders against the wheel. Inc religious
bodies the civiiizing agencies which repuo.
licanism has developed IN regions unscatheu
bV slavery. must set their faces to ciVlllze
the South Praying bands can go forth
there--tracts and preachers can be sent.
The lust and mercitul people, who VIII be
found there as they are everywhere, must
have their hands strengthened by the coun-
tenance aud concert OF their 1elioWs In the
North. The public schools must DE hulit up
ioreibly aud permanently. In community
III which murder is held to be no crime,
primary instruction in morals and manners
IL a measure of public safety. The schoOl
becomes a military necessity. Moreover,
the country at large must not be amused
aud delayed by empty professions OF good
Will ana magnanlmlty on the pafG Oh Tue
late owners toward their enlranchised
slares Here are the facts-here are the
records OF their attempted reinstatement
under subtle and ingenious devices of law
which can not. when exposed, deceive the
neJpIe OK the United States. Let us meet
Jhqse things IA they are, and prepare to
deal with them on the basis of fact.
The grayamen of public plumber is
thrown upon the Republicans OF the South
in general, and of Louisiana in particular.
THIS is an accusation which we Will not
overlook nor pailate. Our American sys
tetu everywhere seems to afford unusual
fatalities for theft on gigantic scale. The
publicity given in our country to such OIL
tetlses should be an earnest OF their speedy
reftitica;ion. But it must be remembered
ohn. il has been by no means shown that the
,ntn of the opposite party would have dealt
with the pubic moneys at all more scrupui-
nu>Iy than those whom they accuse have
dome. And the men who stole the wages,
awe. and the very manhood of whole genera
ridns of ,,nresisting men, have themselves a
lohp account of debtor and creditor to settle,
ut,on which they do not as yet seem to have
pdid any insrallment.
ssdder and wiser may we all be for this
.ad and hitter showing of the barbarism of
a bart of our country. Hopeful may We be
that the same agencies which are slowly
improving the ignorant vote OF the North
Will have the same beneficent influence in
the South, and will give US q people with a
homogeneous standard Of right, wisdom and
ustice.