New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-06-30

vestige of Unionism in eleven of the
States, and greatly imperiled it in Mary
land, Delaware, Kentucky and Missouri.
Some of the strongest men in the United
States were forced to yield to the storm,
and take an active part in the stirring
scenes around them, while declaring an
undying love for the old flag. More than
eleven years have passed away since this
storm was lulled to quiet by the fercer
tempests of Northern arms, and yet the
fears of a possible relapse have not been
removed. Every reasonable utterance OF
indiscreet stump orators; every paragraph
laudatory of the Lost Cause and denun-
ciatory of the hireling Yankee invaders;
every speech of men of the Ben Hill,
Tucker, Bayard and Toombs class has
been copied and read throughout, the
North and noted as a symptom Of possible
danger.
When, therefore, the Cincinnati con-
vention declared this Union to be ma
ton and not league, the necessary and
logical consequence was the careful Sc
lection Of men who are known to be in
accord with tie sentiment. Not only
this, but their constituents as we'll. We
have all seen the influence which the
State Of Virginia exercised over the mind
of Lee. He was, in no sense, secession
list, but, on the contrary, as earnest a
friend of the Union as lived in the South.
But his States rights education taught
him that he owed paramount allegiance
to Virginia, and his motto was, his State,
right or wrong. This great example,
which has been so much admired and ap-
plauded throughout the South, is still
referred to in the North to show how little
reliance can be placed upon the Unionism
Of a States rights man when his State
commands him to draw his sword. Mr..
Bristow, it is true, joined the Union
army, and distinguished himself in the
service of his country, as Lee probably
would have done had he lived in Ken
lucky. Had that State seeded, Mr.. Bris-
tow would have been put to much severer
trial than he ever encountered\ 1t is not
for US to say what would have been his
course. Probably he could not tell &C.
curately himself what he would have
done. He might have taken the course of
the few devoted Southerners who remained
true to their allegiance, and whose names
are yet used as synonyms for all that is
vile from one end of the Union-loving
South to the other, or he might have re-
tired into obscurity. We can no more
tell what Messrs. Bayard and Bristow
would have done, had their States seeded
in 1861, than We can say what they would
do in similar case in the future.
The true friends of the Union are those
who stood by it and those who stood by
them in the darkest hours of 1863 and
1864. The Democratic Cop
perhead-Confederate party did not do this,
and they have never ceased to be applau d
ed by their allies in the South for the few
distractions they succeeded in placing in
the way of prosecuting the war. Perhaps
by 1881 this suspicion will be sufficiently
allayed to trust some Southern man for
the vice presidency. But We must keep
away from the telegraph wires with our
indiscreet utterances. We must cease to
stigmatize every Northern man who runs
for Office as carpet-bagger, while an i'm
migrant from q Southern State, from
France or Ireland can step into the high
est positions in day. For the people of
the North observe all things that happen
down South with jealous eye, and re-
member all the foolish sayings and wicked
deeds at the most critical moments. The
Southern people can only live this sus-
picion down by good conduct in their
every word and act. They can do this,
and we hope our contemporaries will use
all their influence to assist them.