The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1876-11-28
Are Republicans Insensiblct

The picture recently drawn by Prof.
SuuNrR of the state Of affairs IN New Or
leans under carpet-bag rule cannot fan toe.
be toning 10 every lover of our free
institutions Here is "a city, the ninth
in population OF the cities OF the Union,
almost utterly wrecked by the corrupt
rule of a set of scouudrels.
Even Republican committees have s,ig-
matted the outrages on the liberty OF the
franchise which have been steadily com
mittod in Louisiana for eight years past
under the fostering eve of the national
Administration, aud with brother-iu-
law of the President as one of the chief
engineers of the machinery. Practically
Louisiana has been deprived of u free gov
eminent during this time. Its wealth has
/ been squandered, its superb natural adj
vantagcs have gone to waste, AMI the
enterprise which has gathered nearly two
hundred thousand people IN its chief city
has been defeated 10y a mlsrule more tyrnn-
niCal than that which has driven many "a
piundered nud desperate community into
the forlorn extreme of war
! We have read of outbreaks in New Or
leans aud the almost hopeless energy of
/ lis people has been denounced 10y Gen.
/ SHERIDAN rs the lawlc,- passion of bandit
IT, But rs whole. the citizens have dts
/ played a srf-control which does them
/ houor-a sclt-control which we cntr,at
| them 10 maintain with even greater care
in the present terrible emergency than
! they have done IN the past. Their enemies
alone Will profit by their acting other than
| in peaceful ways. AKA llst the power which
a
ance Will stir the sympI:hics OF the rest
81 the Uuion, OF else we are nt only for a
/ corrupt dcsputl-m.
| Prof. SUMNEg says that New ORLEANS to-
day is the most mouruful city he ever saw
-,qulld in appearance, the people DIS
pTlted and hopeless, aud everything that
! gives life To q commercial centre gone
| from il. In the last election the
citizens used every lawful means Of get
ting md Of their plunderers. They made
| 10 objection to negro suffrage, found no
! fault with the Union, which was used to
| strengthen their enemies, gave no work To
| the Unitcd states troops sent thithcr under
| the pretence of keeping them in order, and
relied only IN the ballot box 10 secure their
redemption. They exhausted every de-
vice 10 prevent frauds mt the election,
reasoned with the uo-toe,. organized po-
| hical cubs, sent out trI-ty agents To pre-
vent repeating at the polls aud to collect
returns, aud did everything that a law
abiding people under our system of gov
eminent can do. And now they hud their
vllIInous Returning Board preparing to
count out the handsome majority their
efforts secured aud of which they have the
detailed and authentic returns. Mean
while great party AZ the North refuses
TO istcu To their solemn word. prefe ring
to take the lies OF set OF ,coundrels it's
own AGENTS have hitherto denounced and
reprobated; and it, head aud the head of
the national Government surrounds those
lamperers with the ballot with Il Gordon
Of troops.
Can honest and reasonable Republicans
stand idly hy and allow wrong to be
consummatoa? Are they pr pared TO take
advantage of it to inaugurate President
OF their party? DO they not foresce the
COON that impends over all who have any
part IN SUCH porvcI,ion OF the halloty
This l. not partisan matter. 1t is much
bigger than that. II IL rs II the city of New
York had hecn kept under the hec' Of
TwEEDS Ring, spite of the efforts Of is
citizens, by the power of the State and
national Government WORKING in unison
to nnnul the verdict of the ballot box.
II New Orleans was across the river
from us, we should think of little else
than how TO redeem it from the thieves
who devour its substance and To wipe
of from our fame so black Il blot as
lis ruin. But though New Orleans is
sixteen hundred miles away, its advcr-
sity Is rs rcactlve on IL rs If II We're only
six miles away Looking ut the out
rage merely sc!hshly, can any man of bust
moss, any man who works, fail 10 see that
the crushing Of great city of the Union,
containing nearly two hundred thousand
inhahitHuts, the outlet of the vast trade of
the Mississippi river, must surely work
great damage to our own prospelityg And
i'm larger light we can see the truth Of
Prof. SCMNrR's words when he says he
{ came back from New Orleans "bolcving
, that our institutions are about 10 be put
, To Il test compared with which the war
was insignihclnt-o which VIII demand
that we gather together all Our manhood
and patriotism, and all our traditions of
/ civil liberty and selfgovernment.'
We still hope that we may come out
of tins trlal sound ana healthy, for the
questions now forced ON the attention of
the country are so large and so momen-
tous that they ought to break the bonds of
selfish partisanship, and awaken pat
rlotism aud high political phiioso-
ply, even in men who have been care
les, or thoughtess regarding them. Yet
e If such is to be the result, il must bC
achieved through the spontaneous, indie
, pendent action of the honest Republican
| masses rising against the villains who con-
/ troll and manage their party. But there il